MADRID, September 11, 2020 - “To Spyridon Louis, the first Olympic marathon champion, King George I of Greece gave a donkey-drawn carriage to help him in his water-carrying business in Athens.” This anecdote is just one of many that Juan Antonio Prieto has chosen for his book “Olympic Legends of Athletics”. A publication that summarizes the lives and miracles of 75 athletes. Legends who, through modern Olympic history, have left an indelible mark on the track.
Prieto is a member of the Executive Committee of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association), vice president of the AEPD (Spanish Sports Press Association) and a commentator for Spanish Television in four Olympic Games. He is passionate about sports, particularly athletics. His research and compilation of data, photos, press-covers, philately and sports numismatics, have taken years of work. The result is a book full of priceless anecdotes; exquisitely illustrated and perfect to be used as a reference text, as it includes the victory statistics of each of the protagonists. A magnificent work that will undoubtedly delight any fan of athletics.
The author has made the effort to show the most human and social profile of the athlete and of the time in which each one lived. Through the book, there is a great parade of the best runners, jumpers and throwers in the history of this sport. Legends that marked an era, such as Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Usain Bolt, Paavo Nurmi, Abebe Bikila, Tirunesh Dibaba, Carl Lewis, Jacky Joyner, Bob Beamon, Sergei Bubka, Sebastian Coe, Jim Thorpe, Florence Griffith, Dick Fosbury, Allison Felix, Mo Farah, Daley Thompson, Kipchoge Keino, Hicham El Gerruj ... and two Spaniards, Fermín Cacho and Ruth Beitia, Olympic champions in Barcelona1992 and Rio 2016. 
The 469-page book edited by the Cantabrian Sports Journalists Association, chaired by Prieto, is prefaced by Sebastian Coe, double Olympic champion and current president of World Athletics, the International Athletics Federation. In the prologue, the four-time Olympic medallist says: “…it is an evaluation made with exactitude, of the lives and most relevant events of some of the best athletes in history. It includes all their marks and records, as well as multiple references to the sacrifices and anecdotes that formed or were an active part of the lives of its protagonists...”
On the back cover of the book there are several anecdotes of the athletics legends and the biographies have been complemented with a chapter that collects 20 historical and curious records, as well as an Olympic ranking of the protagonists. In addition, there is a handwritten dedication by Bob Beamon, who still maintains an Olympic record that has lasted for 52 years, in which he says: “You have taken the wonderful job of telling the story of the greatest athletes of all time. I know readers will thankfully enjoy the book. With my best wishes.”
Ruth Beitia, the Olympic high jump champion at Rio 2016, was present at the book presentation, where she highlighted the rigour and affection with which the work was written. In some videos, the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, stated that “this book is a magnificent reference for young athletes”, while the president of AIPS, Gianni Merlo, congratulated the author for “this important contribution to the knowledge of athletics”.
