Speed skater Olga Fatkulina will be the flag bearer of the Russian team at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics together with the hockey player Vadim Shipachyov, said the head of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
“It will certainly be important for the athletes to embody strength and power. With the unanimous decision, the flag bearers will be the Olympic silver medalist Olga Fatkulina, one of the most experienced in the team, and the Olympic champion from Pyeongchang 2018, captain of the men’s ice hockey team Vadim Shipachyov. They are the most worthy members of the team”, said Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
Due to international sanctions against Russian sports, athletes from Russia are competing in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing under the flag and logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) instead of the Russian national flag and state emblem.
Olga Fatkulina is a Russian long-track speed skater. She competed for Russia at the Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in the women’s 500 m and 1000 m. She is the silver medal winner of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in the women’s 500m individual speed skating. She is also the winner of the 2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in the women’s 1,000 m competition and three-time European champion.
