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My mother's daughter : a memoir of struggle and triumph / by Felicien, Perdita,1980-author.;
"A raw and affecting memoir about a mother and daughter who beat the odds together. Perdita Felicien's story is woven into her mother's like an intricate braid. To understand Perdita's story, you must know Catherine's. Catherine is larger than life. At seventeen years old, she is determined and tenacious, and longing to experience a better life. But she is also pregnant with her second child, and just scraping by in St. Lucia by selling homemade jewellery on the beach. So when she meets a wealthy white Canadian family vacationing on the island, she knows she's found her chance. After babysitting the couple's infant son for two weeks, she asks them to bring her to Canada and employ her as a nanny. Somehow, they agree. This was the beginning of Catherine's new life: a life of great opportunity, but also profound suffering. Within a few years, she would find herself pregnant a third time--this time in a new country, Canada, with no family supporting her, and this time, with Perdita. Together, in the years to come, they would experience poverty, racism, domestic abuse and even homelessness, but Catherine's will would always pull them through. As Perdita grew and began to discover her preternatural gifts--athleticism at what would one day prove to be an Olympic level--she was edged onward by her mother's love, grit and faith. Facing literal and figurative hurdles, she learned to leap, and pick herself back up when she stumbled. Beautifully written and deeply absorbing, My mother's daughter is a daughter's memoir--a book about the power of a parent's love to transform their child's life."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Felicien, Perdita, 1980-; Mothers and daughters; Single mothers; Track and field athletes;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Ghost / by Reynolds, Jason.; Lockard, Guy.;
Read by Guy Lockhard."Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential"--
Subjects: Children's audiobooks.; Running; Track and field; Self-realization; Coaches (Athletics);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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What makes Olga run? : the mystery of the 90-something track star, and what she can teach us about living longer, happier lives / by Grierson, Bruce,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Kotelko, Olga, 1919-; Kotelko, Olga, 1919-; Sports for older people; Track and field athletes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The secrets of my life / by Jenner, Caitlyn,1949-author.; Bissinger, Buzz,1954-author.;
Subjects: Biographies.; Jenner, Caitlyn, 1949-; Track and field athletes; Transgender athletes; Transgender people;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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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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Sports superstars from Black history : inspiring stories from the amazing careers of Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Allyson Felix, Lebron James, and many more African American sports legends / by Murphy, Sophia(Writer);
Includes bibliographical references.Discover how 12 Black athletes overcame seemingly impossible odds and insurmountable challenges to achieve their dreams and make a name for themselves in the fields of football, baseball, basketball, tennis, track and field, and gymnastics... Kids will immerse themselves in the world of sports as they follow iconic figures, from stars of the past to celebrities of today, through the highs and lows of their careers. Young readers will discover the inspirational stories of 12 people--some that they might know and love, and some that they may have never heard of before--all winners in their own right."--
Subjects: Biographies.; African American athletes; African American athletes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Famous for a time : forgotten giants of Canadian sport / by Wilson, Jason,1970-author.; Reid, Richard M.,1943-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The cultural impact of sport on a nation is not slight. Famous for a Time explores a number of important, if not well remembered, Canadian athletes and the sports they played to help explain the nation's complicated history, sporting and otherwise. It is an exploration that reveals the socio-cultural trends that have shaped Canada since Confederation. Through the prism of some exceptional athletes, the prevailing attitudes of many Canadians about class, race, masculinity, femininity, and national identity are laid bare. Here, from the sidelines, we learn how these attitudes have changed--or not, as the case may be--over time. From team sports such as lacrosse, baseball, and cricket to Canada's cycling craze, track and field, and boxing, each chapter offers insight into an important aspect of the nation's narrative. The winners and losers of Canada's games simply mirror the larger questions that have faced Canadian society across three centuries."--
Subjects: Athletes; Sports;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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World's fastest man* : the incredible life of Ben Johnson / by Ormsby, Mary,author.;
For twenty-four hours in the summer of 1988, Canada's Ben Johnson was the most celebrated athlete on the planet. He'd won the 100-metre sprint at the Seoul Olympics in a world-record 9.79 seconds and just had time to say, "A gold medal - that's something no one can take away from you," before testing positive for performance enhancing drugs and giving back his medal. Admitting to steroid use, Johnson has lived in ignominy ever since, but there's much more to his incredible story. The sprint he won has since been called "the dirtiest race in history," with six of eight competitors linked to doping infractions. The steroid for which Johnson tested positive was not the steroid he was using. There were so many irregularities and mistakes in his testing that credible experts now say he should never have been disqualified and some see a conspiracy of Johnson's track rivals behind his disgrace. Sportswriter Mary Ormsby was on the scene in Seoul. Now, with unprecedented access to Johnson, she tells his whole story for the first time - the rise of a skinny kid working Jamaican sugar estates to track-and-field superstardom to his lifetime ban from the sport and his unyielding efforts to determine exactly what happened to him on that fateful night in 1988.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Johnson, Ben, 1961-; Doping in sports.; Sprinters;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Undisputed : a champion's life / by Bailey, Donovan,1967-author.;
"From chasing a soccer ball through the fields of his native Jamaica as a child, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada's most thriving cultural mosaics, to his run toward Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he soon learned he needed to be his own toughest critic if he was going to be the very best. As he rose quickly to prominence in Canada's track scene, others didn't always understand the rigour at work behind his confident demeanour. Media reported, not his determination, but that he was immodest in a way they weren't accustomed to seeing from Canadian athletes, especially track athletes in the wake of the Ben Johnson doping scandal at Seoul in 1988. Bailey was having none of it, and when he called out racism in Canada in a way that contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he started a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation's moral complacency. Aside from his 100-metre and 4x100 relay golds in Atlanta, Bailey's track career was a litany of records and rare accomplishments, including his audacious 1997 race in Toronto's SkyDome against American 200-metre Olympic champion Michael Johnson to determine who was really the world's fastest man. There would be no disputing the result. For all his talent, Bailey was coached in success long before he was coached in athletics. Following the footsteps of his father, a real estate investor, Bailey was a self-made millionaire by the age of 21 and continued to apply a disciplined mentality to everything he did in life. An Olympic champion, yes, but one mentored in the ways of his mind well before he was taught how to optimize the gifts of his body. Frank about the way Bailey dominated the 100-metre (not even his favourite sport), and unapologetic for pushing those around him as hard as he pushed himself, Undisputed is an athlete's story told with the kind of entertaining and inspiring verve very few of his peers can match."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Bailey, Donovan, 1967-; Athletes, Black; Sprinters; Jamaican Canadians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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