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Walking Tall: The Autobiography of a World Champion and Olympic Medallist

Availability: Out of Stock
ISBN: 9781848892880
AuthorHeffernan, Rob
Pub Date03/11/2016
BindingPaperback
Pages210
CountryIRL
Dewey796.429092
Publisher: Gill
Quick overview This is the inside story of how Rob Heffernan's dream led him from the council flats of his tough Cork city upbringing to the winners' podium of the Olympic Games. It is also a frank chronicle of the sometimes nightmare-ridden journey it takes to make a dream come true.
€21.05

Deemed too small for his school's Gaelic football team at the age of fourteen, Rob Heffernan took up race walking on a whim. Over the next twenty-three years, driven by a fiercely competitive nature and a dogged desire to be the best in the world, he strode his way to the pinnacle of the sport, becoming world champion of the 50km walk in Moscow in 2013. This year, he will be the first athlete ever to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games for a fifth time.In this no-holds-barred account, Rob describes his battles with injury, depression and abject poverty on his way to the top. Even when at his best, he often found himself cheated out of medals by those who crossed the dark line into doping. He candidly tells for the first time of the confrontations with Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council that raged in the background of his struggle for that prestigious Olympic medal.This is the inside story of how one boy's dream led him from the council flats of his tough upbringing to the winners' podium of the Olympic Games. It is also a frank chronicle of the sometimes nightmare-ridden journey it takes to make a dream come true.

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Product description

Deemed too small for his school's Gaelic football team at the age of fourteen, Rob Heffernan took up race walking on a whim. Over the next twenty-three years, driven by a fiercely competitive nature and a dogged desire to be the best in the world, he strode his way to the pinnacle of the sport, becoming world champion of the 50km walk in Moscow in 2013. This year, he will be the first athlete ever to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games for a fifth time.In this no-holds-barred account, Rob describes his battles with injury, depression and abject poverty on his way to the top. Even when at his best, he often found himself cheated out of medals by those who crossed the dark line into doping. He candidly tells for the first time of the confrontations with Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council that raged in the background of his struggle for that prestigious Olympic medal.This is the inside story of how one boy's dream led him from the council flats of his tough upbringing to the winners' podium of the Olympic Games. It is also a frank chronicle of the sometimes nightmare-ridden journey it takes to make a dream come true.