BTT: Gold Medal Reading

You, um, may have noticed that the Olympics are going on right now, so that’s the genesis of this week’s question, in two parts:

First:

• Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
  Nope, I've not read any books about the Olympics before. Books about sports....I guess so. I can't really remember. I think the only sports I read in books are those Quidditch matches in Harry Potter and also those lacrosse games in Enid Blyton! Oh yeah, what about skating? That's a kind of sport too right? Well then, White Boots by Noel Streatfeild then.
  
• Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?
  See above answer.

And, Second:

• Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
  Yes, kind of. I was quite involved in sports when I was in school. I was in athletics and represented my school a few times. But I never could beat them runners from other schools! Anyway, I love to watch others run, especially those fast runners.
  
• Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
  No, I'm not obsessed with sports. Only now that the Olympics are on, I refer to the Sports section in the newspaper for updates on how my country's athletes have performed in their events.
  
• (Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)
  Oh dear, a sports movie? I haven't watched Friday Night Lights either. Hmm, what about Bring It On, the cheerleading movie? That's the only movie that came to mind. I've watched hundreds of movie and I can't even name a movie with a sports theme! But I want to watch Chariots of Fire though.
  

(For the record, I am not a sports fan at all, but I’ll watch almost any Olympics event, have indeed read books about the Olympics–and strongly recommend The Second Mark, which yes, is about Figure Skating, but was a fantastic story and particularly enthralling in its view into life as an athlete in China, so no sneering at the sport, okay? The book was fascinating. I’ve also read a history of the 1896 Olympics (there’s also a good mini-series which just came out on DVD).)