Speed skater Gao Tingyu and skeleton racer Zhao Dan of Team China have been named as the flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the team announced on Sunday.
The opening ceremony will take place at the National Stadium in Beijing on February 4.
Gao joined the Chinese national speed skating team in 2016 and made his Olympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018. Having won the men’s 500-meter bronze medal, he became the first Chinese male speed skating medalist in the Winter Olympics.
Gao continued to refine his performance in the following years. He refreshed his personal best in the men’s 500m race with a time of 34.282 seconds at the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in February 2021. Then in the domestic event in September 2021, Gao further improved his time to 33.83 seconds.
In the previous legs of World Cup competitions, Gao kept his times under 34 seconds.
“I’m so honored to be the flag bearer of Team China for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony,” Gao wrote on Sina Weibo. “It’s exciting enough to compete at home, bearing the Chinese national flag gives me extra motivation. I have been looking forward to doing this for a long time. I will try to respond to this trust in me with my best performance in the Games.”
Compared with speed skating, skeleton is a relatively younger sport in China. Zhao was recruited by the Chinese national team in September 2018. In the franchise’s first Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2020, Zhao finished in seventh place.
Then at the fifth IBSF Intercontinental Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, in November 2021, Zhao secured her first IBSF race victory. Her best finish at the World Cup was 15th place.
“I felt so surprised and honored when I learned that I was chosen to bear the flag for Team China at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics,” Zhao posted on Sina Weibo.
“I’m lucky enough to compete at home and now I am given another role. It gives me a bigger sense of responsibility and mission. I will cherish this trust in me, give full play to my potential and show the best of myself in the competition.”
