News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

We’re into the home stretch for the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, so a round up of biographies (individual and collected) of New Zealand Olympians seemed timely. Here are a few highlights, as well as some collected biographies that give more extensive coverage of our Olympians.

As well, make sure to check out these 16 Olympic stories at NZ History Online. They include stories of our first Olympic team and our first female Olympian, and detail some of the challenges faced by New Zealand Olympians in the early days (e.g. travel from such a far flung country). Plus, the stories of well known Olympians Jack Lovelock, Yvette Williams, Peter Snell and Murray Halberg.

NZ On Screen also has some wonderful clips and full-length docos — here are just a few (head over to their site and have a browse for more!):

Books:

Second chance : the autobiography / Mark Todd with Kate Green. (2012)
“Mark Todd’s eventing career is the stuff of legend and encompasses one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time. When he ‘retired’ from competing in eventing in 2000, he had already been named ‘Rider of the Century’ for his natural empathy with a horse and his extraordinary success, which included back-to-back Olympic gold medals, five Burghley wins and three Badminton victories. He has also show jumped to Olympic level and trained winners on the racecourse. Considered a legendary horseman by his peers, he seemed to have done it all. He returned to train racehorses in his native New Zealand but, eight years later, the idea of a comeback took root, part dare, part personal challenge to see if he could still cut it in a changed sport. Within eight months, he was riding at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and in 2011, he hit the headlines by becoming the oldest rider to win Badminton. He is now at the forefront of New Zealand’s resurgence ahead of the London Olympic Games. The story of his progress from dairy farmer to world renown is told with typically laid-back humour, but it reveals the fierce determination, discipline and personal sacrifice which lies behind the relaxed outlook.” (Library Catalogue)

Wind driven : Barbara Kendall / Wendy Kendall. (2009)
“Barbara Kendall went to her fifth Olympics [in 2008]. She’s 40 and it’s incredible that she’s still competing, let alone winning, when most of her competitors are in their 20s. It’s a harsh environment, and a gruelling physical challenge. Her years of experience in racing, tactics, knowledge about wind and tide conditions, equipment and board handling skills play a big part in her success. But the most important factor of all, is her desire to win. Managing the psychology of winning has been the most challenging aspect of staying at the top. Barbara won Gold at the Barcelona Olympics, Silver at Atlanta and Bronze at Sydney. A campaign for an Olympic Games takes Barbara at least three years. She keeps her fitness up by running, swimming, yoga, working out at the gym and windsurfing every day she can. She competes in numerous windsurfing events to keep her world ranking up as well as maintaining a media presence for her sponsors. She now has two young children to care for as well. Barbara travels around the country to give motivational speaking presentations to earn a living, works for her sponsors, or heads back overseas to meet with the Athlete’s Commission of the International Olympic Committee for a few days. This is the inspiring story of how Barbara, a golden girl New Zealanders love, got to the top and how she manages to stay there.” (Global Books)

Peter Snell : from Olympian to scientist / Peter Snell, Garth Gilmour. (2007)
“The great Peter Snell was one of the most powerful middle-distance runners of all time. He burst onto the international arena as the surprise winner of the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics in 1960, and in Tokyo in 1964 he won gold medals over 800 and 1500 metres. In all he held eight world records. Since that time world-class runners have broken Snell’s records over those distances, but nobody – before, during or since – has come close to matching Snell’s withering power over the final few hundred metres. After retiring from running at an early age, Snell went to work and study in the United States. As a self-confessed high-school underachiever, unused to academic study, he initially struggled. But he went on to obtain two university degrees and is now an acknowledged world expert on aging, exercise, nutrition and human performance. This biography is the full account of Peter Snell’s life as sensational athlete and respected scientist and academic. It picks up the story from Peter’s first biography No Bugles, No Drums, which was published in 1965.” (Global Books)

Faster stronger higher : golden Olympians of New Zealand / Wilf Haskell. (2011)
“The Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement are the source of inspiration for many writers. Numerous books have been written on many aspects of the Games and the champions which emerge from them. Wilf Haskell has written a book which is unique. His research into the previously unrecorded background of New Zealand’s Olympic champions provides some new and interesting insights into our gold medal winners from our first involvement in the Olympic Games through to the 1960’s.” (Fishpond)

Golden girls : celebrating New Zealand’s six female Olympic gold medallists / [Margot Butcher]. (2010)
“From long jumper Yvette Williams (now Yvette Corlett) to windsurfer Barbara Kendall, cyclist Sarah Ulmer, rowers Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell to shot-putter Valerie Vili, the courage, strength and sheer guts of these extraordinary women are combined as their stories, achievements and sporting records are brought together in a single volume.” (Worldcat)

Our Olympic century / Joseph Romanos. (2008)
“A landmark book that contains the story of New Zealand’s first 100 years at the Olympic Games, presented in an attractive, easy-to-read format.” (Global Books)

New Zealand’s top 100 sports history-makers / Joseph Romanos. (2006)
“Those profiled in the sports book include not just famous All Blacks and Olympians, but snooker players, shearers, mountaineers, long-distance swimmers, speedway stars, cross-country skiers and disabled athletes. Our sports superstars, such as Peter Snell, Edmund Hillary, Richard Hadlee and Colin Meads, are all there. But so, too, are many other influential sports figures, like rugby administrator Jock Hobbs, netball coach Lois Muir and rowing guru Dick Tonks. The book includes pre-World War I heroes Bob Fitzsimmons, Anthony Wilding, Billy Wallace and Dave Gallaher, and recent achievers, including Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, Stacey Jones, Stephen Fleming, Sarah Ulmer and Wynton Rufer. New Zealand’s Top 100 Sports History-Makers is outstandingly illustrated and researched. It will provide fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the people who have done New Zealand sport proud.” (Fishpond)