“For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth.”
With over two hundred teams, thousands of competitors and the eyeballs of billions of people across the globe, the Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world. Having been inspired by the ancient Olympic games held in ancient Greece, the modern Olympics traces its history back to the 1894 event held in Athens. Since then, the games have grown to become some of the most significant earth-altering events in history, defining and shaping contemporary life and politics. Which is why, with the 2024 Paris Olympics well underway, we here at What We Reading thought we would take a look at everything from inspiring world records to overcoming incredible odds with the best books about the Olympics to help change the way you watch this year’s games!
Fast Girls: A Novel Of The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team – Elise Hooper
First up on our list of the best books about the Olympics comes from Elise Hooper in her 2020 historical fiction story, Fast Girls. This inspiring tale is based on the real lives of three little-known female athletes: Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes and Helen Stephens.
All three women joined together to defy society’s expectations of what women were capable of achieving. Set during an era where tensions between Europe and the United States were bringing the world closer and closer to war, Betty, Louise and Helen fight for the opportunity to compete as the fastest women in the world against the suffocating pomp and pageantry of the Nazi-sponsored 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Hooper explores the gripping real-world history of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, their journey to the Summer Games, and the lasting legacy they have left behind for women everywhere.
The Games Must Go On: Avery Brundage And The Olympic Movement – Allen Guttmann
To understand how the modern Olympics have become the global phenomenon they are today, you have to understand Avery Brundage. In his Olympics book, The Games Must Go On, Professor Allen Guttman delivers the most extensive portrait of this morally complex and defining figure.
Helping to transform the games from a European curiosity to a truly global affair, Brundage would be responsible for persuading the USSR to participate, push for a Japan-hosted Olympics, institute the first doping controls and, for better or worse, attempt to keep politics out of the games. Whilst Guttman acknowledges Brundage’s numerous failures, The Games Must Go On is one of the best books on the Olympics for explaining how the games exist as they do today thanks to his efforts.
The Boys In The Boat: Nine Americans And Their Epic Quest For Gold At The 1936 Berlin Olympics – Daniel James Brown
Nominated for Best History And Biography in the Goodreads Choice Awards, Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat is an Olympics book all about beating the odds and finding strength and hope, even in the most desperate of times.
In it, readers are introduced to a ragtag team of loggers, shipyard workers and farmers who, against all expectations, managed to defeat the eight-oar teams of the East Coast, Great Britain and Adolf Hitler’s own German team at their home summer Olympics. Drawing on the journals, memories and accounts from the boys, The Boys in the Boat is an emotional and unforgettable portrait of a historical era, a celebration of an incredible sporting achievement and a testament to one extraordinary personal quest.
Power Games: A Political History Of The Olympics – Jules Boykoff
Whilst individuals like Avery Brundage might have wanted to keep the politics out of the Olympics, there’s no denying that the games have often been used as a platform for promoting propaganda, ideologies or defying social conventions. In his book about the Olympics, Power Games, former US Olympic soccer player Jules Boykoff takes readers on a tour of the checkered political history of the games.
From its nineteenth-century origins with aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin’s refusal to allow female participation, the games’ flirtation with Fascism in the early twentieth century to the contemporary era of corrupt, corporate control, Boykoff’s book also explores various alternative Olympics ranging from the Gay Games to the Workers and Womens Games in the 1920s and 1930s. One of the most important books for understanding the Olympics and the bureaucracy behind them, often hidden out of view from the spectators.
Running For My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey From The Killing Fields Of Sudan To The Olympic Games – Lopez Lomong
In his book Running for My Life, Lopez Lomong recounts his inspiring rise from a barefoot lost boy in the throws of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike-sponsored athlete competing for the US Olympic Team. From a kidnapped child soldier, a refugee in a Kenyan camp, a confused migrant travelling to a new continent and finally becoming a world champion on the biggest of stages, it is one of the most tear-jerking books about the Olympics that truly captures the spirit of the games.
Whilst most of us will not have to endure the catastrophic lows or reach the incredible heights of his career, Running for My Life is nevertheless one of the most inspiring reads about resilience, hard work and pursuing dreams, however unthinkable they might seem at the time.
Make It Count: My Fight To Become The First Transgender Olympic Runner – CeCe Tefler
CeCe Telfer is the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, contending with rampant transphobia, both on and off the track, since childhood. Now, she is one of the leading figures at the head of an international conversation about equity in sports, forced to advocate for her individual rights at every turn whilst being sidelined and silenced her efforts to compete at the 2024 Olympics.
Make It Count is Tefler’s raw and unflinching memoir. From growing up in Jamaica where she was subjected to a barrage of slurs, beginning a new life in Canada, living in the backseat of her car whilst looking for a coach to training for the US trials, it chronicles her dream of competing at the Olympics. One of the most important books on identity in sports, Telfer’s journey is powerful and inspiring.
Dreamers And Schemers: How An Improbable Bid For The 1932 Olympics Transformed Los Angeles From Dusty Outpost To Global Metropolis
Barry Siegel’s sports history book, Dreamers and Schemers, documents how Los Angeles’ pursuit and staging of the 1932 Olympic Games during the grips of the Great Depression helped fuel the city’s growth from a sketchy frontier village to the shiny metropolis we know it as today. At the head of this ambitious bid was William May (Billy) Garland aka. ‘The Prince of Realtors’.
After arriving in Southern California in 1890, he and his colleagues drove the bulk of the city’s historic expansion. From 1920 to 1932, he directed the city’s bid for the Summer Olympics. His quest to bring the games to LA presents a portrait of a fascinating part of both the city and America’s wider history, demonstrating how Garland’s grit and imagination have left an indelible mark on California to this day.
The Naked Olympics: The True Story Of The Ancient Games – Tony Perrottet
First published back in 2004 on the eve of the Summer Games returning to Athens, Tony Perrottet delves into the ancient history of the Olympics in his book, The Naked Olympics. Utilising first-hand reports and little-known sources – including an actual handbook for sports coaches in Greece – he lifts the lid on the original Olympic festival, tracking the event day by day to bring the fascinating spectacle back to life.
Perrotett’s book on the Olympics takes readers inside the tents of the first Olympic villages, the all-male nude workouts under the statue of Eros, and the first scandals that rocked the ancient world. The Naked Olympics offers an essential insight into the games as they existed in the past, as well as how their traditions and legacy have endured to this day.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
