Sweetest Olympic Hangover I Don’t Want to Get Over
Entertainment: The Olympic Hangover Begins
The 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang get a five-star review from a career movie critic who laughed, cried and finally fell asleep on the couch as the Olympic flame shone a light on our nobler selves.
By Katherine Monk
So it begins. The Olympic hangover. A sad headache prompted by a cocktail of adrenaline, fatigue and extinguished propane fumes. For eighteen days, we couch potatoes put our bodies through the rigours of extended television viewing and all-night streaming. Now sleep-deprived, about three kilos heavier and feeling emotionally bereft without a need to channel hop across the grid, it's time to look back on the games that were -- and what made the PyeongChang Winter Olympics such fantastic entertainment. Obviously, the athletes and their individual feats were the highlight -- and the reason why the drama is so sincere, but sorting through the sporting achievements is for experts such as Bev Wake and Rod Mickleburgh. I see the ...
Canada’s record-breaking Winter Olympics, medal by medal
Sports: 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang
From double gold medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who carried the flag in the opening ceremonies, to triple-medallist Kim Boutin, who carried the flag in the closing ceremonies, here's a snapshot look at the athletes who made the podium
By Bev Wake
So it turns out the absence of NHL stars from the 2018 Winter Olympics may not have been a bad thing, after all. It allowed so many other athletes — from so many sports — to step into the spotlight and shine.
For the first time since 2002, it wasn't the men's gold-medal hockey game that brought Canada to a standstill: it was a pair of ice dancers from southern Ontario.
When Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won their second gold medal of the Olympics — in ice dance, to go along with the team title won earlier in the Games — social media exploded. Sure, a lot of the chatter had to do with their relationships status, but there was an obvious appreciation for what they were doing ...
Looking at Canada’s Record-Breaking Winter Games
Sports: 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang
From the history-making luge team to comeback kid Mark McMorris, Canada has had a Games to remember — and it could get even better during the last week of competition
By Bev Wake
There have been moments, during these 2018 Winter Olympics, that should stay with us for a while.
There was Sam Edney, unable to control his tears after winning a silver medal in the luge team relay. Those were more than tears of happiness after the heartbreak of Sochi, where the team had three fourth-place finishes. They were tears of validation, of discovering good guys sometimes win after all and hard work can pay off.
It had only been a couple of weeks since Edney, Alex Gough, Justin Snith and Tristan Walker learned that their fourth-place relay finish in Sochi — which late last year had been upgraded to bronze due to Russian doping — would stay a fourth after all, thanks to a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And now they had their silver ...
How do you spell Canada? C.O.U.R.A.G.E.
Sports: 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang
The Great White North is currently enjoying one of its best Winter Games ever, but the winning ingredient may not be money, fame, celebrity or even patriotic support. It's guts.
By Rod Mickleburgh
This year, I thought, my lifelong love of the Olympics, was, if not at an end, under serious challenge. PyeongChang? The site of the Games conjured up no vision at all. Nor, with newspapers and other media so reduced, was there any real build-up to these Winter Olympics to whet the appetite. Once Gary Kingston, the Vancouver Sun’s consummate chronicler of BC’s winter athletes, departed, coverage dropped to virtually zero. As for the Globe and Mail, my former paper has regularly sent a healthy contingent to the Olympics, including, on occasion, me. This year, the Globe opted for a small force of three. The late, dispiriting, get-out-of-jail-free card delivered to Russia’s organized dopers didn’t help. Given that, the lack of buzz and an ...
How do you spell Canada? C.O.U.R.A.G.E.
Sports: 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang
The Great White North is currently enjoying one of its best Winter Games ever, but the winning ingredient may not be money, fame, celebrity or even patriotic support. It's guts.
By Rod Mickleburgh
This year, I thought, my lifelong love of the Olympics, was, if not at an end, under serious challenge. PyeongChang? The site of the Games conjured up no vision at all. Nor, with newspapers and other media so reduced, was there any real build-up to these Winter Olympics to whet the appetite. Once Gary Kingston, the Vancouver Sun’s consummate chronicler of BC’s winter athletes, departed, coverage dropped to virtually zero. As for the Globe and Mail, my former paper has regularly sent a healthy contingent to the Olympics, including, on occasion, me. This year, the Globe opted for a small force of three. The late, dispiriting, get-out-of-jail-free card delivered to Russia’s organized dopers didn’t help. Given that, the lack of buzz ...
Everything You Need to Know About the 2018 Olympic Games
Sports: 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang
When do they start? What will the time difference mean to viewers? What about Russia?: A snapshot look at the Winter Games in South Korea
By Bev Wake
1. THE IMPORTANT STUFF
These are the second Olympics in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. They officially begin on Friday, Feb. 9 and end 17 days later on Sunday, Feb. 25. By the time they are done, 2,925 athletes representing 92 countries will have competed in 15 sports. Some athletes will begin their quest for gold prior to the opening ceremonies: mixed doubles curling starts Thursday — Wednesday night back in Canada — as does ski jumping. On Friday — again, Thursday evening back in Canada — moguls skiers will compete in qualifying heats, while the team figure skating competition opens with the men’s and pairs short programs.
2. ABOUT THAT TIME DIFFERENCE ...
There is a 14-hour time difference between South Korea and Toronto and a 17-hour time difference ...
20 International athletes to watch at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang
Sports: 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang
From South Korean skaters to 'Olympic Athletes from Russia': A snapshot look at some of the top medal prospects from outside of Canada at the Winter Games in South Korea
By Bev Wake
1. MARIT BJOERGEN, Cross-Country
Country: Norway
Born: March 21, 1980
Why you should watch: Already the most successful female athlete in Winter Olympic history — with 10 medals, including five gold — she’ll try to add to her collection in PyeongChang. She won three medals in Sochi, all gold, and despite missing time after those games to have a baby, there’s little indication she’s slowed down. She left the 2017 world championships with four medals, all gold, in the 10-km classic, 7.5km + 7.5km double pursuit, 4x5km relay and 30km freestyle. She is within three medals of Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen’s 13 for most Winter Olympic medals all-time by an athlete, male or female.
2. CHOI MIN JEONG, Short Track
Country: South ...
Small Wins, Big Tanks: Top Ten Movies of 2017
Movies: Top Ten Films of 2017
Film critic Katherine Monk looks back on a year without frontrunners or favourites, making 2017’s top choices a truly personal matter with I, Tonya, Icarus and Wonder Woman landing on the podium, and plenty of other worthy contenders in the race.
By Katherine Monk
It seems the President and Harvey Weinstein eclipsed the klieg lights of the entertainment world: There is no artistic standout, nor crowd-pleasing frontrunner in the race for this year’s movie laurels as the recent Golden Globe ceremony proved.
The five major awards were handed out to four films. No Moonlight. No Lala Land. Not even a Hidden Figures. The year 2017 will be remembered for the last-minute resuscitation at the box-office thanks to Star Wars’s enduring shock paddles, pulling a loser year into so-so territory in the home stretch with more than half a billion in receipts for The Last Jedi.
Nonetheless, revenues were down 2.7 per cent ($11 billion US) over 2016’s ...
I, Tonya Has Triple Axel to Grind
Movie review: I, Tonya
Margot Robbie goes for the gold as disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding in Craig Gillespie's dazzling ode to dysfunction that captures the early daze of reality-based entertainment
