Welcome to the Olympic season. That's where everyone becomes an expert in gymnastics (can you believe that Yurchenko double pike?!). ), become obsessed with swimming (not me, who reads every single Wikipedia page for the US team), and rejoice in events we didn't even know existed before July 2021 (dressage forever!). . But Tokyo 2020 is also a time of debate over athletes' mental health (opens in new tab), the immense pressure competitors face (opens in new tab), what happens after Olympians leave the Games (opens in new tab), and the politics of sports beyond what we see on TV (opens in new opens in new tab), but also defined by the debates over.

I have been thinking about these issues a lot now that I have published my second novel, They'll Never Catch Us (opens in new tab). Stella and Ellie Steckler are caught up in a murder investigation while under pressure to win gold medals and achieve perfection.

This is just one of many books that focus on the full, messy, heroic lives of athletes and fans navigating the cruel and complex world of competition, giving us the sports fix we crave during and after the Games. Here are 10 books to read if you're tired of the Olympics.