Freeze Frame - 9780792278887

Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics, a companion to the highly-acclaimed Swifter, Higher, Stronger: A Photographic History of the Summer Olympics, which has sold more than 12,000 copies to date (as a June 2004 pub) and has received two starred reviews. Booklist noted: "This comprehensive resource should attract readers aplenty during August's Athens Games-though there's much to entice sports-loving kids even after the torch has gone out." The companion volume on the Winter Games follows in the stunning visual format of the first book and includes the many great stories of the Winter Olympics, from the Jamaican bobsled team to the Soviet-American hockey match at Lake Placid. It covers all fifteen major winter sports, from skiing to luging, and includes high-interest ice skating and recently introduced snowboarding, both considered especially popular sports with kids. It ranges from triumph to tragedy, both hallmarks of Olympics history, as it relates victories such as Eric Heiden's 1980 five gold medal win and horrors such as the 1961 plane crash that killed 18 members of the U.S. figure-skating team. The Winter Olympics launched in 1924 in Chamonix and have captured the world's imagination in mountain locations all over the world since then. The book includes spectacular photo galleries in addition to wonderful images throughout, a map of Winter Olympic sites, a section on Winter Olympic extremes, and a complete back matter Winter Olympics Almanac, with quick reference information on each Olympiad. The next Winter Games are February 10-26, 2006, in Turin (Torino), Italy.