I enjoy reading about various different sports and I particularly enjoy biographies and autobiographies. I think that you can only learn so much from generalised information. Sometimes, it takes the study of specifics to take your knowledge of a subject to the next level.
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Track and field – Track
To be honest with you, by Linford Christie, is the autobiography of the greatest ever British sprinter and one of the greatest ever British athletes, who overcame the doubt of the establishment to carve out one of the most successful track careers of anyone anywhere
The Autobiography of Colin Jackson is about the unassuming boy from Wales who became the world’s greatest 110m hurdler and holder of the world record for over 13 years
The Autobiography of Roger Black, is all about triumph in the 400m running race over adversity, injury and success in the shadow of superhuman athletes like Michael Johnson
Ovett: an autobiography, is the story of the reclusive character who challenged Seb Coe for the mantle of the world’s greatest middle-distance runner in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s and set world records in the process
Paula: my story so far, by Paula Radcliffe, is the story of how Paula Radcliffe started out as a track and cross-country runner and morphed into the current women’s world record holder for the marathon
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Track and Field – Field
Big Shot, by Geoff Capes, is the revealing autobiography of Britain’s most capped athlete of all time, who then went on to become the World’s Strongest Man twice, beating the legend that was Jan Pal Sigmarsson. I hear that he is now a very successful budgerigar breeder as well…
A Time to Jump, a biography of Jonathan Edwards, by Malcolm Folley, is the amazing story of how a slightly-built, eccentric Englishman destroyed the world record in the triple jump with a technique that everyone else tried to copy
The Autobiography of Fatima Whitbread, is the sort of story that you could not make up. Left for dead in an abandoned appartment in London at birth, raped as a teenager and put up for adoption, Fatima nevertheless became the only British throwing athlete ever to set a world record
Tessa Sanderson: my life in athletics, is the tale of Fatima’s greatest rival and the athlete who beat her to a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
Denise Lewis: Personal Best, is the autobiography of the athlete from Wolverhampton, who took gold in the heptathlon in the Sydney 2000 Olympics despite a range of annoying injuries
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Fighting sports
Wrecking Machine, by Alex Wade, describes the story of a man whose legal career falls on hard ground and who picks himself back up again with the aid of white collar boxing
Hagakure, the book of the samurai, is a collection of wise sayings from various ancient authors, concerned with the subject of living honourably and well
Karate-Do: My way of life, by Gichin Funakoshi, is part-autobiography and part-discussion of the origins and nature of karate, the Japanese martial art
Iceman, by Chuck Liddell, is the autobiography of the remarkably successful MMA fighter, including gripping accounts of his fights and details of his training
Inside the cage, by Carl Merritt, is the gripping account of one man’s foray into underground, illegal cage fighting and the damage that it does to people
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Swimming
Off the Deep End, by W Hodding Carter, is about a man who chooses competitive swimming instead of more normal a mid-life crisis and tries out for the Olympics
Michael Phelps: the Untold Story of a Champion, is the biography of Michael Phelps, the remarkable US Olympic swimmer who dominated the scene from 2000 onwards
In at the deep end, by David Davies is the story of the remarkable young swimmer from Cardiff who won the bronze in Athens at the 1,500m and followed it up with silver in Beijing in the first ever open water contest.
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Running
The First Four Minutes, by Roger Bannister, is an account of the preparation, background and circumstances of the most famous record ever broken in running
Barefoot Runner, by Paul Rambali, describes how Adebe Bikila became the first African to win Olympic Gold when he won the marathon, which he ran barefoot
The Autobiography of Roger Black, is all about triumph in the 400m running race over adversity, injury and success in the shadow of superhuman athletes like Michael Johnson
Paula: my story so far, by Paula Radcliffe, is the story of how Paula Radcliffe started out as a track and cross-country runner and morphed into the current women’s world record holder for the marathon
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Other sports
Record Breaker, by Paddy Doyle, is the story of how a young man from Birmingham, in the UK, came to hold the most world records for endurance events of anyone in the world
Feeding the Rat, by Al Alvarez, is about the climbing exploits of Mo Anthoine and the psychology of what it means to climb at the limits of your ability
A Golden Age, by Steve Redgrave, is about one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians and one of the most talented and successful rowers ever to step into a boat
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Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Why not contact me for help…
