Igniting the Flame America's First Olympic Team

Name: Igniting the Flame America's First Olympic Team
Price: 24.58 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780762778485

ISBN-10: 0762778482

ISBN-13: 9780762778485

Edition: N/A

Authors: Jim Reisler, Dave Wottle

List price: $31.95

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Description:

The first U.S. Olympic team—a ragtag group of 14 men, mostly Ivy Leaguers—caused a swell of national pride while taking home 11 gold medals and paving the way for generations of U.S. Olympians. Author Jim Reisler chronicles the growing American sports scene in the 19th Century, the men of influence who established a modern Olympics, and how a squad of moderately talented Americans, funded independently, competing without the backing of the Amateur Athletic Union or their universities, went off to Athens, anyway. By triumphing in their events, they won not only gold—but also the hearts and minds of the world.Theirs was a strange journey to Greece—high jump training on a rolling transatlantic…

Book details

List price: $31.95
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press, The
Publication date: 6/5/2012
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 296
Size: 6.00" wide x 9.00" long x 1.25" tall
Weight: 1.144
Language: English



Foreword


Author's Note


Cast of Characters


Beginnings: "Nothing More Than a Glorified Pickup Squad"



"Games at Athens? What Games?"



A Rousing Start



The Baron



"All Were Stupefied"



"Lithe Forms and Springy Steps"



"Most Gratifying to Every Princeton Man"



"Man of Many Parts"



Smoking Guns



"A Foreigner Should Not Win This Race!"



"Jesu Christo! I'm Freezing!"



"Rah! Rah! Rah! Ellas, Ellas, Ellas, Zito!"



"A Set of Men That the Nation May Well Feel Proud Of"


Endings: "Good Feeling and Fellowship Predominated"


Appendix: 1896 Olympic Results


Acknowledgments


Notes


Index


About the Author