The Olympic Odyssey: Rekindling the True Spirit of the Great Games

This book is an inspiring read. It offers a thorough history of the ultimate sporting venue, the Olympics, and explores the very nature of our fascination with and awe of athletic performance. It is as much about the human heart and spirit as it is about the Games.

In January, I wrote a negative review of this book due to ten factual inaccuracies that jumped out at me. Since then, corrections have been made, and, I must admit, it is one uplifting read. I understand that the U.S. Olympic Committee will be providing one copy to each athlete heading for Athens in August. Good for them. It transcends the world of sports and games. A little treasure for anyone in search of positive ways to deal with life's daily challenges.

Cousineau has written a deeply inspiring book about what's at the heart of athletic competition. By ditching the dish about joyless promoters, greedy agents and big money sports stars and instead packing in amazing and inspiring stories of effort and courage by athletes and coaches from as far back as the 8th century B.C.E. up to the 2000 games, Cousineau maps out an impassioned blueprint for reclaiming "the soul of sports." The timeless "olympic" lessons he relays, the heart-swelling tear-jerking stories he tells will inspire not only Olympic athletes (every Olympic hopeful should have this book in their gym bag) and players in the big leagues, but also kids on school teams, parents of young athletes, everyone who just loves to play, and sports fans of all stripes. The section on coaching alone is worth the price of the book. If every coach or parent-coach digested the wisdom from legendary "Philosopher Coaches" such as John Wooden and Percy Cerutty, honored "The 10 Commandments of True Sportsmanship," and followed the author's own wise suggestions for "rekindling the true spirit of the great games" every kid would be involved in team sports and loving it! (A startling statistic in the book--75% of all kids stop playing sports by age 12.)

For somebody who appreciates sports about as much as dental surgery, I found OLYMPIC ODYSSEY fascinating and quite moving, taking us back to the mythological and spiritual beginnings of sport in Western culture. It's all in Cousineau's deft weaving of past & present, returning often to the well to let us drink from the source, instead of the subsequent hype, smoke and mirrors. In his ONCE AND FUTURE MYTHS, he was Odysseus keeping his journals; in this book he's become the dextrous Penelope, weaving, weaving the ancient stories into a tapestry that isn't destroyed each night. OLYMPIC ODYSSEY fuses two deep parts of the author, sport and myth, and he writes from the soul. He ends with a plea to return sport to its once sacred origins, and a blueprint for doing so. I can't think of a better reason to read a book than to have your perspective changed and your mind (and heart) expanded.