Gymnast's Memoir Books

[Amber]

Kim Zmeskal also had abook…

 

[phoenix7]

Thanks very much for the list. There is also Antinana Mizu, Parallel Life, a biography of Laura Cutina (Romania 1983-5 including LA Olympics)

 

[OnlyBeansOnToast]

There are some truly awful titles in there, the post-2010 crop especially. "Courage To Soar" is a particular low point.

Don't know if it counts, but I never get tired of flagging the entertainingly dreadful Gym Mom: The Twists and Turns of Your Daughter's Gymnastics Career (2012), by Rita "Jordyn's Mother" Wieber. Still waiting for her to produce a second edition without the pages and pages of praise for the man she credits with making her child such a success, Larry Nassar.

 

[KristyJ]

Keri's book ordered, so I can read along. I already have Sey's.

 

[eanda]

This thread has me actively looking for books now, although I'm not sure I want to spend my time on all of them - I mean, if I didn't really want to watch their 60-second routine, do I want to read their memoir?

Searching for some older memoirs, I discovered Larissa Latynina had one called Balance. Gymnastics History has a translation of a review of the book. I'm well past the days of being able to read anything in Russian, not to mention the challenge of finding a copy, but for me this one would be interesting.

I thought I remembered Louis Smith had a memoir and found My Story So Far (2013).

Following "similar items" I found these:
Nile Wilson has a few books: My Story (2022); Raising the Bar: How Gymnastics Can Change Your Life (2019); and a third that seems to be more of a motivational/self-help type book.

Lance Ringnald - It's Not Just Gymnastics, It's Life (2012)

 

[Big_rock_show]

I get kind of skeptical about books that are written so immediately after a gymnast's success. I'm always nervous that they lack the element of perspective due to not letting some time elapse to fully process the extent of their experiences. Sometimes hindsight is the best part of one's story.

 

[eanda]

Agreed. I imagine a lot of them are even largely pre-written with a ghost writer to be able to publish quickly and maximize on a moment.

 

[RichardL]

Agreed. I imagine a lot of them are even largely pre-written with a ghost writer to be able to publish quickly and maximize on a moment.

Yes, I'm in this world and it's extremely common. Sometimes the "author" doesn't even read the book.

 

[OnlyBeansOnToast]

Yes, I'm in this world and it's extremely common. Sometimes the "author" doesn't even read the book.

I can't believe you're suggesting that Beth Tweddle might not actually have been the author of the literary classic that is 2012's Becoming An Olympic Gymnast.

 

[Amber]

Unwilling routine by Stasja Kohler and the Heitinga sisters, the start of the abuse schandal in Dutch gymnastics. It is vile ans socking, I am willing to summarize it if there is interst in it

 

[JDB]

I read Dominique Moceanu's book when I was a kid. It was meant to cash in on the run-up to the Olympics. It even included a chapter on how start values worked and one on the rhythmic gymnastics apparatus. Off Balance at least credited Moceanu's co-writers.

To add to the list, Bianka Panova published In the Name of the Big Goal: Behind the Scenes in Bulgarian.

 

[youwannacranson]

Alexandra Marinescu's book is genuinely impossible to find anywhere online. When I visited to watch RomGym Trophy in 2023 I saw a rare used bookstore had one copy listed on their website, and the lovely owner spent 15 minutes trying to locate it for me.

I still haven't read it, but I did scan it into a pdf (apologies not the greatest quality) for anybody interested. It is the Romanian version.

 

[QuietColours]

I'm going to take a week to get a little ahead in case something happens, then I'll start doing recaps of Kerri's book on 9/27--one chapter a day, unless some of them are unexpectedly short.

 

[KristyJ]

I'm going to take a week to get a little ahead in case something happens, then I'll start doing recaps of Kerri's book on 9/27--one chapter a day, unless some of them are unexpectedly short.

My copy came today so I will start reading

 

[Lisaelaine80]

Galieva really needs a book.

 

[RichardL]

Galieva really needs a book.

She was about to win the Olympic beam gold medal if not for that fall, after what was an insane career trajectory that included her being replaced in an Olympic AA final by the eventual winner. So crazy. Her comeback in 1996 was amazing but I wish she would've been able to make more of it.