Total Olympics

Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic, and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing

By: Jeremy Fuchs

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

“An indispensable Olympic resource and a lot of pure fun.”––Jack McCallum, author of the New York Times bestseller Dream Team

Faster! Higher! Stronger! Stranger! A glorious tapestry of legendary characters, forgotten records, crazy accomplishments, unbelievable feats, wacky contests, and controversial moments, Total Olympics is pure pleasure for anyone who loves the world’s greatest sporting event.

Discover how the modern Games began, in an out-of-the-way Victorian English town named Much Wenlock. Long-discontinued Olympic sports like tug of war, firefighting, live pigeon shooting, and painting. (Picasso for the gold?) And the over-the-top, heroic exploits that make it all so thrilling––like the inspiring story of gymnast Shun Fujimoto who brought his team to victory while fighting through the pain of a broken knee. With hundreds of true stories, it’s a collection of sports yearns unlike any other.

Critic reviews

"Total Olympics is a must-have reference book heading into the Tokyo Games."—SB Nation's Land-Grant Holy Land

Interesting and Great Narration

Fun listing to all the stories, colorful history to learn. Great for preparing for the 2020 games.

Ok coverage of topic; difficult writing and performance

This book is not particularly well written or organized, but the topic is interesting enough to float the book. Both the book and the narration are overly dramatic to a laughable degree. (Many times the author leads with a tantalizing teaser followed by a disappointing ‘Welllll … not exactly’ that takes the air right out of it.) The narrator drags the book down further with his overly dramatic emphasis, the kind found in movie trailers and Seinfeld’s J. Peterman character. This book is not a total loss and I enjoyed the content, but the organization, writing and narration were difficult. I was considering giving a print copy as a holiday gift but have changed my mind.