Fast Girls (2020)
A Quick Book Review

Boy, am I embarrassed. It's taken me way too long to get to, and finish, 2020's Fast Girls by Elise Hooper. Between day-to-day distractions, my day job, not dedicating enough reading time...etc....I just hadn't gotten through it. Until now, thankfully.

To be clear, my procrastination should not be seen a reflection against the work. It's truly a gripping read that is warranted a straight-through read with little interruption.

Subtitled A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team, Fast Girls is much more. Centered on the experience of track stars Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, and Louise Stokes, the novel starts us eight years earlier in 1928 when Robinson first experiences the Olympics in Amsterdam, one of the advance guard of female athletes defying 'hysterical feminism' to compete.

From there, we are introduced to Stephens and Stokes, as all three follow wildly different paths and experiences en route to the Olympics. Whether through battling misogyny, pervasive racism, injury, or the financial effects of the depression, their individual journeys are presented in such compelling and vivid details, Hooper's work is a fascinating look into the hard work and perseverance these embattled athletes undertook to fulfill dreams.

Along the way, additional characters, particularly Stokes' companion in racially-inflicted trauma and disappointment, Tidye Pickett, add depth and emphasis to the experiences. Likewise, we're presented with eye-opening characterizations of legends Stella Walsh and Babe Didrikson, as well as the colorful swimmer Eleanor Holm.

Presented as a historical novel, Fast Girls offers a sense of realism that is easy to embrace. How much liberty Hooper has taken is hard to measure for the lay reader, which would be common amongst such works. In the afterword, Hooper acknowledges a late key supporting character is an amalgamation of multiple real-life Olympians, and that a dearth of information on Stokes led to some creative license in the painting of her experience.

Another quibble is what seems an abrupt end to the novel. Billed as a story leading to success at Berlin 1936, the actual accounts of action from those Games only fills the last pages. One is left wanting a follow-through on how the Olympics shaped these women, and how their returns to various homes unfolded. A postscript is offered, granted, but this reader was so invested in each woman's story that more was desired.

That said, Fast Girls presents a captivating understanding of these athletes, and the times in which they competed. It's a definite recommended read for Olympic fans, and an important one for understanding the socio-political context under which these women found themselves.

Consider purchasing Fast Girls from Games and Rings' Bookshop collection, from where you'll find a selection of curated Olympic-inspired and related books.

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (2015)
A Quick Film Review

Well, this was certainly one long overdue task...watching Olympic Pride, American Prejudice, the 2016 documentary from writer / director Deborah Riley Draper on the experience of Team USA's 18 Black American athletes at the Berlin 1936 Olympics., currently available on Hulu, Amazon Prime and other platforms. And what a shame it took me so long, for it's both a celebration of these athletes and a stark reminder of the, well, stark circumstances of the times.

Narrated by actor Blair Underwood, Olympic Pride proves especially noteworthy with its focus on all 18 members of the team, including those *other* Black athletes - those 'who weren't Jesse Owens, the track & field star celebrated for his four gold medals that belittled Adolf Hitler's aim of Aryan dominance at those Games.

It was that potential to counter Hitler that pushed the Americans to ultimately not boycott the Games. And the subsequent irony of fair and open treatment by the German public to the competing Black Americans - in direct contrast to segregation realities back in the United States - is well documented by Riley Draper.

Despite the general understanding of Jim Crow-era life in the U.S., it's hard to realize today the daily struggle Black Americans faced then, and star athletes were no exception. Archival interviews with Olympic team members James LuValle and Archie Williams, and with family members of John Brooks, Tidye Pickett, and Louise Stokes puts their personal experiences leading into, during, and post Olympics into compelling perspective.

Unfortunately, what some of the members had hoped would be a "blow to racial prejudice on both sides of the Atlantic" didn't materialize, as some members faced racially-inspired indignities from team officials in Berlin, and when back home, the American media honed its lens solely on Owens, to the neglect of the other Black athletes and their successes This, despite a tally of 14 total medals won by the 'Black Eagles'.

Olympic Pride also offers a wealth of footage that takes the viewer through those pre-Games deliberations on boycott discussions to life on the SS Manhattan voyage to Germany and then to Olympic action itself. For an Olympics fan, watching such rarely-seen film of non-Owens events is a treat.

What's also a treat is the breadth of interviews Riley Draper secured beyond the athletes' families. Surviving spectators from the 1936 Games, as well as the great 'get' of would-be Olympic Jewish-German high jumper Gretel Bergmann provide contrasting perspectives of the German outlook of the Olympics.

And a plethora of recent Team USA Olympians and figures offer their comment in support of their forbearers, including Isaiah Thomas, Joanna Hayes, Terrence Trammell, Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell, Tommie Smith, and Anita DeFrantz. A poignant surprise is catching Burrell's son Cameron, filmed a few years before his premature death in 2021.

Olympic Pride offers an indelible look at a key moment in Olympic and Team USA history, and is must to understand the drama of Berlin 1936. I couldn't have been more thankful to finally enjoy it - and to better appreciate the full contingent of the 'Black Eagles'.

Olympic Pride's featured subjects are Dave Albritton (high jump), John Brooks (long jump), James Clark (boxing), Cornelius Johnson (high jump), Willis Johnson and Howell King (boxing), Jimmy LuValle (400 meters track), Ralph Metcalfe (100 meters track), Art Oliver (boxing), Jesse Owens (sprints and long jump), Tidye Pickett and Fritz Pollard, Jr. (sprint hurdles), Mack Robinson (200 meters track), Louise Stokes (100 meters track), John Terry (weightlifting), Archie Wilson (400 meters track), Jack Wilson (boxing), and John Woodruff (800 meters track).