Complimentary Home Evaluations
of the morning in our time zones — through to Brian Williams’ evening recap, with the stories behind the stories of the day.
“Lisa LaFlamme and the ‘ CTV National News’ team will be on site in London,” Ashton says. “On CTV, we’ll be broadcasting 22 hours a day of Olympic coverage, and the other two hours will be CTV News, and they’ll be talking about the Games.”
If you want to take the Games with you wherever you go, there will be constant live streaming video available on the website — www.ctvolympics.ca — and through smartphone or tablet apps.
As for what there will be to watch on all these things, Williams points out that there will be some terrific stories in these games, from the sprinting powerhouse that is Jamaica to whether American swimmer Michael Phelps will tie or beat the record for most Olympic medals. He has 16; the record is 18.
Canadians to watch include Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, B.C., rated as the No. 1 shot-putter in the world; hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, who won a bronze in Beijing and is coming back from having a baby; swimmer Ryan Cochrane, who won bronze in the 1,500-meter freestyle in Beijing; and Emilie Heymans, the diver who is vying to be the first woman ever to win medals in four sets of Summer Olympics.
Equestrian Ian Millar from Perth, Ont., is coming back for a record 10th Games; he started competing in Munich in 1972. And Clara Hughes — one of the few athletes in the world to medal in Summer and Winter Games — will be competing again in cycling.
One great story is boxer Mary Spencer, winner of three World Championships. She nearly didn’t qualify for the Olympics and got in as a wild-card entry.
“She has a great chance at gold,” Williams says. “And if she wins it, she’ll be the first aboriginal gold medalist since Alwyn Morris combined with Hugh Fisher to win kayak in Los Angeles in 1984.”
Finally, there will be cultural and geopolitical components to these games that could be as fascinating as anything on the field or track.
“This is a compelling Olympics for so many reasons beyond the playing field,” Williams says. “They have the great British culture. Will the Stones appear? How will Shakespeare’s work be used? As part of the opening ceremonies? Will Adele sing? Will Paul McCartney sing?
“Also remember, this is the 40th anniversary of (the terrorist attack on the Israeli team in) Munich. And the day after these Games were awarded, they had the London subway bombing.
“There are compelling stories from so many different directions.”