2001 Allan Maki

ALLAN MAKI – The Globe and Mail

The Olympic Games bring out the best in athletes. And in leading sports journalist Allan Maki.

Allan Maki

In covering eight different Olympic Games, the veteran sports columnist has turned in many gold-medal performances. His brilliant coverage at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway earned Maki a nomination for a National Newspaper Award. Writing about Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfield and his gold-medal triumph at the Sydney Games won Maki more praise, including the Sports Media Canada Outstanding Sportswriting Award for 2001.

Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Maki graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977. He spent 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald before joining the Globe and Mail in 1997.

A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Maki has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He’s been to eight Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl. A regular commentator on radio and television, Maki hosted a sports program for two years on CBC Newsworld.

Of all the events Maki has covered, his most memorable was the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s that was interrupted by an earthquake.

“It was memorable because you were out there covering a baseball game that all of a sudden turned into real news,” Maki said. “Your senses were in overdrive. It was real news that turned into human drama, all the things sports writers were supposedly not able to do.”

But as usual Maki’s efforts were golden.