The Games Author:Hugh Atkinson This huge, irresistibly fascinating, brilliantly authentic novel sweeps the reader into the private worlds of the Olympics and of the men and women whose lives are caught up in them-the athletes, forcing themselves beyond the limits of pain and endurance; the powerful Committee, responsible for maintaining the Olympic ideal; the even more powerf... more »ul international interests, whose competition to secure the Games is so fierce that even the incorruptible old Chairman of the Committee is unwittingly maneuvered into a decision charged with danger for the athletes themselves...
At the center of this arena of ambition, dedication and manipulation are three great runners who will compete in the classic event of the Olympics: the Marathon.
One is a quiet young Englishman under the domination of a brilliant but fanatic trainer; one, an American, competing at the risk of his life; one, an Australian aborigine whose astounding gift of speed has plunged him into a life that frightens and confuses him.
AQs the complex preparations for the Games unfold, as the behind-the-scenes tensions mount, as scandals are uncovered and hushed, The Games rushes to the fateful day of the Marathon itself-in which the lives of the three long-distance runners and the whole complex, multifaceted world of Olympic athletes and power brokers come together in a shattering climax.« less