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Who could be Canada’s flag-bearer for the Closing Ceremony at the Olympics?

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By on Sport
Who could be Canada’s flag-bearer for the Closing Ceremony at the Olympics?

With the Beijing Games nearing an end, it’s hard to argue with the Canadian Olympic Committee’s decision in having hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin and short-track speedskater Charles Hamelin serve as flag-bearers for the Opening Ceremony.

Poulin scored yet another golden goal to lead the women’s hockey team back to the top of the podium, and Hamelin tied a Canadian Winter Olympic record with his sixth career medal by earning gold in his final Winter Games race, the 5,000-metre relay.

Every Canadian Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony flag-bearer since 1998 has earned at least one medal at the Games in which they carried the flag.

If Poulin or Hamelin hadn’t held the flag at the Opening Ceremony, either would be a logical choice to get the honour at the Closing Ceremony on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. ET.

But having an athlete perform the task twice is generally not a thing, especially when a country has as many strong candidates as Canada.

This year, like in Tokyo last summer, a larger contingent of athletes than usual left early because of the COVID-19 situation – and it’s not like an athlete is going home and coming back, a la Penny Oleksiak in 2016 in Rio.

Also worth noting: Four of the past six Canadian Closing Ceremony flag-bearers at the Summer and Winter Olympics have gone on to be named Canadian athlete of the year.

Here is a list of potential candidates to lead Canada into the Bird’s Nest on Sunday.

Isabelle Weidemann
Long-track speedskating
The Ottawa native picked up a medal of each colour, including Canada’s first medal in Beijing (bronze), in the 3,000 metres and a dramatic gold in the team pursuit with Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais when Japan fell on the final turn. Canada chef de mission Catriona Le May Doan was a star in the same sport and held the flag at the 1998 Closing Ceremony. Weidemann is a good-news story for her hometown at a time when the nation’s capital has been at the centre of controversy because of the convoy protests. Blondin, a fellow Ottawa native, could be a candidate too as she still has the mass start to go, where she is a strong contender. That event starts Saturday at 2:45 a.m. ET.

Max Parrot
Snowboarding
Three years after beating cancer, Parrot won Canada’s first gold (the country’s only individual gold so far) in Beijing in the slopestyle and then added a bronze in big air. After his gold, he had to endure controversy as replays showed judges missed an error he made – with bronze medallist Mark McMorris of Canada and fans of Chinese silver medallist Su Yiming questioning the decision. McMorris later apologized and Parrot handled the situation with grace throughout. A snowboarder has never carried the flag at a ceremony for Canada – the sport entered the Olympics in 1998, and Canadians are podium regulars. Parrot has three career medals after a silver in 2018.

Steven Dubois
Short-track speedskating
Like Weidemann, Dubois earned a medal of each colour and made Canadian-high three trips to the podium – including the gold with Hamelin and Co. in the relay. Dubois wasn’t the highest-ranked Canadian short-tracker or the most high-profile coming into the Games, but he easily was the team’s top performer. Fellow short-tracker Kim Boutin carried the flag at the 2018 Closing Ceremony.

Sarah Nurse
Hockey
Poulin is the biggest name on the gold medal-winning team and delivered what will go down as the most memorable performance for many Canadians at the Games, but if the COC is going to pick a hockey player, you’ve got to think it will be someone else. Nurse made history in Beijing, recording the most points in any Olympic women’s hockey tournament. The Hamiltonian also became the first Black player to win an Olympic women’s hockey gold medal. A women’s hockey player never has carried Canada’s flag at the Closing Ceremony.

Ann-Renee Desbiens
Hockey
The list could go on for hockey candidates. The team’s goaltender has a strong case. Desbiens quit playing hockey after the 2018 Olympics, but then staged a comeback 18 months later. In both games against the United States, Canada was outshot badly. Desbiens stood tall – her 51-save effort in the preliminary round was a Canadian record – as Canada won both games to capture gold.

Cassie Sharpe
Freestyle ski halfpipe
Just over one year ago, the 2018 Olympic champ suffered a torn ACL, MCL and fractured femur at the X Games. Sharpe didn’t return to competition until this past December, but it did not take her long to get up to speed. Sharpe took silver behind Chinese teenage phenom Eileen Gu and was joined on the podium by fellow Canadian and bronze medallist Rachael Karker.

Meryeta O’Dine, Eliot Grondin
Snowboard cross
If Canada wants to have two flag-bearers, this team makes sense. O’Dine, who has overcome numerous concussions and other injuries, including one that caused her to miss the 2018 Olympics, won bronze in the women’s event before Grondin took silver in the men’s event – narrowly missing gold. Days later, they teamed up to win a dramatic bronze in the relay when O’Dine got up after a collision, battled to get up a jump to keep going and won a race for third, with Grondin unable to see anything that was happening at the bottom of the course because the television cameras were focused on the clash for gold.

Other potential candidates: Christine de Bruin won bronze in the monobob and is fourth at the halfway mark of the two-woman bobsled for a Canadian program that lost monobob champ and former Olympic gold medallist Kaillie Humphries (the 2014 Closing Ceremony flag-bearer along with teammate Heather Moyse) to the United States. … Brendan Mackay, Noah Bowman and Simon d’Artois are considered medal contenders in the men’s ski halfpipe final on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET. … Fourth-time Olympian Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes’ final attempt gave Canada its first-ever ski jumping medal – a bronze in the mixed team event. It was the most improbable medals for Canada, whose ski jumpers receive next to no funding and train in Slovenia. … Moguls star Justine Dufour-Lapointe crashed during the final, but got up, asked a course worker to retrieve a pole and finished the run before doing an emotional interview with CBC. A former Olympic gold and silver medallist, Dufour-Lapointe’s performance in Beijing was just as – if not more – compelling than her medal runs.

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