Going for gold: Australian Olympians and other champions by Loretta Barnard
Ill. by Gregory Rogers. Random House Australia. ISBN 9781742755656.
(Age: 9+) This book appears to have been published in anticipation
of
Australia's participation in the 2012 London Olympics. There are 178
pages in hard copy, and it has also been published as an ebook. Of
special note are the illustrations of Gregory Rogers - delicate,
shaded
b & w line drawings. The writing style is less notable with
occasional flippant comments, which do not add to the overall
quality
or humour of the text.
There is an attractive, uncrowded, inviting layout. Similar sports
are
logically grouped together in sections eg In the pool, Ball games,
On
the track. There are good-sized sub-headings within each sport. Page
numbers, sports and sections are clearly marked at the bottom of
each
page. The reader can explore the history of each sport, athlete
profiles, clear explanations of how each sport is played, and Did
you
know? fact and trivia boxes.
Contents (sports only), Introduction and Index (athletes only) are
included. There are lists of sports played at the Summer Olympics,
Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and also Australia's medal tallies
from each of the above.
There are some amazing stories of Australian Olympic participants eg
Snowy Baker (1908), the only Australian to have competed in 3
different
sports (swimming, diving, boxing); Shirley Strickland (1948), the
photo
of the finish line in the 200 metre final shows her in 3rd place,
but
without reference to the photo, the judges placed her 4th; and
Steven
Bradbury (2002), Winter Olympics gold medal, when he was the only
man
left standing in the final of the 1000 metre speed skating.
It is pleasing to see Louise Sauvage and Michael Milton in the
Paralympics section, but a shame that current, outstanding
Australian
paralympians, shooter Libby Kosmala and swimmer Matthew Cowdrey were
omitted. Conversely, it seems strange to include some Australian
sporting champions eg. in tennis and soccer, who did not compete in
the
Olympic Games, as this book is ostensibly about the Olympic Games.
This book is appropriate for readers of 9+ years, but will have wide
audience appeal. It is suitable for simply dipping into or for
research
purposes.
Margaret Strickland