Customer Reviews

The Second Mark: Courage, Corruption, and the Battle for Olympic Gold

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I guess I'm wierd, but what I loved about this book was the backstories on the six skaters, their history, families, coaches, etc. Fascinating stuff. What I got from this was a whole new level of respect and admiration for the pairs skaters coming from Russia and China. I'm also happy to see that the two Chinese skaters featured in this book will be skating in Torino 2006. I'll be watching them with great interest - at least as much as NBC allows me to see of them - and thinking about little six-year old Shen Xue and her bloody socks. There's not much new ground broken on the scandal that rocked the Salt Lake City Olympics, but for anyone interested in knowing more about the skaters involved, I highly recommend this book.

Like Seabiscuit, Friday Night Lights, and Eight Men Out, The Second Mark transcends the sports genre. The figure skating is there, all right, but so is the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the lost generation of Mao's Cultural Revolution, a little boy carrying a bedboard down flights of stairs to use as a pingpong table, and a Chinese girl skating by candlelight in a deserted, late night ice rink. In both large strokes and small details, the book takes you, not only into the lives of the six medalists in the Olympics pairs skating competition, but into the cultures from which you cannot separate them.

It is an amazing story that unfolds, even if you thought you knew it. Beautifully written and seen--Joy Goodwin's writing is worthy of the story and that is high praise. I loved this book!

This book has interesting information on the childhoods, tribulations, and triumphs of Jamie Sale, David Pelletier, Shen Xue, Zhao Hongbo, and Elena Berezhnaya. The one person it is lacking information on is Anton Sikharulidze. It goes through their elite careers and touches on competitions leading up to the games. The play-by-play account of the Olympics brings you back to the day you watched the pair's final. If you are looking for information on the scandal other than what was printed in newspapers, don't bother reading this book. Overall, it gives information that is hard to find elsewhere on the six skater's lives before and after the Olympics. I highly reccomend this book.

This book tells the well-known story of the vote-trading scandal in the pairs figure skating at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, where the Canadians were awarded a second set of gold medals.

While this book opens on the night of the pairs final, much of the book is interesting background on the three skating pairs who would medal at the 2002 Games, and their coaches, parents, and others of significance to them. This is new material to most, as figure skating is one of those sports which to the average person only seems to surface every four years, but here we see the skaters progress from the provincial rinks where they started to the big time.

I found somewhat disquieting (having attended the pairs final in Salt Lake) the tone of the book as it goes blow by blow through the night of the pairs final--making the claim that the crowd was unanimously on the Canadian side, and booed the marks (the second mark, which forms the title, and determined, initially, the gold medal, is for artistic merit) unmercifully. I remember some boos, some puzzlement (how many of the heavily corporate crowd really understood figure skating?), and some cheers, enchanting as the crowd found the Canadian pair. I suspect that Goodwin is indulging in a little history rewriting in a book which will be read primarily in North America, and little noted in Russia or China. Goodwin uses such phrases as "justice was done" about what was, after all, a very close decision, 5-4 including the disputed, and ultimately disqualified, French vote.

A second difficulty with the book is that it really breaks little new ground on the scandal. You learn little more than the reader motivated to buy this book could have learned from the many articles which appeared in the weeks and months following the Olympics.

It is a good read for human understanding of the six skaters. But it makes clear that there are more questions unanswered than answered, and it gets us little closer to the answers.

THE SECOND MARK is a wonderful example of how good, solid reporting can transform a nonfiction book into a page-turner. This is a meticulously-researched account of the 2002 Olympic pairs competition. If you thought you knew all about it, think again. The story spans three continents and four decades, Communism and capitalism. I am so impressed by the stories of these people, which are so beautifully told. I never wanted the book to end. And I especially appreciated how hard the author tried to represent the points of view of so many different cultures.

The author gives you a chance to really appreciate what every pair offers. She points out that the Russians might easily have won even if the judging hadn't been biased-it wasn't a lock for the Canadians, as was so widely reported. The Chinese were consistently underscored over the years. The Canadians' perspective, which we all have heard, is presented in a fresh way, too. This is a serious book by a fine writer. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

TJ
Long Island, NY

This is the best skating book I have ever read! I have been a figure skating afficiando for more than a decade now and I have read and loved Christine Brennan's books but this one is far better! I loved the "fly on the wall" approach to what is takes to be an Olympic quality pair skater. I enjoyed learning about my favorite skaters and their vastly different lives. I found the first few sections about the preparation more interesting than the Salt Lake scandal aspect, however I enjoyed reading that part too. This book is extremely well researched with first hand interviews from the skaters and their families. I respect the author's decission to stay as true to the original spellings of Russian names and the proper order of Chinese names.

I give this book a 6.0! I couldn't put it down! I recommend it to every die-hard skating fan out there!

The biographical information about the three pairs is what makes the book so intensely readable. The Olympic controversy was well-covered but not very exciting. What the skaters, especially the Chinese, have endured to get where they are is almost unbelievable.

Every single member of my family has read this book and loved it! Even though none of us are really figure skating fans, we were totally fascinated by Joy Goodwin's work and the glimpses she gave us of life in China, in Russia and in northern Canada. The book really makes you love and care about all the people in it -- Goodwin writes with an unbelievable eye for revealing detail, and a warmth and sympathy that makes every page a pleasure to read.

I've been recommending The Second Mark to everyone!

Ms Goodwin's book once again proves that the best writing about sport depends little on the actual sport, but rather on the character and background of the athletes pursuing the goal. To be sure, there is plenty for ice skating affecionados to enjoy. But, in truth, the book could have just as easily told the story of six world class athletes pursuing archery's ultimate prize. For Ms. Goodwin's rendering of the respective backgrounds, both personal and cultural, of each skater and coach are so fascinating and well-realized that the reader ultimately cares not about the sport itself, but about the people competing.

The book offers a plethora of vivid descriptions and amazing tales of will, but I was, in particular, most affected by Ms. Goodwin's portrayal of Shen Xue, her father, and Harbin. Her father is a tragically representative figure of China's lost generation; and she indefatigable and endearing. The reader cannot help but to be moved, and greatly impressed by the obstacles they (and the entire Chinese skating program) have overcome. However, it is not until Ms. Goodwin's wonderful epilogue that the reader fully realizes the extent to which she has been indelibly touched by Ms. Goodwin's efforts in telling the story of the Chinese--efforts which reveal a real affection for the persons portrayed. The final pages are, indeed, story-telling at its finest.

I am, by no means an ice skating fan. In fact, I have yet to see the 2002 Olympic event the book is ostensibly about. It mattered not. Ms. Goodwin's narrative was compelling and affecting. I would recommend this book to anyone--and have.

I've read many books on figure skating, and this is the best one I've ever opened. From the first chapter, I was fascinated with the background of these great athletes. Joy Goodwin has obviously done her homework........and has been deeply moved by their stories. I read the entire book in 3 days, and would reccomend it to anyone who loves a great story, not just skating fans.