The Olympics Strangest Moments

By Geoff Tibballs, published by HarperCollins, RRP $24.99

If you and yours — especially those reluctant boy readers of the family — have a taste for entertaining and topical trivia, this is will appeal.

The style often borders on breathless Boys' Own prose, but this doesn't diminish the goldmine of trivial facts which in the end stack up as an inspiring and thought- provoking window on 112 years of Games history.

There's tales of outstanding courage and endurance, like the Titanic survivor who refused amputation of frost-bitten legs and returned to top tennis form; the Danish equestrienne who came back after polio paralysis; the Hungarian marksman who regained gold after learning to shoot again after loosing his right hand; the Japanese gymnast who competed with a broken knee.

There's the all-time greats like Zatopek, Rudolph and Bikela, and also the spectacular non-winners, who often gained respect and affection for struggling against the odds.

Sideline stories highlight episodes like athletes having to bring their own food to the impoverished 1948 London Games, and the fake Olympic torch of flaming underpants insinuated by Sydney students into the Melbourne Games lead-up.

More seriously, the stories show how politics has always infected sport, impacting on judging, spectator behaviour and the very hosting of the Games.

Revisiting the 1936 Berlin Olympics is a sobering read in 2008.

It's useful to see controversies like boycotts in historical perspective, or the moral stand taken by the Black Power protestors at Mexico City in 1968, supported by fellow sportsmen and reviled by the media back home.

In places there's rather too much sport detail for the non-sport fan, but Tibballs delivers so much else of general interest, and a nice cynicism sneaks in: he defines race walking as designed by someone with a leg impediment or a strange upbringing.

- © Fairfax NZ News