As a sports journalist with over two decades embedded in the Olympic world, I've chased stories from press boxes to finish lines, witnessing the Games' glittering facade and its cracks under pressure.

My debut novel, Beneath the Rings, thrusts readers into the fictional 2040 Doha Olympics—the first in the Middle East—where reporter Nova Mendelsohn uncovers a terrorist plot amid the chaos. Drawing from my time at NBC Olympics and Universal Sports, the book blends real behind-the-scenes grit with thriller tension, like the vivid Opening Ceremony that immerses you in the stadium's electric hum, or the athlete kidnappings echoing the 1972 Munich massacre. While modern Games boast ironclad security, this tale asks for a dash of suspended disbelief to let the drama unfold.

My Olympic immersion started in 2007, I crafted content and social strategies for Track & Field and Alpine Skiing on NBCOlympics.com. During the 2008 Beijing Games, the Bird's Nest Stadium erupted as Usain Bolt shattered the 100m and 200m world records, his lightning stride captivating the world. I was there, pushing real-time updates and athlete profiles that went viral, contributing to our Sports Emmy win for innovative coverage. Behind the scenes, I produced features on lesser-known stories, mirroring Nova's focus on overlooked narratives in the book.

In 2010, as the Alpine Skiing producer for the Vancouver's Winter Olympics, I was there in the throws as Lindsey Vonn clinched downhill gold despite a bruised shin, and watched from the International Broadcast Center as Shaun White defended his halfpipe title with a flawless Double McTwist 1260. Our team broke every moment down live, in the process building a community, much like the dedicated following Nova cultivates on her OlymPulse site. We earned praise for real-time problem-solving, optimizing coverage as events unfolded in the Whistler mountains.

The 2012 London Olympics were a whirlwind: managing track and field content live from the Olympic Stadium. Before the Games, I hosted prediction shows with analyst Ato Boldon, forecasting races like Mo Farah's 10,000m and 5,000m double gold amid the home crowd's roar. Sports Illustrated named me one of 50 Must-Follow Twitter accounts, where I'd share scoops like Allyson Felix's 200m triumph after years of near-misses.

As a representative of the host broadcaster, what I didn’t get to do -- but wish I did -- was more investigative or commentary pieces that expose host-city tensions. That is why it was important for me in the book for Nova to be an independent journalist, so she could pen articles like "Doha 2040: A Shiny New Sports Mecca—At What Cost?"

By Sochi 2014, the atmosphere was charged with controversy. As Russia hosted amid anti-LGBTQ laws and Circassian protests over historical grievances, I once again was unable to delved into athlete activism. The Games saw Yuna Kim's silver in figure skating amid judging debates, but later revelations of state-sponsored doping—whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov exposing tampered samples, leading to 13 stripped medals and flag bans. The ethical weight of those Games lingered, inspiring Nova's coverage of Sochi's scandals in Beneath the Rings.

In the novel, I tried to channel these into vivid parallels: the Opening Ceremony pulses with a 100,000-strong crowd, boos for Israel mirroring real geopolitical frictions I've seen, like tensions in Beijing over Tibet. The Obsidian Hand's athlete kidnappings, with a $500 billion ransom and Semtex threats, harken to Munich 1972's Black September attack that killed 11 Israelis. Historically tied, it explores terror's shadow over sport.

Yet, today's Olympics are fortresses: multi-layered surveillance, biometric scans, and international forces make such breaches improbable. My story requires suspending disbelief to crack that armor, heightening the stakes in Doha's futuristic venues like Lusail Stadium.

Ultimately, this book is my love letter to the Games' unfiltered soul. Dive in for the thrill.

About Beneath the Rings

The Doha 2040 Summer Olympics are supposed to be about gold medals and global unity. Instead, they kick off a descent into terror when 12 Israeli and Lebanese athletes vanish, leaving behind only the chilling threat of The Obsidian Hand and an impossible $500 billion ransom. Veteran journalist Nova Mendelsohn finds herself entangled with a cryptic Ancient Arabic note and a mysterious local merchant, forced to race the clock. Her pursuit of the truth will take her from the glittering Olympic Village into the city’s darkest corners and onto the blood-soaked sands of the desert, where a centuries-old vengeance threatens to ignite a catastrophic final act. What secrets lie beneath the surface of the Games, and what will it cost Nova to uncover them?

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About Joe Battaglia

Joe Battaglia is a seasoned and award-winning journalist who spent years in The Olympics arena. With over two decades in sports media, Battaglia has led content creation across news, politics, and athletics, including a role on the NBCOlympics.com team that earned a Sports Emmys for Outstanding New Approaches To Sports Event Coverage for the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Summer Olympics. He currently lives in Texas with his family. Joe is the author of the award-winning children’s book, The ABCs of Track & Field: A Fast Start For Future Runners Jumpers & Throwers, and Beneath the Rings is his debut adult novel.