News & Features » August 2016 » Akashic author Anthony Ervin at the 2016 Olympic Games!
Akashic author Anthony Ervin at the 2016 Olympic Games!
We’re absolutely thrilled to have our author Anthony Ervin competing at the Olympic Games in Rio this year!
At age thirty-five, Ervin is the oldest United States male Olympic swimmer since 1904 to swim in an individual event — he will compete in the men’s 50m Freestyle and the 4 x 100 Freestyle relay. He is now a three-time Olympian, having first won Gold at the 2000 Olympics when he was nineteen years old.
Tune in on Sunday, August 7, to see Ervin compete in the men’s 4 x 100 Freestyle relay — heats begin at 12:00 PM EST, and finals at 9:00 PM EST. (Click the links to watch live coverage at NBC.com.) Ervin will also compete in the 50m Freestyle on Thursday, August 11 — heats begin at 12:00 PM EST, and semifinals at 9:00 PM EST.
Anthony Ervin was recently profiled at the Charlotte Observer; you can read it here. See below for information on his book.
Congratulations, Anthony!
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Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian
by Anthony Ervin and Constantine Markides
Every four years in the Olympic cycle the surge of national interest in swimming grows, and with it a desire to be captivated by its stars. This book tells the dramatic, surprising, and sometimes provocative path that Anthony Ervin has taken to become one of those captivating Olympic heroes. Not your typical sports memoir, Chasing Water also contains arresting black-and-white drawings and a graphic story extra, as well as an inventive and mercurial narrative style that morphs chapter by chapter to reflect Ervin’s restless, multifaceted life.
Ervin won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games at the age of nineteen. He is an athlete branded with a slew of titles including being the first US Olympic swimmer of African American descent, along with Jewish heritage, who also grew up with Tourette’s syndrome. He shocked the sporting world by retiring soon after claiming two world titles following the 2000 Olympics. Auctioning off his gold medal for charity, he set off on a part spiritual quest, part self-destructive bender that involved Zen temples, fast motorcycles, tattoo parlors, and rock ’n’ roll bands. Then Ervin resurfaced in 2012 to not only make the US Olympic team twelve years after his first appearance, but to continue his career by swimming faster than ever before, and faster than anyone else. He is currently training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Political sportswriter and Edge of Sports imprint curator Dave Zirin (the Nation) has never shied away from criticizing that which die-hard sports fans hold dear. The Edge of Sports titles will address issues across many different sports—football, basketball, swimming, tennis, etc.—and at both the professional and nonprofessional/collegiate levels. Furthermore, Zirin brings to the table select stories of athletes’ journeys and what they are facing and how they evolve both in their sport as well as against the greater backdrop of one’s life’s odyssey.
Posted: Aug 4, 2016
Category: News | Tags: 2016 Olympics, Anthony Ervin, Chasing Water, Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian, News, Olympics, Rio, Rio de Janeiro