Olga Fatkulina and Vadim Shipachyov have been appointed Russian flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Games

It has been revealed that Olympic champion ice hockey player Vadim Shipachyov and prominent speed skater Olga Fatkulina will carry the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.

Shipachyov was among Russia’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea where Olympic athletes from Russia snatched victory in a nail-biting thriller against Germany.

Fatkulina took silver at the home Games in Sochi eight years ago, but had her medal annulled following a doping scandal that erupted after Grigory Rodchenkov’s controversial claims of state-sponsored cheating.

On 1 February 2018, Fatkulina’s results were restored and her ban lifted after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld her appeal.

The opening ceremony for the Winter Games takes place on Friday, February 4, and gets underway at 20:00 local time in Beijing. 

Source: RT