The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Athens 2004 (Complete Book of the Olympics) - Hardcover

David Wallechinsky is a renowned Olympic historian, NBC radio commentator and author of several reference books, including the Book of Lists and the People¡¯s Almanac Presents the 20th Century. His work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times Magazine and Parade, and he has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Nightline, and PBS¡¯s News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

The gold medal for chronicling the modern Olympics, at every Olympiad since the Los Angeles Summer Games of 1984, has gone to renowned historian David Wallechinsky. His magnus opus, The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, has been called the bible of the Olympics. Completely updated for the 2004 Athens Games, this ultimate reference book contains all-time Olympic records, statistics and medal standings, as well as results of the top eight finishers in every Olympic event from 1896 to 2000. It also carries, in Wallechinsky¡¯s colorful narrative style, a complete history of the Games plus the inside stories of the major competitors and events in each and every Olympiad.

The Wall Street Journal has called The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics ¡°a staggering compendium of results, highlights and oddment¡±, while Los Angeles Times trumpets it as the ¡°ultimate Olympic source book.¡± The No. 1 reference source for Olympic media, athletes and fans, Wallechinsky¡¯s work also abounds with facts and anecdotes that leave readers feeling as if they were present at the finish line and, later that evening, in the athletes¡¯ village. Wallechinsky glides effortlessly through more than a century of Olympic lore to bring to life such legendary champions as Jim Thorpe, Paavo Nurmi and Jesse Owens. He takes readers into the ring with Cassius Clay, into the pool with Mark Spitz and onto the balance beam with Nadia Com¨£neci, while also paying tribute to such modern-era stars as Greg Louganis, Carl Lewis and Steve Redgrave in passages that explore the drama behind the medals.

Wallechinsky also examines the dark side of the Olympics, recounting boycotts, terrorism, IOC corruption and the modern scourge, doping. He leaves no issue unattended and no winner unrecognized in a book that¡¯s been hailed as an ¡°Olympian piece of scholarship.¡±