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Make it count : my fight to become the first transgender Olympic runner / by Telfer, CeCé,author.;
"CeCé Telfer is a warrior. The first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, she has contended with transphobia on and off the track since childhood. Now, she stands at the crossroads of a national and international conversation about equity in sports, forced to advocate for her personhood and rights at every turn. After spending years training for the 2024 Olympics, Telfer has been sidelined and silenced more times than she can count. But she's never been good at taking no for an answer. Make it Count is Telfer's raw and inspiring story. From coming of age in Jamaica, where she grew up hearing a constant barrage of slurs, to beginning her new life in Toronto and then New Hampshire, where she realized what running could offer her, to living in the backseat of her car while searching for a coach, to Mexico, where she trained for the US Trials, this book follows the arc of Telfer's Olympic dream. This is the story of running on what feels like the edge of a knife, of what it means to compete when you're not just an athlete but treated like a walking controversy. But it's also the story of resilience and athleticism, of a runner who found a clarity in her sport that otherwise eluded her -- a sense of being simply alive on this earth, a human moving through space. Finally, herself"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Telfer, CeCé.; Olympic athletes; Track and field athletes; Transgender athletes; Transgender women; Women runners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Outofshapeworthlessloser : a memoir of figure skating, f*cking up, and figuring it out / by Gold, Gracie,1995-author.;
"In this explosive tell-all memoir, an Olympic figure skater reveals her battle to survive mental illness, eating disorders, and the self-destructive voice inside that she calls "outofshapeworthlessloser." When Gracie Gold stepped onto center stage (or ice, rather) as America's sweetheart at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, she instantly became the face of America's most beloved winter sport. Beautiful, blonde, Midwestern, and media-trained, she was suddenly being written up everywhere from The New Yorker to Teen Vogue to People and baking cookies with Taylor Swift. But little did the public know what Gold was facing when the cameras were off. In 2017, she entered treatment for what was publicly announced as an eating disorder and anxiety treatment but was, in reality, suicidal ideation. While Gold's public star was rising, her private life was falling apart: Cracks within her family were widening, her bulimia was getting worse, and she became a survivor of sexual assault. The pressure of training for years with demanding coaches and growing up in a household that accepted nothing less than gold had finally taken its toll. Now Gold reveals the exclusive and harrowing story of her struggles in and out of the pressure-packed world of elite figure skating: the battles with her family, her coaches, the powers-that-be at her federation, and her deteriorating mental health. Told with unflinching honesty and stirring defiance, Outofshapeworthlessloser is not only a forceful reckoning from a world-class athlete but also an intimate account of surviving as a young woman in a society that rewards appearances more than anything and demands perfection at all costs"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Gold, Gracie, 1995-; Eating disorders in women; Figure skaters; Women Olympic athletes; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bravey : chasing dreams, befriending pain, and other big ideas / by Pappas, Alexi,author.; Rudolph, Maya,writer of foreword.;
"When Alexi Pappas was four years old, her mother committed suicide, drastically altering the course of Pappas's life and setting her on a perpetual search for female role models. When her father started signing her up for sports teams as a way to keep his bereaved daughter busy, female athletes became some of the first women Pappas looked up to, and she became a girl with a goal: to be an Olympian. Despite setbacks and hardships, Pappas held fast to that dream, putting in the tremendous hard work, both mentally and physically, and letting nothing stand in her way until she achieved it, making her Olympic debut as a runner in 2016. Unflinching, often exuberant, and always entertaining, Bravey showcases Pappas's signature, charming voice as she reflects upon the touchstone moments in her life and the lessons that have powered her career as both an athlete and artist -- chief among them, how to be brave. She faces obstacles with optimism and finds the dark moments as important to her process as the breakthroughs, from high school awkwardness to post-Olympic depression, offering valuable wisdom on the benefits of embracing what hurts, both physical and emotional. To Pappas, bravery is inward-facing; it's all in how you feel about yourself, as much about always believing in yourself as it is about running toward your goals. Pappas's experiences reveal how anyone can overcome hardship, befriend pain, celebrate victory, relish the loyalty found in teammates, and claim joy. In short: how anyone can be a bravey"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Pappas, Alexi.; Runners (Sports); Women runners; Women Olympic athletes; Women motion picture producers and directors; Children of suicide victims; Greek Americans; Courage.; Conduct of life.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Magic : the life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson / by Lazenby, Roland,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved, and at times controversial, athletes in history. His iconic smile lifted the dowdy sport of American pro basketball from a second tier sport with low ratings into the global spotlight, a transformation driven by his ability to eviscerate opponents with a style that featured his grand sense of fun. He was a master entertainer who directed Los Angeles Lakers "Showtime" basketball to the heights of both glory and epic excess, all of it driven by his mind-blowing no-look passes and personal charm. At the charismatic height of his power, Johnson then shocked the world with a startling cautionary tale about sexually transmitted disease that pushed public awareness of an HIV and AIDS crisis. Then out came his confession of unprotected sex with hundreds of women each year, a retirement, an attempted return, then a proper farewell on the iconic 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Longtime biographer Roland Lazenby spent years tracking Johnson's unlikely rise to become an immensely popular public figure who was instantly scandalized in 1991, then turned to his legendary will to rise again as a successful entrepreneur with another level of hard-won success in business. In his portrayal, Johnson's tale becomes bigger than that of one man. It is a generational saga over parts of three centuries that reveals much not just about his unique basketball journey but about America itself. Through literally hundreds of interviews with Johnson's coaches, representatives past and present, teammates, opponents, friends and loved ones, including key conversations with Johnson himself over the years, Lazenby has produced the first truly definitive study, both dark and light, of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., the revolutionary player, the icon, the man"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Johnson, Earvin, 1959-; Basketball players;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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