Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion [Hardcover]

Michael Silver (Author), Natalie Coughlin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 18, 2006

The story of Natalie Coughlin's remarkable battle back from injury and burnout to be-come America's Golden Girl--a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in swimming and the most decorated female athlete at the 2004 Olympics

Five years ago, Natalie Coughlin's promising swimming career was all but extinguished when a devastating shoulder injury ended her dreams for the 2000 Olympics. After becoming, at age 15, the first person ever to qualify for all 14 women's events at the U.S. Nationals, she seemed destined to follow the path of so many other young swimming stars--devoured by an oppressive training schedule.

In Golden Girl, Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver--coauthor of many bestselling sports memoirs--including Dennis Rodman's, Kurt Warner's, and Jerry Rice's--tells the story of Natalie's remarkable journey back from the brink. With complete access to her family, friends, coaches, teammates, and adversaries, Silver details how she made the crucial choice to train with University of California coach Teri McKeever. Together the two, star and coach, have defied long-standing training methods, forcing the swimming community to rethink the ways in which it treats its talent. An inspirational story of a complex and courageous young athlete, Golden Girl is also a fascinating portrait of the fractious world of competitive swimming.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This story of professional swimmer and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin personalizes an athlete's strife on her way to the top, her fight against those predicting her fall and her internal struggles against illness, injury and the pressures of the sport. Perhaps "the most talented woman swimmer of her generation," Coughlin found herself facing questions from the press like, "How does it feel to dishonor your country?" following her harsh defeat in the 2003 FINA World Championship preliminaries-brought on by illness-that immediately preceded her Olympic victory. Tracking her progress from college on, the book has a scenic, nonlinear organization that makes it a bit confusing, but includes fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of Coughlin's coach Teri McKeever, her competition, her actor/football player father and his twin, and the training strategies involved in making a world-class athlete. Rich in detail, this a dramatic and humanizing portrait of an iconic American athlete.
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About the Author

MICHAEL SILVER, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, is a highly respected sportswriter and coauthor of several bestselling sports memoirs. He lives in Northern California.

NATALIE COUGHLIN has built a reputation as the most versatile, dominant swimmer in the world. Seizing five medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens--two gold, two silver, and one bronze--Natalie's performance is considered the best in Olympic history by any American woman.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (April 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594862540
• ISBN-13: 978-1594862540
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Olympic Games
  • #86 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Water Sports > Swimming

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique insite into ultra-competitive swimming July 20, 2006

By Keith Fung

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a former collegiate All-American swimmer, I found Silver's book to be illuminating in many ways. While the writing style is a bit forced at times (for drama's sake), it is overall an interesting read and an honest look into the inner workings of competitive swimming.

I found the willingness to criticize established swimming tenets (and people) refreshingly honest, and to the Silver's and Coughlin's credit, they never try to pass of any of the asseratations as fact but always as opinion. Certainly, this has irked many online reviewers who are naturally protective of their coach and/or training style, but this is one of the few books which actually say publically what many of us in the sport have felt for decades -- we are overtraining and burning out our swimmers, particularly our sprinters.

Will this be an interesting book to a non-swimmer? Probably so, and mostly for the controversy mentioned above.

In particular, I find the Natalie-bashers' strategy confusing. If you disagree with her opinions, fine. If you feel it's so off-based, then why worry about it?

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Piqued my interest in alternative training techniques January 31, 2007

By K. Vern

Format:Hardcover

Based on the other comments, I thought this book would be a litany of complaints by Natalie. I assumed she would really bash her old coach. Instead, he is mentioned mostly in the context of the difference between his training philosophy and that of Teri McKeever. Ray Mitchell occupies part of a chapter. This leads me to believe that those who are outraged must not have taken the time to read the book.

That being said, I thought the book was more about the Cal swim season with a focus on Natalie and McKeever. It was a fascinating look at a different approach to swimming - focus on technique, workout variety and team building. As one of the many burned out former age groupers who swam lot of 10K+ workouts, I think the whole swimming world should celebrate that coaches such as McKeever and Salo are willing to try something new. Natalie and the Cal swim program are proof that there is more to swim training than piling up yardage. This is really inspiring. I used to worry about whether I was doing the right thing by introducing my children to this sport. This book has helped to re-ignite my love for competitive swimming.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Choose another book if you want to read about Natalie. November 29, 2009

By GT

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book to find out about Natalie's swimming career and how she was able to achieve success in swimming and her Olympic accomplishments. Instead I found the writer, Michael Silver, writing more about the coach, McKeever and the other swimmers under McKeever's tutelage. There is not much about Natalie in this book but rather more is written about the others around her. I am extremly disappointed in this book and would not recommend it if you want to read about Natlalie's life and swimming career.