I’l always curious about who is picked to carry the flag in the opening ceremony.
Here is my count (I missed at least one)
Alpine Skiing 25
XC Skiing 11
Biathlon*, Hockey 7
Snowboarding 6
Luge, Figure Skating, Bobseld 5
Freestyle Skiing, Speed Skating 3
Skeleton 2
Short Track, Official 1
Brian
Not in Europe, it’s huge over there.
I was all “WTF” over this year’s choices. As you pointed out it’s usually great national Olympians (or at least athletes) chosen. But Anne Murray? Astronaut Julie Payette? What do they have to do with the Olympic flag? Great Canadians, hell yeah, every one of them, but they’re not really the best choice for Olympic flag honours. (By my count there were only two athletes (one of which was a former Olympian) and one mother of an athlete (obviously there to represent her passed-away son.)
I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call Terry Fox an athlete in the context of this discussion.
Part of the Biathlon thing could be that it’s a pretty low overhead sport. Small countries with small budgets and no real national organization are probably more likely to field a biathlete than a member of a team sport or a sport which requires expensive indoor facilities. Going through the list countries like Greece, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova trotted out biathletes.
Perhaps, but he qualifies a lot more than Julie Payette, and a WHOLE lot more than Ann Murray. (I can’t even remember who the third non-athlete is)
Jack Bauer’s dad? Romeo Daillaire?
I think you guys are making too much of these ‘choices’. Many athletes probably decline (or make clear they are not interested) in carrying the flag as it means carrying a small three around an oval and standing around in the cold for the good part of three hours. The dutch had some bobsleigher as flag carrier and I know there are multiple other people that would have been prefered, but these guys just didn’t want to. The most obvious choice would have been Sven Kramer (who is probably going to win a medal or three/four) but he didn’t even go to the opening ceremony, since he has his first race saturday morning. The same is probably true for a lot of downhill skiers and ski jumpers.
I’m not saying it isn’t an honor to carry the flag, but real contenders come to the olympics to win a medal, not to look at a show.
The OP is talking about who, in each country delegation, is chosen to carry that country’s flag into the stadium. The rest of you are talking about who were the 8 people chosen to carry to Olympic flag to be raised. (Go Bobby Orr!)