Hero Redefined
Buy the Book
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop.org | Indigo
Product Details
Publisher: Clever Cleever Publishing
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Formats: Paperback, Ebook, Audiobook
ISBN: PB: 979-8-9904983-0-3; EB: 979-8-9904983-1-0; AUD: 979-8-9904983-2-7
Trim: 6 x 9
Page Count: 238
Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar
Doug Levy
What does it mean to be a hero—in sports and in life?
Heroes aren’t just the ones who bring home medals. Hero Redefined delves into the lesser-known stories of Olympic athletes—and a couple of special Olympic venues—that challenge the conventional narrative of glory and gold. In riveting personal profiles exploring herculean feats of strength, perseverance, and sportsmanship, award-winning sports journalist Doug Levy offers a new vision of heroism. There is more than one path to greatness, and the extraordinary acts of resilience and personal sacrifice by these athletes have left an indelible mark on the spirit of the Olympic games in quiet but fundamental ways through the ages.
Each chapter reveals a different face of heroism—immense resilience, strength of character, unparalleled sportsmanship, an incredible zeal to compete, and a seemingly superhuman will to finish. Throughout, Levy celebrates the heroic human spirit and its relentless drive to carry the torch forward—both inside and outside of the Olympic Games.
About the Author
Doug Levy is a lifelong sports buff and a huge fan of the Olympic Games. He owned and operated a lobbying and government affairs consulting business for twenty-five years, and worked as a sports reporter, sports columnist, and news reporter for the Tri-City Herald newspaper in southeast Washington and as a news and politics reporter for The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington through much of the 1980s.
He has skydived, run two marathons, climbed a mountain, paraglided, bungee-jumped, and once testified at a murder trial. Hero Redefined is his first book.
Reviews
“When training and racing internationally leading up to my Olympic races, I quickly came to believe that on any given race day, about ten people would have trained well enough to win but only three would ‘have a good day’ and emerge from the pack. Doug Levy has paid tribute to competitors who had trained to win and had been willing to find out—but their individual stories intervened.” —Frank Shorter, gold medalist, Men’s Marathon, 1972 Summer Olympic Games
“There’s compelling storytelling ribboned throughout—Doug Levy really captures the essence of what it means for so many athletes to become an Olympian regardless of results.” —Ross Fletcher, former Emmy Award–winning broadcaster of the Olympic Games, Seattle Kraken hockey, and Seattle Sounders soccer
“In Hero Redefined, Doug Levy explores the enormous work ethic, devotion, and sacrifices that elite athletes demonstrate when they aspire for excellence. There are only winners here.” —Dr. Bob Adams, longtime team doctor for USA Track & Field, helped establish the first drug testing programs for USATF athletes
“Hero Redefined takes us through the journey of the quiet heroes who are rebuilding the innovative luge and bobsled track in Sarajevo, along with unearthing tales of other athletes whose stories show that champions can be found in more places than you think.” —Svein Romstad, head coach of the USA luge team in Sarajevo, former general secretary of the International Luge Federation
“For too long, sporting heroes have been defined in a limited scope, because sports history has been told in a limited scope. Levy’s Hero Redefined is another important step in highlighting the unique stories of forgotten and overlooked athletes.” —Ian Kennedy, author of Ice in Their Veins: Women’s Relentless Pursuit of the Puck and On Account of Darkness: Shining Light on Race and Sport
“Doug Levy's Hero Redefined presents an honest and complete profile of larger-than-life Alexander Cushing and his long-shot gambit to bring the 1960 Winter Olympics to the USA—as well as the exploits of athletes around the world who displayed their own quiet heroism.” —David Antonucci, author of Snowball’s Chance: The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley & Lake Tahoe, Fairest Picture – Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe, and Environmental History of Lake Tahoe
“Well-researched and filled with compelling anecdotes, Doug Levy reveals the personal, behind-the-scenes stories of athletes and events that make Olympic history endlessly entertaining and uplifting. His chapter on Alex Cushing and the events of the 1960 Winter Olympics draws on dozens of interviews that connect the reader intimately with the personalities that defined that seminal event.” —Eddy Ancinas, author of Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows: Tales from Two Valleys and Tracing Inca Trails: An Adventure in the Andes
“Doug Levy’s Hero Redefined is truly a captivating read. All sports fans will enjoy the stories that recognize and pay homage to some unsung athletes and show why their achievements make them heroes, too.” —Paul Allen, author of Bright Lights Black Stars: Negro League Players and Canada’s Oldest Baseball League
“Hero Redefined includes riveting stories of courage, perseverance, and sacrifice by unheralded Olympians who overcame injury and adverse circumstances to enshrine the true spirit of the Games. Basing his book on extensive interviews and research, Doug Levy takes a unique look at Olympic history and gives us a broader and thought-provoking definition of what makes a champion.” —Don Pugnetti Jr., author of A Coat Dyed Black: A Novel of the Norwegian Resistance