The Nile Wilson book, Nile Wilson - My Story is way more than I was expecting.
I know of Nile from his Olympic career, his You Tube channel, and his videos with Tom Daley. But, with this read, I was able to glimpse the deeper side of Nile.
His story isn't an easy one, as he has suffered from mental illness issues and addiction. It's definitely a tough read at times. And more than anything, Nile is strong in his encouragement of others to ask for help when they need it.
I definitely enjoyed this book and the deeper look into Nile's serious side. He has definitely experienced a lot of obstacles along his way to success. I am impressed with this story.

I don't usually read memoirs and I would not have picked this up if not for the fact that I have watched his youtube videos and follow his story over the past few years. Personally, I feel that Nile is more suited to the medium of video. Even his more serious videos give a very genuine feel and his overall positive outlook comes across more encouraging and less cheesy through video. But if you are a memoir person, and uninclined to check out his youtube channel, this book is worth the time.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book for review.

I stumbled upon Nile’s YouTube page randomly months ago and followed for a time. Then I saw this book and wanted to read.

When I was young I was in gymnastics and hated it. But I adored watching the sport.

Hearing about all his highs and lows was something I was able to connect with. It’s stressful and painful and exhausting. I did roll my eyes when he talks about how he didn’t believe in depression...until he experienced it. But still thinks you can just mentally say ‘I’m no longer depressed’ and just get over it. That was a souring point for me

As a fan of Nile's YouTube channel, I was initially concerned this would be a bare-bones retelling of what he already shares online alongside his friends and family, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I was taken aback by some of the chapters in this book, particularly those surrounding his struggles with alcohol and gambling, and the trouble with Leeds Gymnastics club and British Gymnastics. These chapters give a 'cards on the table', raw and gritty insight into his personal battles and the hard-truths about the sport, seemingly filling in the blanks from his life lived online.

My only critique would be that some of the language in the book became a bit repetitive and felt like it was aimed at a younger audience thus limiting the overall impact, but I can appreciate that the book has to appeal to a variety of ages/audiences, so I can look past this.

Great book for budding Gymnasts AND those less flexible!

As someone who has been supporting Nile, initially with his gymnastics career for around 7 years now, this was a really interesting read! I really felt Nile’s passion for his career and family and found it refreshingly honest in terms of addiction and mental health.

When I first started reading this book, I thought I was going to get an idea of what it took to be a top class gymnast. I got that and a lot of "I'm the best thing that's ever happened to gymnastics", which started to get annoying. However, by the end of it, I had developed a lot of respect for a guy who is still so young but who is absolutely focussed on what he wants to achieve, and is not afraid to admit when he isn't doing so well.

I thought the love he had for his family was really touching and I ended up having a look on YouTube to see what he was all about. Nile certainly doesn't shy away from possibly looking foolish and he clearly gets his confidence to perform from his dad!

As far as the writing goes, it is clearly written by Nile himself. So many top stars get a professional writer in to write their stories and it is nice that these are his own words.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen & Sword.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend to others.

A must read, I found this story of Nile Wilson both emotional and inspirational! Nile Wilson is known to many as a Great Britain Gymnast who won a Bronze Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and who is England’s most successful ever gymnast at a Commonwealth Games following his 5 medals in 2018. Yet, Nile is so much more than just a gymnast. A YouTuber with over a million subscribers, a social media influencer, a successful businessman and entrepeneur, Nile is also an advocate for mental health awareness, and who has been very open about his own personal struggles.

Nile Wilson – My Story gives an unprecedented look into Nile’s true battle to be fit and ready for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - throughout the Games and the aftermath. The public perception of Nile Wilson is his humour, openness and how down to earth he is, all of which is true. Due to this perception however, people presume they know everything about him. This book will shatter that perception, and reveal the struggles behind the smiles, from the brutal reality of performing at an elite sporting level, to the mental health battles Nile has had to fight – and continues to fight – every day. A must read!

Sometime during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, my fiancee stumbled across Nile Wilson’s YouTube channel. Wilson, a British Olympic medalist, would gather his friends and family and shoot videos of them competing in various gymnastics-based challenges in a variety of environments. It was a bit of fun and comedy for us during some of the darkest days of 2020.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

With My Story, Nile takes the reader though his celebrated career as he shares his brutal training regimens, his battles with addiction as well as his struggles with mental health that unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with being an elite level athlete. Nile writes of the dangers that come with measuring your self-worth against your career accomplishments and your level of performance.

Despite experiencing those dark days, Nile comes across as an optimist with an overwhelmingly positive message about how crucial it is to ask for help when you need it so you can avoid the pitfalls of self-pity that comes with self-destructive behavior.

Maybe it is the first time they’re being revealed to the world, but I had no knowledge of Nile’s gambling addiction, his eating disorder or his entrenched battle with British Gymnastics as well as his legal fight with a prominent gymnastics club – something that would ultimately lead to him investing more in his YouTube channel and opening his own series of gymnastics clubs across Britain in an effort to change the culture surrounding the sport.

Overall, the book was more revealing than I expected but that might be more to do with not really knowing much about Nile other than him being a ridiculously talented athlete. It’s a short one – clocking in at just under one hundred and fifty pages – but it was an eye-opening look at the high-stress pressure imposed on amateur athletes and what it takes to not only reach the top, but the struggle to stay there.

First of all I would like to say thank you to the author and to the publisher for allowing me access to this book and thank you for that Kelly for allowing me to have access to their website and to give feedback.

First of all I would like to say that I watch nile Wilson on his YouTube channel and follow him as he is such a good entertainment source I absolutely enjoyed his journey and I think that he is very talented and has a great mindset which I thought was amazing and this definitely came through in the book as I absolutely loved that he wrote it and it came across as something very authentic as other books about orphans seem to not connect like the characters. Overall would recommend

The book is decent, a solid autobiography for someone who has clearly experienced a lot! The cycle of addiction is tough and Nile speaks well about some of them. Not all of them are given the same light but I assume they’re better described in the other books. The book is informative on the mental side for sport and what injury does to an athlete. If you’ve seen his YouTube video about similar topics alot of this is the same, and on a similar level.