Gold Medal for Weird

Gordon Turner is the author of Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific’s
Greatest Ship and the editor of SeaFare, a quarterly newsletter on sea
travel.

The gold in this case applies only to the Olympic Games. Almost 90 stories are listed, one to a page, with amusing sketches by the author. The tales include the summer and winter games, a few from the early Olympics of Ancient Greece but most from the modern era, which began in 1896. The book is subdivided into chapters that include cheating, incredulous instances, money, injuries, spectators, scandals, wardrobe malfunctions, politics, sports that have fallen out of favour and sports (some seemingly pastimes rather than sports) that hope to be included in future games. Canada is well represented in the anecdotes.

Some of the entries qualify for the word weird, such as pigeon shooting using live birds, but others, which describe courage, sportsmanship, and success in the face of adversity, do not. Still, it is an easily readable and entertaining book and the author has a pleasant, conversational style. It is likely to appeal to the 10 to 12 age group. Recommended.