The Olympics: Athens to Athens 1896-2004

Celebrating the Olympics' return to Athens, this colorful and detailed volume--created by the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, France, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee and the French sports newspaper L'Equipe--provides a thorough history of the Games. Drawings, reprints of documents, and photographs (from salvaged black and white images to modern color action photos) illustrate the well-researched text, which describes every Olympics since 1896. International sentiment, historical context and athletic results are all recounted in detail, and notable athletes are highlighted in inspiring profiles. The book includes retellings of such important political events as the triumphs of African-American athletes in the 1936 Berlin Olympics (which""Hitler intended to use ... to prove his political and ideological theories"" about Aryan superiority), the hostage tragedy at Munich in 1972 and the United States boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. And, of course, there are vivid descriptions of athletic triumphs like Nadia Comaneci's perfect tens in 1976 and the victories of Carl Lewis in 1984 and Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. This imposing book does justice to the power and emotion of the Olympics.