Silver Lining

by Elizabeth Beisel, Beth Fehr

Elizabeth Beisel, a three-time Olympic swimmer, two-time Olympic medalist, and Olympic Team captain for the United States, shares a raw and honest account of her journey towards becoming one of the best athletes in the world, and the successes and failures that came along the way. When Elizabeth Beisel watched the Olympics on television for the first time, she was seven years old in her parents’ living room. She decided right then and there she would compete at the Olympic Games one day. Eight years later, she made her first of three Olympic Teams as a fifteen-year-old. Despite her huge success in the sport, Elizabeth struggled with doubts, failures, and injuries throughout her entire swimming career. In Silver Lining, she he gives a compelling look inside the pressures that come with being an Olympian, and how she mentally conquered the stress of competing at the highest level for over a decade. From a small-town girl with a dream, to winning Olympic medals, Elizabeth gives you a glimpse inside her life as you’ve never seen it before. She is relatable, open, and honest, and her storytelling in Silver Lining will leave you feeling emotional and inspired to pursue your own dreams, no matter who you are.  Reviews “Silver Lining is a story of amazing perseverance of one of the greatest leaders in our sports history.” – Rowdy Gaines “You will be inspired, and also discover why Elizabeth is one of the most respected athletes to grace a pool deck for Team USA.” – Katie Ledecky “Elizabeth wonderfully captures what it means to be an elite athlete. Silver Lining shows how perseverance, dedication, and a support team can help one overcome life’s biggest obstacles.”– Caeleb Dressel About the Author Elizabeth Beisel is a three-time Olympic swimmer and two-time Olympic medalist for the United States of America. Visit her at www.elizabethbeisel.com.

Genres: Sports, Memoir, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

Published February 5, 2020

Reviews

[sirena rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

"go fearlessly after what you want, blaze a path, and take a chance, or watch complacently as life happens. the only way to move forward is to risk failure, and do it again, and again, and again. [...] if you can find the courage to give your all to what you love, it's impossible to lose."

easy read, relatively interesting (though I'm sure that is not independent of me being a swimmer myself), long live miss beisel!!!!

[Marcia Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a swim coach I try to read all the autobiographies of the legends of our sport, and I was a little disappointed in this. While the story of Elizabeth’s childhood was very well done, and detailed, the peak of her career was less developed. The later chapters were just the story of major meets, one after another: World Championships, Nationals, Olympics, another World Championships, etc. There was much less development of Elizabeth the person, and she’s an absolutely shining light of a role model! I think she was too young to write this book. Let’s wait a few years and see what happens to her. Former athletes who don’t have another career to slide into often end up in the world of swim clinics and motivational speaking — but then they grow out of that and get into a more substantial part of their life. That would be a better ending to this story.

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this with my 8 year old daughter who is a swimmer and we really enjoyed it. Elizabeth writes so honestly about all of her experiences. The ending was heartbreaking, and it was crazy to hear about all of the unfortunate circumstances that happened towards the end of her swimming career, but I'm glad that she was able to walk away from it with a happy heart.

This gets us really excited to watch the Olympic games this summer, Tokyo 2020!! But now we'll watch with so much more sympathy and understanding for the athletes, the mental pressure that they go through is extraordinary!

[Emily Grinstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Beisel was on the silver lining. She swam in the Olympics, and even being sick, continued to get second. Some asked how she felt to never get gold, but she WON SILVER! That's just amazing! She had gotten silver before, and got silver again! Silver is amazing! This is another of few books I would reread.

[Nikhil Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for one of my swimmers who has a dream of becoming an olympic athlete. She's got such tenacity, and as her coach I want to support her in any way I can. This book was the first step. It's an insight into the triumphs and tribulations of being an elite athlete. Definitely recommend it if you're into competitive swimming.

[Keely Pickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great and kept me entranced as she described the not only her swimming career, but her life as a high schooler, college student, etc outside of the pool. At the start, I felt like it was so detailed in her own emotions and thoughts, but the peak of her career, with the world championships and other large meets in her teen years, were much more surface level.

[Chris Loveless · Rating 2 out of 5]

An incredible swimmer who dominated swim competitions at a very early age. She discusses a number of important swim competitions in her life including her 3 Olympic Games she competed in. Every athlete realizes at some point their prime is behind them. The book is okay and not great. Felt the book was missing that pizazz.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved her journey
A inspiring story for any competitive swimmer or any athlete passionate about their sport
Loved her even more than I did before!
You are amazing Elizabeth Beisel and are loved more than you can imagine

[Johnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a mom of a swimmer (who absolutely devoured this book!), and former swim coach, it was really fun to live Elizabeth’s journey vicariously. You could feel the emotions and smell the chlorine, which we are really missing during the pandemic!

[Matt Kaminske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly honest and brave accounting of her career. I would have appreciated a little more depth on her NCAA years and time at UF. Overall, I have enormous respect for someone who is so open about their failures and shortcomings.

[Fina Miret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly loved this book, being a swimmer and needing motivation to keep going. This book brilliantly goes through an entire career in the sport of swimming, it’s paced very well and i couldn’t stop reading. If you are a swimmer or sports fan check this one out.

[Moira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

All the things I expected from someone so well respected in the sport. An amazing representation of Team USA and swimming.

[Rena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.7 this book depicts the life of being a swimmer no matter what level you are. After meeting Elizabeth at a TYR Pro Series meet this book really made me love her story even more. She has a great attitude and energy that is delivered through the writing.

[Allison Goldblatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

well written story about Beisel's journey and adjustment to life before, during and after swimming

[Jennifer Dronzek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done! A great read for any athlete, hard worker, or anyone looking for inspiration!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed! Not only a memoir but motivational.

[Amy Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Elizabeth’s honest recount of her experience and the raw emotions that come with pursuing really bold dreams.

[Landry Hadder · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

[Caroline Strolic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book the summer before I retired and it still makes me sob like a little baby

[Caroline Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for the first time in a long time
Forgot how good it was
Just sometimes got a little boring/confusing

[Alayna Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, love u Beisel

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

[Kristin Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoy reading autobiographies of people who faced challenges and overcame them. I am also a swimmer and wanted to read something inspiring. Beisel is a wonderful swimmer and positive role model, but I did not have any emotional connection to this novel whatsoever. In the beginning, she gave more detail, but after that-the book was hard to get through-the writing is very amateur with simple, repetitive sentences and I was so tired of reading the word “swum”. Eeek. The best parts were when the coaches gave her words of inspiration. Her story didn’t wow me-a few injuries and bumps in the road. The book is mostly her talking about this World Champion swim at this pool and this event and that event. (Zzzzz) I dozed off so many times! It could have been so much better. It was very amateur and sounded like it was written by a novice. I wanted to put it down sooo many times, but kept waiting for it to get better. I’ll have to look into some other suggested novels of swimmers. This was was a low two stars for me. Am I missing something seeing all the 4-5 star reviews?