Sir Steve Redgrave is one of the all-timegreats of rowing. He is the only male athleteto have won gold in an endurance event infive consecutive Olympiads. His heroics tookplace between the Moscow Games of 1980and the Games in Sydney in 2000. Here,Redgrave shares the stories of sportinggreatness that inspired him during his extraordinary career.Among the figures he cites are Baron Pierre de Coubertin,Spyridon Louis, Emil Zatopek, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali,Roger Bannister, Dick Fosbury, Carl Lewis, Cathy Freeman,Pete Sampras, David Beckham, Oscar Pistorius and manymore. The book reminds us of these legends in chapters withsuch evocative titles as "Belief", "Overcoming Adversity","Obsession", "Competitiveness" "Teamwork", "Luck", and"Perseverance". It is a fine tribute paid by an athlete to theheroes who ignited a spark and gave him the strength andthe motivation to fulfil his dreams.Right Roger Bannister, one of Sir Steve Redgrave'sOlympic heroes, becomes the first man to run the mile in under four minutes 80OLYMPIC REVIEWSPORTS ET MÉDIAS:DU XIXESIÈCLE À NOSJOURS (SPORT AND MEDIA:FROM THE 19TH CENTURYTO THE PRESENT DAY)Edited by Michael Attali, published byAtlantica, 2010. ISBN 9782758801603,831 pages, in FrenchNowadays, the interdependence between sport and themedia seems perfectly obvious. Each is crucial to thesurvival of the other. Thanks to television, the print mediaand the constantly-developing Internet, it is now possibleto follow sport anywhere and at any time via an immenserange of audio-visual media. Here, sports historianMichael Attali has brought together a number of experts who analyse how sport has become ubiquitousin local, national and international newspapers while, atthe same time, highlighting the transformation on bothsides resulting from this relationship. Revolutions in technology and the creation of newtypes of sport are just some of the subjects tackled in thesecond part of the book. A total of 60 articles exploringthese issues make this a reference work equally useful to university libraries, journalists and those engaged in sport. LA SAGA DESPÉDESTRIANS, TOME 2:LES GÉANTS DE LA COURSEÀ PIED, DE 1896 À 1970 Noël Tamini, published by Edior, 2010.ISBN 978274660930, 335 pages, in FrenchNoël Tamini continues to recall the key moments in the historyof running. In this second volume we find legendary andlesser-known champions of the period between 1896 and the1970s. Incredible stories, some unknown, others barelytouched upon. Abebe Bikila, the proud Ethiopian who ranbarefoot but met a sad fate; the Frenchman Alain Mimoun,the epitome of tenacity; Emil Zatopek, the grimacing pioneer;Juan Carlos Zabala of Argentina, the orphan who grew oldbefore his time. Then there was Ahmed Boughèra El-Ouafi,who won Olympic gold in 1928 but ended up destitute andwas murdered by mistake, and Francisco Lazaro, thePortuguese who died in the small hours after the marathon atthe 1912 Olympic Games. There are more stories, bothdisturbing and inspirational. The Italian Dorando Pietri ledheading for the finish of the marathon at the 1908 LondonGames but was then disqualified because officials helped himacross the line. Spyridon Louis was the mysterious winner ofthe first marathon in 1896.This Greek water-carrier did muchfor the cause of the marathon while also contributing to thesudden popularity of the Olympic Games. Most of all heshowed that running was a sport within everyone's reach. Andthen there was Paavo Nurmi, winner of seven Olympic goldmedals who was later harshly banned for receiving payments. THE PERFECTION POINT John Brenkus, published by Harper, 2010. ISBN 9780061845451, 242 pages,in EnglishOn 6 May 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile(1609.34 metres) in a time of three minutes and 59.4seconds! Until then, observers and scientists agreed that noone could run this distance in less than four minutes. Today,more than 300 athletes have improved on that time andHicham El-Guerrouj's current world record stands at threeminutes 43.13 seconds. John Brenkus, a respected sportsanalyst, takes this highly symbolic example as the startingpoint for his exploration of the absolute limits of humanperformance. Basing his investigations on existing worldrecords, on the techniques demanded by each sport and ondevelopments in science and technology, Brenkus attempts toestablish exactly where these limits lie, where the "perfectionpoint" is. He sticks his neck out and makes numerouspredictions. For example, he calculates that the longest timeduring which a human being can stay without drawing breathwill be achieved somewhere around the year 2672 and willnot exceed 14 minutes, 47 seconds. The overall conclusionsof this captivating book are accessible to all and, althoughintended to encourage debate, they seem perfectly plausible.Selection proposed by the IOC Library, 1, Quai d'Ouchy, P.O. Box 1001, Lausanne, Switzerland. Tel. +41 (0)21 621 66 11. Fax +41(0)21 621 67 18. Visit the website www.olympic.org/library (loans service, on-line catalogue, list of new acquisitions, lists of themed bibliographies).SIR STEVE REDGRAVE AND SUE MOTT,PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE, 2010. ISBN9780755319657, 309 PAGES, IN ENGLISHINSPIRED:STORIESOFSPORTINGGREATNESS