Coan memoir to be published

    Breaking Free – Shattering Expectations and Thriving with Ambition in Pursuit of Gold, a memoir by three-time Paralympic swimming gold medalist and world record holder McKenzie Coan, will be published by CG Sports Publishing on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
    The book tells of Coan’s life with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, as she navigates the world of competitive swimming.
    Never expected to sit, stand, walk, or even possibly live, Coan has spent her life defying the odds.
    Between extended hospital stays and sometimes months in a body cast, Coan carved out a successful swimming career, starting in para swim meets at the age of 8.
    As she describes in the book, she has lived a “lifetime of unlikeliness.”
    Coan attended her first Paralympic Games at the age of 12 in London in 2012, and she stood atop the Paralympic podium three times in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
    She looks to defend her titles in Tokyo this summer, as the world’s top-ranked freestyler in her classification and events.
    Breaking Free tackles many of today’s hot topics in sport and in life, including discrimination, goal setting, mental health, self-care, and body image, while following Coan from infancy in rural Georgia to the international stage as a professional athlete.
    It is a story of grit, determination, disability, athleticism, family, humor, and hope.
    Breaking Free is available through Ingram and will be sold by Amazon and other major retailers.
     Preorder sales of Breaking Free will run from Aug. 2-10.
    Coan will donate a portion of preorder proceeds to the OI Foundation, an organization that works to better the lives of people living with osteogenesis imperfecta.