Inevitably, the entries in the book represent a only a proportion, albeit a sizable one, of sporting vocabulary overall. It would be im- possible to include all sporting terms, to list all sporting awards and venues. Scores of books and encyclopedias have been devoted to the world of sailing alone, for example, and books on sport generally are perennially popular, es- pecially when in the form of memoirs or biog- raphies. The present book competes with all these. But at least it offers a substantial repre- sentation of the words, names, and phrases en- countered in worldwide sports, from the fa- miliar to the often dauntingly recondite. And that has been its objective
