Spring Break
DU professor, twin publish unique Olympic novel
Chris Sannino
Issue date: 5/23/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games," released this month, is the second work of Drexel professor Tom Caraccioli and twin brother Jerry Caraccioli.
The book documents the stories of U.S. athletes personally affected by the government boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games.
It has already helped to stir up talk about similar controversies surrounding the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
By 1980, the Cold War was frozen solid. The 1978 Russian invasion of Afghanistan had prompted the Carter administration to contribute funds to bolstering Afghan military defenses in addition to declaring a U.S. boycott of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Russia.
Meanwhile, the world's greatest athletes competed and placed in Olympic qualifying rounds fueled by gold medal dreams and years of training.
"There are a lot of stories out there about people who deserved to be recognized that weren't," Tom Caraccioli said about the book, which spotlights the dashed hopes of 18 U.S. athletes denied their shot at an Olympic medal.
The Caraccioli brothers' first book, "Striking Silver," was published in 2006 and told the story of the 1972 U.S. Olympic hockey team, widely overlooked underdogs who ended up bringing home silver medals.
When asked for a sequel, the brothers decided on "Boycott," timed to release during the pre-game hype for the 2008 Summer Games.
"All of the athletes in our book never had another chance at the Olympics," Caraccioli said. "Boycott" opens with a foreword by Walter Mondale, vice president under Jimmy Carter, who speaks directly to the athletes.
"First of all, I'm very sorry about it. … I still think it was the right thing to do," Mondale wrote.
Caraccioli, who spoke to Mondale at length on the topic, said: "The perspective you get from talking to someone who was so close to it is that, hindsight 20/20, you can say that the boycott was a bad decision but in the heat of the moment, and with what the administration was going through, you can understand how it was a good idea. So what we tried to do was present both sides of the story."
The book documents the stories of U.S. athletes personally affected by the government boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games.
It has already helped to stir up talk about similar controversies surrounding the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
By 1980, the Cold War was frozen solid. The 1978 Russian invasion of Afghanistan had prompted the Carter administration to contribute funds to bolstering Afghan military defenses in addition to declaring a U.S. boycott of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Russia.
Meanwhile, the world's greatest athletes competed and placed in Olympic qualifying rounds fueled by gold medal dreams and years of training.
"There are a lot of stories out there about people who deserved to be recognized that weren't," Tom Caraccioli said about the book, which spotlights the dashed hopes of 18 U.S. athletes denied their shot at an Olympic medal.
The Caraccioli brothers' first book, "Striking Silver," was published in 2006 and told the story of the 1972 U.S. Olympic hockey team, widely overlooked underdogs who ended up bringing home silver medals.
When asked for a sequel, the brothers decided on "Boycott," timed to release during the pre-game hype for the 2008 Summer Games.
"All of the athletes in our book never had another chance at the Olympics," Caraccioli said. "Boycott" opens with a foreword by Walter Mondale, vice president under Jimmy Carter, who speaks directly to the athletes.
"First of all, I'm very sorry about it. … I still think it was the right thing to do," Mondale wrote.
Caraccioli, who spoke to Mondale at length on the topic, said: "The perspective you get from talking to someone who was so close to it is that, hindsight 20/20, you can say that the boycott was a bad decision but in the heat of the moment, and with what the administration was going through, you can understand how it was a good idea. So what we tried to do was present both sides of the story."
Be the first to comment on this story