Winter Paralympics: Top facts about nine flagbearers at the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony
The Paralympic Opening Ceremony from Beijing 2022 is upon us. We pick out some of the most interesting flagbearers set to star for their nations.
The Winter Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony at Beijing 2022 promises to be another memorable occasion. With athletes from 46 countries from across the world, the Parade of Athletes is always one of the highlights.
According to the official IPC protocol, the host country’s language determines the order of the nations. Belgium will be the first country with the People’s Republic of China closing out the parade.
We have highlighted nine flagbearers and pick out some essential facts about their incredible backstories.
USA: Danelle Umstead and Tyler Carter
Team USA selected two alpine skiers as their Winter Paralympic flagbearers for 2022. Danelle Umstead and Tyler Carter were selected by a majority vote from the 67 athletes in the delegation.
Umstead will be joined by her husband, Rob, who will act as her guide. They are the only married couple on the team and have been skiing together since 2008. This will be Danelle’s fourth Paralympic Games. She is a three-time Paralympic bronze medallist in the women’s visually impaired class.
“I was completely surprised,” she said to Team USA. “They did a beautiful thing, and they had my husband joining me. Everything I have done, he has been by my side. He is so proud. This is such an honour, and I was completely shocked.”
Carter is a two-time Paralympian who currently works for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
"Getting to carry the flag alongside Danelle is a huge honour,” Carter said to Team USA. “I lived with her for a few months when I was young in my career. She mentored me, and we became best friends. To be able to walk alongside her [and] represent our whole country and the team, I can’t think of anyone better to be sharing that moment with.”
Italy: Giacomo Bertagnolli
The Italian team have also chosen an alpine skier as their flagbearer for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.
Giacomo Bertagnolli is a two-time Paralympic champion who picked up his gold medals in the visually impaired class at PyeongChang 2018. He won the men’s slalom and giant slalom with his guide and schoolfriend Fabrizio Casal. He’s not just a very talented tech skier. He also took silver in the super-G and bronze in the downhill.
Giacomo (or ‘Jack’ as he calls himself on Instagram) won his first world title in Tarvisio in Italy back in the 2016-17 season. He is now competing with a new guide, Andrea Ravelli, who is seven years older than the 23-year-old.
“Andrea is a natural coach… He skied alongside those we see at the World Cup until he got injured. I made the decision once Fabrizio got busier at university. He's doing plenty of things while I had to train on a daily basis because the level in Para alpine skiing is increasing,” he told sciaremag.it.
“We won so much together but I needed a change and I'm happy to have done it after all the medals we won."
France: Benjamin Daviet
The decision to award Benjamin Daviet the honour of being France’s Paralympic flagbearer for Beijing 2022 is a reward for an exemplary career at all levels. The 32-year-old from Savoy embodies the Olympic values with his resilience, perseverance and sense of sharing. In para biathlon and para cross country skiing, he has also built up a remarkable record of 19 world medals and five podiums at the Paralympic Winter Games.
It was in July 2006 that Daviet's life changed when he was the victim of a moped accident at the age of 17. Suffering from a fracture his left knee, he had to undergo surgery.
After surgery, he contracted ‘staphylococcus aureus’ which ate away at the cartilage and the joint. This infection now prevents him from bending his left leg.
He was already a keen sportsman with wide interests including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and football but he left sport for several years until putting on his uncle’s skis in 2010. Barely a few months after this decision to go out and find nature, Benjamin Daviet joined the France team where he competes in the LW2 category for the Paralympic Games.
Argentina: Enrique Plantey
Enrique Plantey, 39, is a two-time Paralympic alpine skier who has used a wheelchair since he was 11.
The Argentina flagbearer is also on a mission to break down taboos around dating, disability, and sex. With his girlfriend of 10 years, nurse Triana Serfaty, they have launched a book and an Instagram page with the hope of answering some awkward questions.
"It’s fraught with taboos, the sexual taboo and the disability taboo," Plantey said.
“There were two boys, 17 years old, both with a disability asking how they can ‘do it’,” Serfaty added. “They had lots of questions. They wanted to talk because they feel like we can empathise. They are only 17, so they are at that moment of life that you start to explore yourself and to ask a lot of questions. One of the guys was asking, ‘How can I go with my wheelchair and talk to a girl at the park?’”
Canada: Ina Forrest and Greg Westlake.
Sharing flagbearer duty for Canada are Ina Forrest and Greg Westlake. The pair are very successful Paralympians. Forrest is a three-time Paralympic medallist in wheelchair curling. Westlake is one of Canada’s most decorated sledge hockey players ever.
After the challenges presented by the pandemic, both are relieved just to make it to China in order to compete. They found out they would have the honour to carry the flag through the Bird’s Nest in that classic COVID-19 way: a video call.
"It was stressful," Westlake said according to TSN. "We could lie and say it wasn't, but one of the biggest challenges for these Games was just getting to these Games.
"[But], I'm extremely proud. I'm extremely humbled by the honour and I just can't wait to get out there with my teammates."
China: Guo Yujie and Wang Zhidong
The final nation to enter the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium will be the host nation of China. Two athletes share the responsibilities for carrying the flag: Guo Yujie competes in both para cross country skiing and para biathlon. She is 18 and is set to compete in the 6km, 10km, 12.5km (standing category) events of biathlon and sprint event of cross country skiing (standing category).
Wang Zhidong is a 22-year-old para sledge hockey player who played an important role in the team’s Tournament B victory at the 2021 World Para Ice Hockey Championships.
Full list of flagbearers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony
Andorra - Games Volunteer
Argentina - Enrique Plantey (Para Alpine Skiing)
Australia - Mitchell Gourley (Para Alpine Skiing) and Melissa Perrine (Para Alpine Skiing)
Austria – Barbara Aigner (Para Alpine Skiing) and Markus Salcher (Para Alpine Skiing)
Azerbaijan - Mehman Ramazanzade (Para Cross-Country Skiing)
Belgium - Remi Mazi (Para Alpine Skiing)
Bosnia Herzegovina Jovica Goreta (Para Alpine Skiing) and Ilma Kazazic (Para Alpine Skiing)
Brazil – Aline dos Santos Rocha (Para Cross-Country Skiing) and Cristian Westemaier Ribera (Para Biathlon)
Bulgaria - Games Volunteer
Canada – Ina Forrest (Wheelchair Curling) and Greg Westlake (Para Ice Hockey)
Chile - Nicolas Bisquertt Hudson (Para Alpine Skiing)
China - GUO Yujie (Para Biathlon) and WANG Zhidong (Para Ice Hockey)
Croatia – Bruno Bosnjak (Para Snowboard)
Czech Republic – Zdenek Krupicka (Para Ice Hockey)
Denmark - Games Volunteer
Estonia - Signe Falkenberg (Wheelchair Curling) and Mait Matas (Wheelchair Curling)
Finland – Inkki Inola (Para Cross-Country Skiing) and Maiju Laurila (Para Alpine Skiing)
France - Benjamin Daviet (Para Biathlon)
Georgia – Temuri Dadiani (Para Cross-Country Skiing)
Germany – Martin Fleig (Para Biathlon) Anna-Lena Forster (Para Alpine Skiing)
Great Britain – Meggan Dawson-Farrell (Wheelchair Curling) and Gregor Ewan (Wheelchair Curling)
Greece - Eva Nikou (Alpine Skiing) and Konstantinos Petrakis (Para Snowboard)
Hungary - Richard Dumity (Para Alpine Skiing)
Iceland – Hilmar Orvarsson (Para Alpine Skiing)
Islamic Rep. of Iran – Elaheh Gholifallah (Para Cross-Country Skiing)
Israel - Games Volunteer
Italy - Giacomo Bertagnolli (Para Alpine Skiing)
Japan - KAWAYOKE Taiki (Para Biathlon)
Kazakhstan – Yerbol Khamitov (Para Biathlon)
Latvia – Ojars Briedis (Wheelchair Curling) and Polina Rozkova (Wheelchair Curling)
Liechtenstein – Sarah Hundert (Para Alpine Skiing)
Mexico - Arly Aristides Velasquez Penaloza (Para Alpine Skiing)
Mongolia – Ganbold Batmunkh (Para Cross-Country Skiing)
Netherlands – Lisa Bunschoten (Para Snowboard) and Chris Vos (Para Snowboard)
New Zealand - Games Volunteer
Norway – Kjartan Haugen (Para Cross-Country Skiing) and Sissel Loechen (Wheelchair Curling)
Poland - Andrzej Szczesny (Para Alpine Skiing)
Puerto Rico – Orlando Perez (Para Alpine Skiing)
Republic of Korea - BAEK Hyejin (Wheelchair Curling)
Romania - Mihaita Papara (Para Snowboard) and Laura Valeanu (Para Alpine Skiing)
Slovakia – Miroslav Haraus (Para Alpine Skiing) and Monika Kunkelova (Wheelchair Curling)
Slovenia - Jernej Slivnik (Para Alpine Skiing)
Spain - Victor Manuel Gonzalez-Fernandez (Para Snowboard)
Sweden - Viljo Pettersson-Dahl (Wheelchair Curling) and Kristina Ulander (Wheelchair Curling)
Switzerland - Hans Burgener (Wheelchair Curling) and Romy Tschopp (Para Snowboard)
Ukraine - Maksym Yarovyi (Para Biathlon)