The Long Program : Skating Toward Life's Victories

From Barnes & Noble

1968 was the first year the Olympic Winter Games were televised live and in color, and a teenaged skater named Peggy Fleming took full advantage of the spotlight in capturing the United States's only gold medal of those games and the collective heart of the nation at the same time. Now, in The Long Program, Fleming looks back at her life as an athlete, mother, cancer survivor, and role model.

Library Journal

Fleming's career was the beginning of the modern era in figure skating: as the 1968 Olympic champion, she was the first in a string of American ice princesses to capture the public's attention. Television coverage brought her wide public recognition not only as a skater but also, later (with Dick Button), as a television commentator for the major skating competitions. Now at 50, she reflects on both her accomplishments as a skater and on her recent bout with breast cancer. She dutifully recounts the events of her life, but although some amusing episodes are sprinkled here and there, this is basically a flat story without detail or depth. Gliding across the surface, this book lacks the emotion and drama that must certainly have been central to such a dedicated and successful life in the limelight. Still, until a better biography appears, this is recommended for larger public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/99.]--Bonnie Collier, Yale Law Lib., New Haven, CT Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.