Diving Dream to Olympic Team is the fascinating story of 1968 Olympic diver Keith Russell. At the age of 20, Keith was the youngest athlete ever named the world's best diver by an international poll of coaches. Sports Illustrated named him to win the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, where he was the only American to qualify in both the springboard and platform events. But the controversial platform finals proved to be more of a test of inner strength than athletic skill. By the time he retired from competition after the 1976 Olympic Trials, Keith was a six-time National Champion, World University Games Champion, and World Championship medalist. Since his retirement from diving, Keith has been coaching and grooming national champions and Olympians. The former President of the United States Professional Diving Coaches Association, Inc., Keith coached the U.S. National Teams at the 1999 and 2001 World Student University Games. He recently represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the only American diving judge. This is a feel-good story that will leave readers deeply satisfied and uplifted as they learn about one man's incredible struggles and astonishing achievements in one of the world's favorite sports.

"A biography of Sammy Lee, the first Korean American man to win an Olympic gold medal"--

In sports, not all the long shots who succeed are athletes. In 1984, Tom Hammond, a forty-year-old sportscaster who had primarily worked in Kentucky and the Southeast, got an unlikely opportunity to appear on the NBC Sports telecast of the inaugural Breeders' Cup. Assigned to report from the stall area on what was supposed to be a single broadcast, Hammond performed so well that an NBC executive offered him a chance to call NFL games on the spot. That broadcast launched Hammond's thirty-four-year career with NBC Sports and his rise to the top levels of American television sportscasting. Along with cowriter Mark Story, Hammond pulls back the curtain to reveal how a Kentucky native who started out reading horse racing results on Lexington radio went on to broadcast from thirteen Olympic Games. While covering Thoroughbred racing for NBC, Hammond broadcast sixteen Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes races and eleven runnings of the Belmont Stakes, including American Pharoah's historic 2015 Triple Crown victory. Hammond offers glimpses into his time as the play-by-play voice for Notre Dame football, calling NBA and NFL games, and his long-running stint announcing Southeastern Conference men's basketball for the league's syndicated TV package. Races, Games, and Olympic Dreams is an intimate and gripping look at Hammond's experiences, including his coverage of Olympic track and field, figure skating, speed skating, ice dancing, diving, and basketball events. Hammond worked with broadcasting luminaries such as Dick Enberg, Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, and Bill Walton, and encountered world-class athletes like Allyson Felix, Michael Jordan, Sarah Hughes, and Peyton Manning. Although his career has spanned the nation and the world, Hammond's roots have always remained firmly planted in the Bluegrass State.

One of America’s most heralded young divers, David Boudia twice went for Olympic gold, training obsessively and whole-heartedly for success. In his first Olympics, he failed miserably, not winning a single medal. Four years later saw a different story: he mounted the podium twice, winning both gold and bronze. The difference? In the intervening years, he’d changed the focus of his quest from seeking glory for himself to giving glory to God. In Greater Than Gold, Boudia provides a behind-the-scenes access to the rarefied world of world-class athletics while also showing readers that when they place their hope in God, they receive what they’ve been seeking all along.

Lyrically told true story of the teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers to Olympic glory. When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He would take responsibility for the children and train them to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto developed a strict practice regime for the kids, honing their skills and building their strength and endurance. They formed a team and began to dominate events, first nationally and then internationally — until they made it all the way to Olympic gold! Told in simple rhyme, Sakamoto’s story will inspire athletes, coaches — and everyone who believes impossible dreams can come true.

"No guts no glory" the saying goes. But how far do "guts" go in the midst of physical feats of great strength? Learn from at least a dozen Christian Olympic gold-medal winners and Olympic contenders who tell their inspirational stories of finding God along their roads to glory. Experience the sweat and passion that goes into the making of a world-class athlete, while learning of these Christians' ultimate goals as competitive athletes and servants of God. For sixty days, plunge into each athlete's most personal moments at the games through each chapter's combination of worship, praise, and evangelism. Run, jump, and dive into these athletic experiences that reveal the role of friendship and the necessity of hard work as they teach the concepts of dedication and sacrifice. Learn of these athletes' preparation, pre-competition thoughts, faith, and how each athlete has placed his or her dependence on God.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team. As a writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. Drawing on fresh interviews with the players, McCallum provides the definitive account of the Dream Team phenomenon. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process. He takes us inside the team’s Olympic suites for late-night card games and bull sessions where superstars like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird debated the finer points of basketball. And he narrates a riveting account of the legendary intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pickup game in history. In the twenty years since the Dream Team first captivated the world, its mystique has only grown. Dream Team vividly re-creates the moment when a once-in-a-millennium group of athletes came together and changed the future of sports—one perfectly executed fast break at a time. With a new Afterword by the author. “The absolute definitive work on the subject, a perfectly wonderful once-you-pick-it-up-you-won’t-be-able-to-put-it-down book.”—The Boston Globe “An Olympic hoops dream.”—Newsday “What makes this volume a must-read for nostalgic hoopsters are the robust portraits of the outsize personalities of the participants, all of whom were remarkably open with McCallum, both then and now.”—Booklist (starred review)