Ideals Are Like Stars: The Dame Yvette Williams Story

Description

The first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal, a feat not repeated for forty years. Ideals Are Like Stars is the remarkable true story of Yvette Williams, a trailblazing young athlete who defied the odds to win gold in the long jump at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. Ignoring the pressure to abandon her dreams and become a housewife, Yvette's sports career is a highlight reel of newly set records which propelled her into the spotlight. Well-known for her rigorous training, down-to-earth nature and sense of humour, Yvette was the epitome of the Kiwi sporting hero - humble, hardworking and dedicated - who won the hearts of the nation. To this day she is regarded as a national treasure and her story is destined to inspire many young Kiwi athletes to follow in her wake. Author Angela Walker has written a remarkably intimate narrative account of the life of one of our nation's finest athletes. Angela, who herself competed at the Olympics (Seoul) 36 years after Yvette, has drawn on never-before-seen diaries, as well as interviews with the late Kiwi icon to recreate the day-to-day world of Yvette on the page. This is a long overdue celebration of an extraordinary sporting life and a highly engaging chronicle of a young woman's quest for excellence.

Angela Walker specialises in writing creative non-fiction. Her first book, a true Second World War story, was published in 2017. Her writing has appeared in Newsroom, Stuff, and The Spinoff. An Olympic gymnast and Commonwealth Games gold medallist herself, Angela says writing the Dame Yvette Williams story has been the greatest privilege of her career.