An East German weightlifter ingested more anabolic steroids than any other athlete in recorded history. It didn’t end well.

A pre-Olympics profile of the now-gold medalist.

Colossal corruption. Political chaos. The worst recession in its history. How a once-booming nation fell.

“Rio is about far more than Phelps adding to his legacy. It’s the next step toward achieving the same peace and balance on land as he’s had in the water.”

He set a world record in the 100-yard dash as a teenager. He was mentored by Muhammad Ali and a man who orchestrated the largest bank embezzlement in U.S. history. He was homeless for part of his adult life before making a comeback at age 34. Throughout it all, Houston McTear was really, really fast.

In the midst of a tribal burial, Jim Thorpe’s third wife burst in to remove his body, setting in motion a decades-long battle over the Native American athlete’s final resting place.

The story of the Refugee Olympic team.

Life as an Olympic-level archer.

How the government cleared the streets in advance of the 1988 Olympics.

Can Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski make the casual audience care about figure skating?

Bill May, considered to be the greatest male synchronized swimmer who ever lived, and his long quest for Olympic gold.

On a November morning, Olympic rower and financial advisor Harold Backer left for a bike ride and never returned. His disappearance remained a mystery – until letters began arriving at the homes of his investors.

The unexpected evolution of Olympic medalist Debi Thomas.

On the talent, ego, and late father of Bryant Gumbel.

How a woman whose muscles disappeared discovered she shared a disease with a muscle-bound Olympic medalist.

Michael Phelps returns to his Olympic training after a 45-day stint at The Meadows.

What happend to Serafim Todorov after the 1996 Olympic featherweight semifinals.

How a town of 4,000, defined by aviation catastrophe, produced three Olympic medallists.

Sex in the Olympic Village.

Previously: The Longform Guide to the Olympics.

Since 2007, when they first heard that “the Florida of Russia” was being awarded the Winter Olympics, two Dutch journalists have been documenting everyday life in Sochi and how it has changed in the run-up to the Games.

A profile of Shaun White.

Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and the “why me?” misheard around the world.

On the scene of the darkest games in Olympics history.

Part of our Olympics primer, on the Longform blog.

An Englishman’s account of the first modern Olympic games.

“Over the past century, coaches have used intuition and discipline to vastly improve athletic performance. Now scientists are taking the last step, helping athletes approach perfection.”