Olympic Book launch at Wimbledon
The International Tennis Federation today announced the publication of its official Olympic Book Aspire, Inspire: Celebrating Tennis at the Olympics 2012. Thirty-six of the world’s leading tennis players took part in the ITF project to help promote the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Events.
The Olympic Book, which was launched today at Wimbledon, will not go on sale to the public, but there will be 20 opportunities to win a signed copy through a competition right here on the ITF Olympic Tennis Event website. An online version will also be posted on the website in time for the start of the Games.
This year’s 140-page publication features a series of specially commissioned photographs of the game’s top names posing with pictures of themselves as a child and talking about their sporting heroes. The book looks at which athletes inspired them when they were younger and even includes good luck messages from Olympic legends such as Usain Bolt, Sergey Bubka and Cathy Freeman.
Among the stars represented in the book are Beijing bronze medallist Novak Djokovic, who nominated Italian skier Alberto Tomba as his hero; Britain’s Andy Murray, who picked US track and field star Michael Johnson; Olympic champion Rafael Nadal, who talks about his memories of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics; Victoria Azarenka, who selected pole vaulter Bubka; and wheelchair tennis legend Esther Vergeer, who talks about Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband.
Several players have nominated other tennis stars as their heroes, including Olympic doubles winner Roger Federer, who chose the 1992 Barcelona champion Marc Rosset as his hero, while Federer himself was selected by Japan’s Kei Nishikori; and Beijing bronze medallist Vera Zvonereva, who picked 2000 Sydney champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
Newcomers to the Olympic Tennis Event such as Kim Clijsters, Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also share their childhood memories, inspiration and ambitions for this summer’s Games.
ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “I believe this book shows the impact the Olympics has had on the lives of the current generation of tennis players, and how proud they are to represent their countries in the Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Events. The book also highlights the mutual respect between tennis players and athletes from other sports, with the Games providing a unique opportunity for all athletes to come together.”
Aspire, Inspire follows in the footsteps of the highly successful ITF publication Journey to Beijing that was produced for the last Olympic Games in China.
Olympic Book competition
The competition to win an Olympic Book opens on Saturday 7 July on ITF Olympic Tennis Event website, and will run for the final 20 days in the lead-up to London 2012.
Each day, we will post online one of the child photos that appears in the publication, and all you need to do is successfully identify which top player the child went on to become.
One lucky winner will be selected at random every day from all the correct answers received, and each winner will receive a signed copy of the Olympic Book.
Good luck!