I love the Olympics! During those two weeks, I’m glued to the television, watching as many events as possible, and yelling Go Team USA! This year, for the Rio games NBC has no less than six different channels showing the Olympic games almost 24 -7.
I’ve been flipping back and forth between the channels watching everything from swimming to gymnastics to track and field. I’ve been excited to see sports that I only get to see during the Olympics, such as competitive table tennis and badminton. Wow! Are they intense! I love the incredible stories of sacrifice and dedication displayed by all of the athletes whether they’re medal winners or not.
I thought it would be fun to find out if any of the 2016 stars from Rio are published authors. Read on for a few of my favorites.
Let’s start with Michael Phelps. He won 6 medals at the Rio games, five gold and one silver. That brings his career total to 28 medals making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. He co-authored No Limits: The will to succeed after the Beijing games. It describes his mental and physical training approach. His second co-authored book, an autobiography, Beneath the Surface: My Story was published just before the London games.
Usain Bolt is rightly described as the fastest man alive. It was incredible to watch him almost coast to victory to earn his third consecutive gold medal in the 100 meter dash. Our local news station reported his 2015 earnings as $35M and made a ridiculous calculation about how much he made per second of running. of course they failed to account for the thousands of hours that he spends training. His book Faster than lightning: My Story is an autobiography.
Venus Williams and Serena Williams are tennis royalty who love to compete in the Olympic games. Their dreams of winning gold in singles and doubles this year didn’t come to fruition but Venus still managed to walk away with a silver in mixed doubles.
Venus Williams’ book Come to Win: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors, and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession is an anthology with contributions from other men and women at the top of the game such as Jack Welch and Vera Wang.
Serena Williams’ book On the Line is a co-authored memoir.
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