Speed skaters Golovatsiuk and Nifontova bear Belarus’ flag at Olympics opening

Speed skaters Ignat Golovatsiuk and Anna Nifontova are Belarus’ flag bearers at today’s opening of the 24^th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing – as reported by the Telegram channel of Belarus’ National Olympic Committee

Photo: www.noc.by

"It is a great honour for us to bear our national flag at the opening ceremony of the Games in Beijing," the athletes said.

Ignat Golovatsiuk is Belarus’ champion and record holder. In 2018, he made his debut at the 23^rd Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. For Anna Nifontova, the 2022 Games are the first in her career. She was a prize-winner of the World Student Championship, also participating in the World Cup Speed Skating stages at a distance of 500m.

In different years, Yevgeny Redkin (1994), Alexandr Popov (1998, 2006), Oleg Ryzhenkov (2002), Oleg Antonenko (2010), Aleksei Grishin (2014) and Alla Tsuper (2018) were flag bearers of the Belarusian national team.