Hearts Of Gold Stories Of Courage

In August 2004, the Olympic Games will return to their origins when Athens hosts the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad. Olympic fever will be high, and Canadians will tune in to watch their athletes perform. There is an intensity and a richness inherent in the Olympic Games that evokes emotion and brings out the best in the human spirit. Hearts of Gold is a collection of moving stories from over twenty Canadian Olympic athletes -- stories of the commitment, integrity and risk involved in a life in sport. But more than that, each story tells of an athlete who has faced extraordinary challenges -- physical adversity, political situations, technical mishaps -- and how he or she found the courage to rise above. Spanning a century, the book features athletes from summer and winter Olympic games from 1906 to today. Among them are Silken Laumann, who overcame a serious leg injury to win the bronze medal in single scull rowing; and Sammy Luftspring, a Jewish boxer who didn't compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in protest of the Nazi regime's treatment of Jews; and many others.