Author: David A. Adler
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780152052515
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book Here

Book Description
One woman's gritty determination to succeed

Author: Tim Dahlberg
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429925582
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
America's Girl is an intimate look at the life and trials of Gertrude Ederle, who in 1926 not only became the first woman to swim across the English Channel, but broke the record set by men. The feat so thrilled America that it welcomed her home with a ticker tape parade that drew two million people. This fascinating portrait follows Ederle from her early days as a competitive swimmer through her gold medal triumph at the 1924 Olympics, to the first attempt the next year by Ederle to swim from France to England in frigid and turbulent waters, a feat that had been conquered by only five men up to that time. This is also a stirring look at the go-go era of the 1920s, when the country was about to recognize that women not only could vote, but compete on an international scale as athletes. At the height of Prohibition, Ederle's triumph over the formidable Channel was a triumph for women everywhere. America's Girl immerses readers in a pivotal era of American history and brings to life the spirit of that time.

Author: Michael Silver
Publisher: Rodale
ISBN: 1594862540
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
An Olympic medalist recounts the events of her career, describing her successes at the U.S. Nationals at the age of fifteen, the shoulder injury that hampered her swimming style, and her training under University of California coach Teri McKeever.

Author: Lisa Bier
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786487267
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first female to swim the English Channel--and broke the existing record time in doing so. Although today she is considered a pioneer in women's swimming, women were swimming competitively 50 years earlier. This historical book details the early period of women's competitive swimming in the United States, from its beginnings in the nineteenth century through Ederle's astonishing accomplishment. Women and girls faced many obstacles to safe swimming opportunities, including restrictive beliefs about physical abilities, access to safe and clean water, bathing suits that impeded movement and became heavy in water, and opposition from official sporting organizations. The stories of these early swimmers plainly show how far female athletes have come.

Author: Glenn Stout
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0618858687
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Get Book Here

Book Description
THE PERFECT MILE meet SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA in this compelling tale of how nineteen-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel.

Author: Sue Macy
Publisher: Holiday House
ISBN: 0823438260
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 20

Get Book Here

Book Description
On the morning of August 6, 1926, Gertrude Ederle stood in her bathing suit on the beach at Cape Gris-Nez, France, and faced the churning waves of the English Channel. Twenty-one miles across the perilous waterway, the English coastline beckoned. Lyrical text, stunning illustrations and fascinating back matter put the reader right alongside Ederle in her bid to be the first woman to swim the Channel—and contextualizes her record-smashing victory as a defining moment in sports history. Time line, bibliography, source notes.

Author: Anthony Ervin
Publisher: Akashic Books
ISBN: 1617754641
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Olympic swimmer reveals the wild and challenging journey that took place between two gold medals: “Inspiring, humorous, and often profound.”—People Magazine Anthony Ervin is an Olympic swimmer who won the gold at nineteen—and that may be one of the least interesting things about him. An athlete of Jewish and African-American descent who is also a practicing Buddhist, he auctioned off the medal he won in Sydney to help raise funds for victims of the 2004 tsunami. He had grown up battling Tourette’s syndrome, and later struggled with suicidal depression, drinking and drugs, and a period of homelessness. This blend of memoir and biography, written by Ervin in collaboration with trainer Constantine Markides, is part spiritual quest, part self-destructive bender involving Zen temples, fast motorcycles, tattoo parlors, and rock 'n' roll bands—revealing the journey that preceded his remarkable 2016 Olympic comeback as the oldest individual gold medal winner in swimming. Winner of the 2018 Buck Dawson Author Award presented by the International Swimming Hall of Fame “Gripping…Readers will understand the psyche and life of elite athletes as never before.”—Library Journal “A celebrated Olympian recounts how he rose to the top of his sport, crashed, and found redemption…The author never flinches at revealing his less-than-perfect past, and the humility he demonstrates at coming to terms with his own egotism and personal shortcomings makes the book frequently compelling. A provocative and refreshingly honest redemption memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews

Author: Michael Loynd
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 059335706X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Get Book Here

Book Description
The feel-good underdog story of the first American swimmer to win Olympic gold, set against the turbulent rebirth of the modern Games, that “bring[s] to life an inspiring figure and illuminate[s] an overlooked chapter in America’s sports history” (The Wall Street Journal) “Once or twice in a decade, one of these stories . . . like Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken [or] Daniel Brown’s The Boys in the Boat . . . captures the imagination of the public. . . . Add The Watermen by Michael Loynd to this illustrious list.”—Swimming World Winner of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Paragon Award and the Buck Dawson Authors Award In the early twentieth century, few Americans knew how to swim, and swimming as a competitive sport was almost unheard of. That is, until Charles Daniels took to the water. On the surface, young Charles had it all: high-society parents, a place at an exclusive New York City prep school, summer vacations in the Adirondacks. But the scrawny teenager suffered from extreme anxiety thanks to a sadistic father who mired the family in bankruptcy and scandal before abandoning Charles and his mother altogether. Charles’s only source of joy was swimming. But with no one to teach him, he struggled with technique—until he caught the eye of two immigrant coaches hell-bent on building a U.S. swim program that could rival the British Empire’s seventy-year domination of the sport. Interwoven with the story of Charles’s efforts to overcome his family’s disgrace is the compelling history of the struggle to establish the modern Olympics in an era when competitive sports were still in their infancy. When the powerful British Empire finally legitimized the Games by hosting the fourth Olympiad in 1908, Charles’s hard-fought rise climaxed in a gold-medal race where British judges prepared a trap to ensure the American upstart’s defeat. Set in the early days of a rapidly changing twentieth century, The Watermen—a term used at the time to describe men skilled in water sports—tells an engrossing story of grit, of the growth of a major new sport in which Americans would prevail, and of a young man’s determination to excel.

Author: Shirley Babashoff
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
ISBN: 1595808043
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
In her extraordinary swimming career, Shirley Babashoff set thirty-nine national records and eleven world records. Prior to the 1990s, she was the most successful U.S. female Olympian and, in her prime, was widely considered to be the greatest female swimmer in the world. Heading into the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Babashoff was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and followed closely by the media. Hopes were high that she would become “the female Mark Spitz.” All of that changed once Babashoff questioned the shocking masculinity of the swimmers on the East German women’s team. Once celebrated as America’s golden girl, Babashoff was accused of poor sportsmanship and vilified by the press with a new nickname: “Surly Shirley.” Making Waves displays the remarkable strength and resilience that made Babashoff such a dynamic champion. From her difficult childhood and beginnings as a determined young athlete growing up in Southern California in the 1960s, through her triumphs as the greatest female amateur swimmer in the world, Babashoff tells her story in the same unflinching manner that made her both the most dominant female swimmer of her time and one of the most controversial athletes in Olympic history.

Author: Michael Brooks
Publisher: Human Kinetics
ISBN: 1492595101
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Talent, skill, and a passion to compete: These are the characteristics that define elite-level swimmers. But as the sport’s best coaches know, even the most gifted of athletes won’t develop these traits without a plan—one that recognizes talent, develops skills, and nurtures success. Developing Swimmers is the only book to offer a comprehensive, long-term plan beginning at an age-group level. Renowned coach Michael Brooks shares the insights, secrets, and strategies that have transformed his athletes and swim teams from novice competitors to distinguished champions. Developing Swimmers will show you how to -evaluate and identify talent in even the youngest swimmers; -establish realistic yet challenging short- and long-term goals for your athletes; -assess and refine strokes for greater power and efficiency; -improve starts, turns, and finishes for faster times; -structure positive and productive practices for swimmers and swim teams; and -foster your swimmers’ passion, bolster commitment, and instill winning attitudes. From motivation to meet management to race-day tactics, Developing Swimmers covers it all. It is the guide every coach should have on the shelf. With Developing Swimmers, you will improve the performance of your swimmers—and your entire team.