Biography & Autobiography: Sport

New Zealand has a proud athletic history dating back to the 1800s. Never before has there been a book that includes so many New Zealand runners, and in such rich detail. The Kiwi Runners' Family Tree tells the stories of over 100 running related athletes and coaches, focusing on ...the interconnections between the generations as well as the important relationships within those generations. This family tree has wellgrounded roots, a strong trunk and a vast amount of experience, knowledge and inspiration coursing through its branches. The book expertly tells the many interconnected stories of New Zealand's runners, from sprinters through to ultramarathoners, as well as hurdlers, steeplechasers, race walkers and Para athletes. Each chapter incapsulates athletes' achievements, inspirations, coaches and compatriots. The athletes' stories, some never been told before, are complemented by many fascinating photos. The Kiwi Runners' Family Tree features more than 20 personal interviews with athletes, administrators and coaches, to ensure historical and statistical accuracy.
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'At high speed everything becomes more difficult and more beautiful. When you're racing at 180mph, the semi-bends become bends, the little holes become big holes, everything becomes extreme and bigger. And then it becomes beautiful.' Valentino Rossi is an icon: the most successfu...l and most loved motorcycle racer of all time, he has transcended MotoGP to become a symbol of courage, risk and daring. To race for twenty-three years at the very highest level of the world's most dangerous sport is unprecedented. But then, there has never been a motorcycle racer like Valentino Rossi. He is a modern-day gladiator, a man who still risks his life every time he throws a leg over a motorcycle. Yet for all his two-wheel talents, it is Rossi's endearing character that has seen him transcend the sport. His popularity is phenomenal. For Rossi, every race is a home race. He turns MotoGP grandstands across the world a sea of yellow - his traditional lucky colour. In more than two decades of Grand Prix racing, Rossi has seen it all. The deaths of rivals and friends, the glory of his unprecedented success, serious injuries, fabulous wealth, the greatest battles ever seen on two wheels, the infamous on and off-track clashes with his fiercest rivals . . . Using exclusive new interviews with those who have been part of Rossi's story from start to finish, critically-acclaimed and bestselling motorsport author Stuart Barker has produced the most in-depth book ever written about the Italian superstar - a tale of speed, love and loss, told in full for the very first time, in all its adrenalin-charged, high-octane glory.
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Why did the sacking of rugby player Israel Folau over his social media posts become one of the nation's most polarizing controversies? How could one man's religious views activate so many people in modern Australia? And what does the sides people found themselves on tell us about... the kind of country we've become? Starting with this striking incident, triple Walkley Award winning journalist Malcolm Knox paints a vivid portrait of the divisions that underlie our recent history, from marriage equality to the covid lockdown. He shows how free speech has become the new flashpoint of the 'culture wars', and how it remains our deepest national faultline.
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In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just t...hat. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived.
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The updated edition of Luca Caioli's brilliant biography of Barcelona star Lionel Messi, now covering the 2019/2020 season.