Olympic Athletes

Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly with the odds stacked against her. She came into the world with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias.

Katie Ledecky has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history. She is a three-time Olympian, a seven-time gold medalist, a twenty-one-time world champion, eight-time NCAA Champion, and a world record-holder in individual swimming events. Time and again, the question is posed to her family, her coaches, and to her—what makes her a champion? Now, for the first time, she shares what it takes to compete at an elite level.

Tia Toomey, the world’s fittest woman, has won the CrossFit Games an incredible six years in a row and is undeniably a true warrior. She has also trained for the Winter Olympics in bobsledding, competed in the Summer Olympics in weightlifting, and was a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. She is, in short, one of the most accomplished and dominant athletes in human history. But for Tia physical fitness is only a small part of overall strength. More important is building mental toughness.

Ryan Manning has it all. He's the face of the Olympics, he has an equally famous Olympian girlfriend, and a career in reality TV awaits. All he has to do is show up, win the gold medal as predicted, and the rest of his life will be set. Except he doesn't win. In one instant, his entire life crashes down around him. He loses everything he thinks is important and doesn't know what to do. But a chance meeting with another young woman in the Olympic Village starts his life on a whole new path. Now, he must navigate through wild parties and even wilder Olympians to find the one girl who might ...