Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian

The timing for Chasing Water couldn't be better. The 2016 Olympics approach as 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.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 United States 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. But 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.Anthony Ervin is an Olympic gold medalist unlike anyone the world has ever seen. Currently the fastest American swimmer, claiming the most recent national title in the men's fifty-meter freestyle, Ervin did so while also being the oldest athlete competing at the meet.Constantine Markides is a New Yorkbased swim trainer and former correspondent for the international daily newspaperCyprus Mail. In covering the 2006 Lebanon War, he worked with CNN's Anderson Cooper and was also featured on CBC and NPR'sMarketplace. His essays and fiction have been published in various magazines and journals, includingRolling Stone. A high school state champion swimmer, Markides also swam for Columbia University.
In advance of the 2016 Olympics, Akashic launches a new sports imprint with a dramatic memoir by a gold-medalist Olympian.