Longform Blog

Longform’s Olympics Primer

Contributing editors Elon Green and Gretchen Gavett, both of whom are more than a little excited for the Summer Games in London, have pulled together 10 great stories about the Olympics, spanning history, scandal and science … and what it’s like to drink with gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi. Should be more than enough to tide you over before the Games get started.

1. The Little-Known History of How the Olympics Got Their Start

   Frank Deford • Smithsonian • Jul 2012
   
   

   The first modern games were staged in 1850 by a surgeon named William Penny Brookes in a town called Much Wenlock.

2. High Hurdles and White Gloves

   Thomas P. Curtis • The Atlantic • Dec 1956
   
   

   An American gold medalist in the hurdles describes his experience at the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

3. Letter From Munich

   E.J. Kahn • New Yorker • Sep 1972
   
   

   On the scene of the darkest games in Olympic history.

4. The Search for Nadia

   Bob Ottum • Sports Illustrated • Nov 1979
   
   

   Three years after her gold-medal performance—and amidst rumors of a fall from grace—the author travels to Transylvania to track down gymnast Nadia Comaneci. He also enjoys several drinks with her coach, Béla Károlyi.

5. The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw

   Jack McCallum • Sports Illustrated • Jul 2012
   
   

   On the eve of the 1992 Summer Olympics, the Dream Team held a closed-door scrimmage in Monaco. Michael Jordan led one team, Magic Johnson the other. Two decades later, a game report.

6. The Ballad of Richard Jewell

   Marie Brenner • Vanity Fair • Feb 1997
   
   

   How the media and law enforcement fingered the wrong man for the 1996 Olympic Park bombing.

7. Ben Still Needs to Run

   Mark Kram • Outside • May 2004
   
   

   More than 15 years after he was stripped of a gold medal, sprinter Ben Johnson attempts a comeback.

8. Will You Still Medal in the Morning?

   Sam Alipour • ESPN • Jul 2012
   
   

   Sex in the Olympic Village.

9. One One-Hundredth of a Second Faster

   Mark McClusky • Wired • Jun 2012
   
   

   How science is “helping athletes approach perfection.”

10. The Living Nightmare

    Barry Bearak • New York Times • Feb 2012
    
    

    Quanitta Underwood, who was sexually abused by her father as a child, is now a contender for the gold medal in boxing.