Paris Olympics 2024: Ten books for an Olympics deep-dive

Discover a variety of books on the Olympic Games, from history to fiction, offering insights into sports, politics, and history.

The Olympic Games have not attracted writers in the manner individual Olympic sports have. That’s not surprising. You can be a fan of golf (John Updike) or tennis (David Foster Wallace) or wrestling (John Irving) or boxing (Joyce Carol Oates) or football (Eduardo Galeano) and write about these with passion and insight. The Olympic canvas, however, is too large and too varied for that kind of writing. There has to be a necessary pruning. 

Books on the Olympic Games can be divided into: history (including books on specific Games like the 1960, 1896 or 1972 editions); biographies and autobiographies; the dark side of the Games; a single event or a theme (The Dirtiest Race in History, about the Johnson-Lewis 100m final); stories of overcoming the odds; the political and economic impact of the Games; and finally, fiction. 

For long, every four years, the standard reference was David Wallechinsky’s The Complete Book of the Olympics, but the last edition was in 2016, and it hasn’t found a successor. 

Here are some books on the Olympics you might enjoy: 

An enjoyable read which by extension tells the story of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Olympics may be about sport; it is equally about politics and history, and is better understood in the larger context. The Games did not become a spectacle till the 1930s. In 1932, Los Angeles introduced the three-tiered podium, and national anthems. Four years later, in Berlin, came the torch relay. As the runners approached the stadium, they became “exclusively blond-haired and blue-eyed Aryans”, says the author. 

An intriguing romp through ‘Hitler’s Games’ with a wide cast of characters, and written in the form of a diary with novelistic flair. The research is extensive, and we learn of such transformations as that of the writer Thomas Wolfe who began as an admirer of the German state before turning sceptic. A final chapter detailing what became of those in the book is fascinating. 

A riveting book combining the inspiring tale of India’s first gold medallist with the cautionary tale of India’s officialdom where apathy is a guiding light. The book is the story of two journeys — one physical, to championships and training around the world, and the other internal, through self-doubt, self-awareness, and a zen-like acceptance of things as they are.