Total Olympics tells the tales of legendary competitors, forgotten records, crazy accomplishments, unbelievable feats, wacky contests, and controversial moments. There's at least one photo per page but quite a bit of text. I'd say this would primarily be for middle school readers. It covers both summer and winter games.

The year was 1992. I was in fourth grade and my teacher was obsessed with the Olympics. She, in one of the craftiest and most pleasing self-care style lesson plans I’ve ever been taught, used the Albertville Winter Olympics as a way to teach us about the world. And that’s what she did.

She passed on her Olympics obsession to me.

My love of the Olympics has admittedly waned some in the years since, a thing I attribute to the ridiculous way the broadcasters pick four or five ‘ones to watch’ and mostly only talk about them for two weeks. But I’ll still watch the Games and, apparently, read about them.

Total Olympics: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic, and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing is, let’s be honest, an awfully long title for a book. It is also the only appropriate title for Jeremy Fuchs’ collection of anecdotes that make up this book. The stories are short, to the point, and delivered in a conversational style that makes it easy to read for ten minutes, take a break, tell your friends the random facts you just learned, and then go back to reading.

You don’t even need to fall down Wikipedia rabbit holes to find out more about the athletes and stories Fuchs highlights because, after you check one or two things at Wikipedia or elsewhere, you realize he’s already done all the research you need to know for you and you can sit back and have a good time while you wait for the Paris Games to start.

As it is a collection of short things, it’s hard to pick out favorites so we’ll just leave it at… if you love the Olympics and want to know more stories from them, the ones NBC broadcasters (if you’re American) skim over or don’t mention at all, this is the book you should have around.

My rating: 4 stars
Genres/Topics: history, sports, nonfiction, collections, Olympics

I received a copy of Total Olympics through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest & original review. All thoughts are my own.

Late to the table on this catching up with reading 2024.
I love both the summer olympics and winter olympics and proud to have attended both the paralympics and olympics in London 2012 so was please when I was asked to review this book.
This is book you can pick up and read in an afternoon, learn interesting facts around the history of the olympics, I expect the author was anticipating the launch of this book to coincide with 2020Tokyo - but as we all lived through Sars Covid-19 the olympics were sadly postponed to 2021. As with Sars Covid-19 other aspects impacted on the olympics, war, politics and religion which is outlined in this book.

An interesting read which I enjoyed.

Total Olympics by Jeremy Fuchs does justice to the grandeur and significance of the Olympic Games in modern times. Fuchs curates the important historical moments, from Jesse Owens defying racial barriers in the 1936 Berlin Games to the "Miracle on Ice" in 1980, to some lesser-known stories of athletes' triumphs and tragedies. I am not a big sports fan, but it was hard not to feel inspired and even wanting to pick up some athletic equipment after reading some of these stories

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was an interesting book full of Olympic stories, those about the athletes, the competition, and incidents that took place. Good reading material in advance of the next Olympics or just for those who really enjoy the games.

Such a fun read! Will definitely buy for my 6th and 7th graders. The stories are engrossing and a great jumping off point for deeper research projects. It is extremely readable with the authors voice being so accessible. I hope he puts out more nonfiction!

This was a fun book to read for any Olympics lover. Especially around the olympics where it is fresh in your mind. Definitely recommend and a 4 out of 5.

This is such an interesting book and gives you so much information on the Olympics that you might not know. At equal turns funny and inspiring, and I would recommend this to everyone, not just sports fans.

This was a fascinating book full of a wide range of stories from the history of the Olympics. From the athlete names we have all come to know and appreciate to those from ancient Greece and the early iterations of what eventually grew to become the global competition we now know as the Olympic Games. Learning about how politics and international relations impact athletic performance and how athletes can change political climates with how they perform as well. All in all, a great read I'd suggest to others for sure.

As someone who loves the Olympics, behind the scenes info, and quirky stories and snippets, I really enjoyed this book. It would make a great gift for any sports fan as there is a little something for everyone.

Love the design of this book as well. It's small but structured like a coffee table book.

An overall entertaining book about the history of the modern Olympics and the athletes involved in them, this book covers it all: the good, the bad, the tragic, the comedic, the rise of some sports and the fall of others. A lot of short biographies of athletes got old after awhile and i skimmed through many of them, but i quite enjoyed the lesser known history aspects.

Entertaining and interesting for Olympics fans, sports fans, and trivia fans

I received an Arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

An Absolute MUST for every fan of the Olympics! This little book has facts and "oh-by-the-ways" you've never heard of. There are amazing stories, shining examples that prove Olympians are the heroes we think they are, tales of terrifically awful accidents that hold no one back, accounts of many not being recognized for their glory, some dying too young, and one heroine who thought she'd signed up for something completely different, won gold medals and went home happily ignorant of the whole thing. A reporter doing research years after her death found her progeny and while interviewing them discovered she never knew she was an Olympian who had won gold medals. . . .CRAZY STUFF!

The author starts at the beginning, and goes through all the different Olympics, touching on the hard times, war times, and odd teams that come together for reasons of their times. There was even a refugee Olympian team. He mentions people who got into trouble for infractions that were later par for the course. He lists out Olympic events no longer held, and ones he hopes will be held. All totally entertaining.

Great work by the author to get this out and ready for the reading public right prior to the next Olympics! This is a fun read, a thoughtful read - full of the wonder of our Olympians.

A Sincere Thanks to Jeremy Fuchs, Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

#TotalOlympics #NetGalley

I love the Olympics.

There’s something so captivating about watching someone at the peak of their performance do what it is that they do best. This notion of being recognized as the literal best in the world at something – fascinating.

And that’s what the Olympics do. They celebrate the glory of athletic achievement (as well as nationalistic jingoism and bureaucratic graft, but still).

There’s more to the Olympics than the winners, however. For every famous gold medalist’s face gracing a Wheaties box, there are scores of stories of those who were just as excellent, yet now linter in obscurity. Not to mention those who, for whatever reason, never quite reached the same iconic pinnacle. And just like anything that has been around for more than a century (or centuries, if you start counting from its Greek origins), a lot has changed – both good and bad.

These are the sorts of stories that you’ll find in Jeremy Fuchs’s new book “Total Olympics: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing.” Yes, you’ll get stories of the giants of various eras – Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Mary Lou Retton, Michael Phelps – but you’ll also be reminded of (or learn for the first time) names of exceptional athletes with less longstanding cultural resonance.

In addition, Fuchs has brought forward numerous tales of Olympic history, digging into some of the behind-the-scenes chicanery that came with hosting the event and revisiting some of the wild and weird competitions that were once part of the proceedings.

It’s a compact and fun trip through the history of the Games, a catch-all of trivia, biographical sketches and fascinating forgotten moments. Anyone with affection for the Olympics will find plenty to enjoy in these pages.

“Total Olympics” is broken into six chapters, each with its own focus. First up is “Forgotten History,” where we look back at aspects of past Games that have been largely lost to time. Stuff like the pure hustle that led to Squaw Valley securing the bid for the 1960 Games, a house of cards scheme that somehow held together long enough to prove successful. The so-called “Austerity Games” – the 1948 London Olympics, the first since the end of World War II. The legendary 1956 water polo match – dubbed “Blood in the Water” – between Hungary and the Soviet Union just as the latter country was attempting to put down the former.

Chapter three is “Wild and Strange,” wherein we get a look at some of the oddest happenings in the history of the Olympics. We meet Shizo Kanikuri, a Japanese marathoner who began his race in 1912 … and finished in in 1967. We learn that George Patton – as in General Patton – was an Olympic athlete who competed in the pentathlon. The Swedish pentathlete who was the first to be disqualified for drinking. The Cold War love story between a hammer thrower from Boston and a Czechoslovakian discus thrower. The list goes on.

“Discontinued Sports” is a hoot, offering looks at some of the sports that were once a part of the illustrious annals of Olympic history, but are no longer. You probably are aware of some – tug of war is one that everyone is delighted to learn was once part of the Games – but there are others that you’ve never even considered. The rope climb. Plunging for distance. The obstacle swim. Dueling and live pigeon shooting. Solo synchronized swimming. Incongruous things like firefighting and auto racing. And, in perhaps my favorite of them all, art – the Pentathlon of the Muses, with medals awarded for painting, sculpture, music, architecture and literature, was part of every Games from 1912 to 1948.

Other chapters like “Legends,” “Firsts” and “Forgotten Heroes” also bring together a vast array of trivial tidbits.

“Total Olympics” is absolutely jammed with sporting history. The risk one runs with trying to cover such a broad spectrum is that the items blur together, but Fuchs has constructed the book in such a way as to balance our engagement, eschewing chronology for a more holistic approach. And it works – it sometimes seems as if there is a surprise on every page.

These are the stories that make the Olympics special. They are the stories that give us the perspective on the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat alike, all in the context of the world’s greatest sporting event. While the Games may not carry the luster they once did, books like this one remind us of why we love the Olympic Games – and why we hopefully anticipate the rescheduled Tokyo Games coming our way in just a couple of months.

“Total Olympics” is a delightful read, packed with quick hits and covering every bit of weirdness and obscura you could hope to find. Olympics fans will likely find some of these tales to be familiar ones, but even the most hardcore Games nerd will almost certainly find themselves baffled and delighted by some of the items that Fuchs has assembled here.

Total Olympics is a remarkable compilation of everything related to the Olympics from legendary characters, forgotten records, unbelievable accomplishments, unbelievable feats, and some memorable moments. It covers both the Olympics and Winter Olympics, right from their beginning.

Total Olympics is a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in the History of the Olympics. The author has divided the book into six chapters, covering the forgotten history of the games, legendary Olympians, wild and strange facts and incidents, notable firsts of the games, discontinued Olympic sports, and forgotten heroes who distinguished themselves outside of athletics. The Results and Stats section in the back, listing all the gold medal winners to the names of all the torch lighters is a nice addition.

The book starts with how the modern Games began. It covers the profiles of Olympic Legends over the years as well as the many ‘First’ records (First double, the first winner in both Summer and Winter Olympics). The most fun sections for me were the Long-discontinued Olympic sports like tug of war, firefighting, live pigeon shooting (not real pigeons), and painting. (Picasso for the gold?) And the over-the-top, heroic exploits which were both entertaining and thrilling––like the inspiring story of Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Carl Lewis. Surprise wins. Legends, Upsets, historical footnotes, etc. add a lot more value to this book. The book has plenty of pictures of Olympic heroes. Though each story is short, the book will encourage you to research more about some of the forgotten Olympic Legends.

Though the content is varied, the book focuses mainly on US athletes and Track and Field events. Team Sports like Hockey and Soccer are ignored. Also, the book is heavy on stories of athletes. I would have loved to read more about each Olympic event and some quirky memories about each of them. Having said that, the book is over 300 pages long and the author has compiled an amazing mix of stories, stats, facts, and trivia.

“Total Olympics” not only tells the stories of the Olympics but also has lots of long-forgotten records, debated moments, and crazy accomplishments which make the book a lot of fun to read. The stories are short and well-written with a nice sense of humor. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. If you are interested in learning about the Olympics, this book is a perfect read for you.

Many thanks to the publishers' Workman Publishing Company and Netgalley for the ARC.

Subtitle: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic & Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing

When I was in junior high and high school, the school libraries had the huge coffee-table books about the Olympics. I remember that some of them were single-volume books focused on the Olympic Games of one particular year, while at least one other cover all of the Olympics games starting with their revival in 1896 and running through the most recent games at the time the book was published. I loved those books so much that I checked them out at least once each year.

Based on all of that reading, I believed that I knew everything about the Olympics that there was to know. Total Olympics showed me I was wrong about that.


The author divides the book into six chapters, covering the forgotten history of the games, legendary Olympians, wild and strange facts and incidents, notable firsts of the games, discontinued Olympic sports, and forgotten heroes who distinguished themselves outside of athletics. I would give some examples from each of these categories, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers I won’t.

I gave Total Olympics five stars on Goodreads. It made me recall a lot of the things that attracted me to the Olympics to begin with, and refreshed my memory on more recent Games that I didn’t pay as much attention to because of how hectic life can be.

I have always loved watching the Olympics, so Jeremy Fuchs' Total Olympics was a book I just had to read! I fell in love with the Olympics back in 1992, watching Shannon Miller in a tight run for gold in the women's gymnastics all-around competition. But to be honest, I didn't know much about previous Olympics until reading this book. It was fascinating! First of all, I had no idea that the first modern Olympics originated from a small town in England and featured a pig chase. Or an "old women's" race where the winner received a pound of tea. The popularity of the Wenlock Games then spread across England and just grew from there. Fuchs also goes into the history of the Winter games as well as how tightly the Olympics is weaved together with the economy of each participating and hosting nation -- lots of interesting and eye-opening back stories! The author also goes into a lot of detail about how major events such as the Cold War, refugees, and World War I and II affected the Games, as well as intriguing controversies and side stories such as a figure skating pair winning a medal 50 years after competing, It was also so compelling to read about iconic events that happened before my time, such as the 1968 Podium Protest and the Israeli hostage situation at the 1972 Games. My only complaint is that there are so many events and topics covered that I was left wanting more details for each -- some of them seem almost like a glimpse compared to a few of the earlier chapters that included more history and detail. But otherwise, this was a captivating overview of the many events, historical aspects, Olympic "lore", and interesting tidbits of the Olympic Games that many fans will enjoy.

A comprehensive book of short stories that detail the weirdest stories of the Olympics! I loved reading about the "true origin" of the Olympics (not in Greece!), and reading more about the beloved American athletes with the most all-time medals. Unsurprisingly, international politics has long played a role in many of the Games as well! I also appreciate that each story was extremely short - no extra details, just straight and to the point fun stories.

An engagingly written history of the Olympics with highlights in areas such as the most notable "underdogs", the greatest athletes, politically motivated Olympic actions, and weird stuff. Photos capture the athletes and action well.

A very interesting book about various aspects of the Olympic games. More a series of themed vignettes than a "proper" history book, each section is interspaced with related facts. Totally up my alley as an Olympics nerd.

I received a copy through Netgalley, and was disappointed that the ebook transfer process for this title was not well done interspacing paragraphs and picture descriptions. Probably a better printed book even if this didn't happen.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review. This was genuinely very interesting for anyone with even a remote interest in sports - so many inspiring, funny, difficult or amazing stories and so many people I’d never heard of before. The only problem I had with this was possibly a result of it being an ARC - many times I’d be part way through a person’s story, and it would suddenly cut off and another “topic” would be inserted (e.g. how the Paralympics originated), and then it would go back to the previous story. It would cut off mid sentence, and I’d have to skip a few pages ahead to finish a paragraph, go back and read the inserted topic, then resume. I think this is just a blip and it wouldn’t be in the final released copy/print hopefully.