Get Ready to Go For the Gold!

The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics by David Wallechinsky

This edition of The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics is a perfect companion to watching the games. Packed with results of every event ever contested, it has just the right blend of history, observation, and insight.

Red Mercury by Max Barclay

Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996. The Centennial Olympic Games. A homemade pipe bomb goes off in Centennial Park and makes international news. But behind the scenes the U.S. Government discovers a stash of stolen weapons-grade plutonium whose radioactive trail leads right to downtown Atlanta. Mack McFall, the brilliant leader of NEST, the U. S. government's secret Nuclear Emergency Search Team, leads a massive hunt for the stolen plutonium. His partner is special agent Kyle Preston, the bureau's highest-ranking female field officer, and squad leader of the elite FBI Olympic Counter-Terrorist Task Force.

Long Journey Home by Don Coldsmith

Set in the early twentieth century, Long Journey Home is the story of one man's life, the Native American John Buffalo.

John Buffalo is pushed to train for track and field events, with an eye toward the Olympics. His training introduces him to Jim Thorpe, 1912 winner of two gold medals in track and field, who was later stripped of them. He meets Bill Picket, the black cowboy who invented steer wrestling and one of the creators of the world's largest Wild West show. Together, these athletes and showmen travel to Mexico, South America, and Europe.

Along the way to an Olympic Gold Medal, John Buffalo meets and interacts with a variety of early twentieth-century celebrities including Theodore Roosevelt, Tim McCoy and even Jesse Owens, the African-American gold medal winner snubbed by Hitler.

In Lane Three by Tessa Duder

Fifteen-year-old Alex struggles to overcome personal trauma and hardship as she competes with her arch rival for a place on the New Zealand swimming team participating in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

More Than Gold by Shirley Hailstock

More Than Gold is a nonstop, roller coaster ride of thrills and chills coupled with a riveting romance between a hero and heroine who are fearlessly brave, smart, and passionately committed to survival.

Going for Gold by Emma Lathen

Set during the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, a shot rings out on the ski slopes. The result is the death of the French skier, the gold medal favorite. On the sidelines, banker-detective John Thatcher comes to realize that he is no longer a spectator, but an investigator in what could be a cover-up of a more complicated crime. Thatcher works through a blizzard, a sinister ski coach and learns that going for the gold may have a second meaning.

Achilles Choice by Larry Niven

This novel is about love, life and sport. Based on a future Olympics where not only physical perfection is required but also extreme intelligence. It is a story where the prize is inspired by elite athletes, and practical meets theoretical. It is a story of choices. Choose wrong and you may die. Either way you need to be fully committed to your decisions. If you are going to aim high in life, then this is where you would be.

Dreams of Gold by Maynard Thomson

In the first novel to capture the heart-stopping excitement of world-class figure skating, Maynard F. Thomson tells the story of a young skater with the courage to confront an Olympic challenge and personal demons as she makes a daring leap for her Dreams of Gold.