Le Tibétain [French]

By JEAN-LÉO GROS

The Beijing Olympic Games, a decade in planning, are set to be the greatest of all time. On the eve of the opening ceremony, however, the Chinese government must announce to the world that China has virtually no athletes to compete in its own Games. The host country's Olympic team has been decimated by doping disqualifications.

The International Olympic Committee fears that scandal could ruin the Games forever. The Middle Kingdom has lost face and its people are up in arms. Chinese leaders, faced with hosting an event devoid of glory or celebration, grasp one hope. An exceptionally talented Tibetan athlete named Mykio Dara was not disqualified. Allowing the young swimmer to represent China could calm the populace, yet also ignite dangerous repercussions.

Torn by his past and Tibet's ruinous recent history, Mykio refuses to swim for China. But the Chinese government forces him to compete, and to do his best. Each qualifying race carries political consequences on the world stage. Yet an enemy with political and industrial power knows that Mykio must lose, the Games must fail. This group had the means to make him do so.
The Tibetan takes the reader inside China's mysterious Kremlin ? Zhongnanhai, behind Olympic scenes to Executive Committee maneuverings, and into the Aquatic Center pool where the young man's fate unfolds alongside that of China itself. The swim finals, followed meter by meter by a bewildered crowd and the world's press, become historical events which symbolize a power struggle between the host nation's conservatives and progressives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: French
• ISBN: 270962527X
• ISBN13: 9782709625272
• Release Date: February 2018
• Publisher: Editions J.C. Lattes
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.3"