Winter Olympics: 10 films to get you ready for the Beijing Games, from ‘Cool Runnings’ to South Korean classic ‘Take Off’
- Starring the likes of John Candy, Hugh Jackman and Ha Jung-woo, here are some of the best Winter Games movies around
- From underdogs to top dogs, there’s something for everyone in our picks ahead of the Beijing 2022 Olympics
Olympic athletes put their minds and bodies on the line for years just to make it to the Games – competing at the world’s biggest sporting event is no easy task, with many challenges and setbacks along the way.
So it’s no wonder their journeys make for such compelling stories on the big screen.
Ahead of next month’s Beijing 2022 Winter Games, the Post has ranked some of our favourite winter sports films that tell stories of athletes and their coaches defeating the odds to achieve their Olympic dreams.
Cool Runnings (1993)
What’s not to love about the idea of a team from Jamaica competing at the Winter Olympics? Throw in the comedy genius that was John Candy, and you have yourselves an instant classic
The film follows the story of an unlikely team in less than ideal training circumstances, who still manage to make it to the 1988 Winter Olympics against all odds.
After Derice Bannock (Leon Robinson), a Jamaican sprinter, fails to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympics, he sets his mind on the Winter Games. He convinces the dishonoured coach Irving Blizter (Candy) and his friend Sanka Coffie (Doug E Doug), a pushcart derby champion, to help him start Jamaica’s first bobsleigh team – a notion which draws derision from their countrymen and rivals alike