Golden Girl
How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The story of Natalie Coughlin's remarkable battle back from injury and burnout to be-come America's Golden Girl—a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in swimming and the most decorated female athlete at the 2004 Olympics
Five years ago, Natalie Coughlin's promising swimming career was all but extinguished when a devastating shoulder injury ended her dreams for the 2000 Olympics. After becoming, at age 15, the first person ever to qualify for all 14 women's events at the U.S. Nationals, she seemed destined to follow the path of so many other young swimming stars—devoured by an oppressive training schedule.
In Golden Girl, Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver—coauthor of many bestselling sports memoirs—including Dennis Rodman's, Kurt Warner's, and Jerry Rice's—tells the story of Natalie's remarkable journey back from the brink. With complete access to her family, friends, coaches, teammates, and adversaries, Silver details how she made the crucial choice to train with University of California coach Teri McKeever. Together the two, star and coach, have defied long-standing training methods, forcing the swimming community to rethink the ways in which it treats its talent. An inspirational story of a complex and courageous young athlete, Golden Girl is also a fascinating portrait of the fractious world of competitive swimming.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This story of professional swimmer and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin personalizes an athlete's strife on her way to the top, her fight against those predicting her fall and her internal struggles against illness, injury and the pressures of the sport. Perhaps "the most talented woman swimmer of her generation," Coughlin found herself facing questions from the press like, "How does it feel to dishonor your country?" following her harsh defeat in the 2003 FINA World Championship preliminaries-brought on by illness-that immediately preceded her Olympic victory. Tracking her progress from college on, the book has a scenic, nonlinear organization that makes it a bit confusing, but includes fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of Coughlin's coach Teri McKeever, her competition, her actor/football player father and his twin, and the training strategies involved in making a world-class athlete. Rich in detail, this a dramatic and humanizing portrait of an iconic American athlete.
