Olympic treat for book lovers!

While Olympics being the flavour of the season, bookstores are filled with a range of books focusing on the big sporting extravaganza.

Harper Collins has come up with four books pertaining to Olympics including Olympics: The India Story , A shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold , Bhiwani Junction: The untold story of Boxing in India and The Ultimate Olympic Quiz Book .

Olympics: The India Story by Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta demonstrates that India was an important strategic outpost in the Olympic family.

It explores why the Indian elite became obsessed with the Olympic ideal at the turn of the 20th century and how this relates to India’s quest for a meaningful role on the international stage.

First published in 2008, this revised edition of the book includes a new, a clear and direct chapter on India’s medal prospects at the London Olympics, thus bringing India’s Olympic story up to date.

A Shot at History: My obsessive journey to Olympic Gold is the autobiography of one of India’s greatest sportsmen, Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the first-ever Gold medal for India at Olympics.

The book talks about how Bindra’s victory was not just a personal triumph, it was a gift to his nation, a breaking down of a sporting barrier that had stood for a century. Bindra’s feat has taught his peers, and those yet to come, that an Olympic gold isn’t an impossible dream.

Sportswriter Rohit Brijnath along with Abhinav Bindra himself have tried to highlight in the book that how in ranges, on fields, in arenas, Indian athletes now own a new belief, they wear the knowledge that no challenge is beyond them.

Another book Bhiwani Junction: The untold story of boxing in India ’ by popular Sports Journalist Shamya Dasgupta has chronicled the journey how Vijender Singh’s one medal in Beijing has changed the fortunes of an entire sport in India and how it has dramatically transformed one town, Bhiwani.

“The nation now knows Bhiwani as being synonymous with the handsome Olympian heartthrob and then some. Boxing is the new sexy, Vijender is the face of it, and Bhiwani is its home ” says Dasgupta.

The Ultimate Olympic Quizbook by Mumbai-based senior sports journalist Suvam Pal celebrates the unbeatable spirit and optimism of the Greatest Show on Earth through quizzes and factoids that encapsulate some of the most fascinating tales of success and failure, and those never seen before or after moments.

From the ancient Olympiads to Coubertin’s modern Games; from the lesser known facts about the Winter Games to India’s icons and forgotten heroes, this book has all the answers to every question that readers might have about the Olympics.

Olympic Book delights are not just targeted at the sports enthusiasts but the publishers also have much in store for kids too.

Tulika Publishers have released two paperbacks for the young readers including ‘India’s Olympic Story’ and ‘India at Olympic Games’

Revving up the mood for the 2012 Games in London, India at the Olympic Games answers more than just these questions.

Anecdotes, timeliness, milestones and trailblazers follow the growth of the biggest and most spectacular sporting event in the world, from its origins in Greece to modern times. The spotlight then turns on India’s participation in the Games.

Whereas India’s Olympic Story talks about the journey of Olympics beginning from the games’ origin in Ancient Greece and brings readers up to date with the Olympic movement, its philosophy, and its development into the world’s largest sporting spectacle.

Highs and lows, individual and collective achievements, the evolution of a spirit of preservation of different cultures, controversial events, as well as facts and figures are judiciously featured, along with fun cartoons and timeless photos.

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