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Beijing Winter Olympics: China chooses speed skater and skeleton athlete as flag-bearers
- Two members of the national team will have the task in a first for China
- Olympic bronze medallist Gao Tingyu says the honour will give him strength
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A speed skater and a skeleton athlete will carry China’s flag at the opening of the Winter Olympics, the first time two representatives have been given the task since the country debuted at the Winter Games four decades ago.
Skater Gao Tingyu and skeleton athlete Zhao Dan were named on Sunday as the Chinese delegation’s flag-bearers for the opening on Friday.
Gao, 24, is one of China’s brightest stars in speed skating and was first selected for the national men’s team in 2016.
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He won bronze in the men’s 500m at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, becoming the first Chinese male to win an Olympic speed skating medal.
02:39
Final preparations under way for artificial snow production at Beijing Winter Olympics
Final preparations under way for artificial snow production at Beijing Winter Olympics
Gao, from Heilongjiang province, set a personal best of 34.282 seconds in the 500m at the World Championships in 2020 and bettered that mark in September last year in China by covering the distance in 33.83 seconds, state news agency Xinhua reported.
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“It’s such an honour to be a flag-bearer for the Chinese delegation at the Beijing Winter Olympics,” Gao said on his Weibo social media account.
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