The Olympics, a Very Peculiar History by Arscott, David -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Front Matter

Title Page Publisher Information Dedication

A Very Peculiar History

Quotes Introduction

Greek Beginnings Superheroes A farewell to arms Men only Caught in the act Getting fit Enter a wimp Modern Olympic venues The events An Ancient Wonder Take your seat at the Games The Olympic laureate Naked aggression Equestrian events Dirty tricks Spartan treatment From Nero to zero Rediscovering Olympia Ancient Olympic greats

CHAPTER ONE: Coubertin’s Dream

Dr Arnold’s medicine The other Olympic Games From the horse’s mouth IOC Presidents Slow out of the blocks Olympiads They did things differently then Lost events A meal too far The remarkable Babe For love, not money That Olympic spirit Lost and found The Olympic Museum The Winter Olympics

CHAPTER TWO: The Mighty Marathon

The pride of Greece How they ran then Taken for a ride A near-death experience How long is a marathon? Olympic bests*: Marathon Picnic time Death in the afternoon A little off key The end of cross-country Better late than never Not so fast! The Munich joker That Olympic Spirit The Paralympic Games The blade runner Some Olympic firsts . . .

CHAPTER THREE: Running Into Trouble

Hitler’s Games Olympia – the film Murder in Munich The torch relay Tarnished gold Staying at home Black Power The fake torch Look at me! Bad blood Sabres at dawn A race with death Illegal substances Vicious cycle A race too far That’s no lady . . . Pulling a fast one ‘Timid pussyfooters’ Money talks The Olympic rings Special Olympics

CHAPTER FOUR: An A-Z of Great Olympians

Against the odds 1 Muhammad Ali Bob Beamon Adebe Bikila Olympic bests: Long jump Fanny Blankers-Koen Olympic bests: 100 metres Olympic bests: 200 metres Olympic bests: 400 metres Usain Bolt Seb Coe Nadia Comaneci Against the odds 2 Athletes on celluloid Olympic bests: High jump Olympic bests: Pole vault Olympic bests: Triple jump Dick Fosbury Dawn Fraser Michael Johnson Olympic bests: Decathlon (Men only) Olympic bests: Heptathlon (Women only) Jackie Joyner-Kersee ‘Kip’ Keino Against the odds 3 Olympic bests: 800 metres Olympic bests: 1,500 metres Olga Korbut Carl Lewis Olympic bests: Javelin Paavo Nurmi Jesse Owens Great losers Michael Phelps Olympic bests: 100m hurdles Olympic bests: 400m hurdles Against the odds 4 Steve Redgrave Lasse Viren Olympic bests: 5,000 metres Olympic bests: 10,000 metres Olympic bests: 3,000 metres steeplechase Emil Zátopek

CHAPTER FIVE: London’s hat-trick

What happened before What they‘ll be playing What happened next Meet the mascots The biggest prize

Olympics Timeline Finding out more Glossary

End matter

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