Speed skater Claudia Pechstein, combiner Eric Frenzel, tobogganist Natalie Geisenberger, ice hockey star Christian Ehrhoff and ski racer Victoria Rebensburg are the German flag bearer candidates for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February). This was announced by the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) on Saturday morning.
Until 4. February at midnight, the public and the German Olympic athletes can vote, both sides are weighted with 50 percent, the percentages from both camps are added. Media partners of the DOSB in the flag carrier search are the Olympic TV rights owners Eurosport and ARD/ZDF as well as the Bild-Zeitung. The winner will be announced on 8. February, the day before the opening ceremony, at the Deutsches Haus in Pyeongchang.
The DOSB named five points as criteria for the pre-selection. After the success, the role model function was named directly. It was said that “popular athletes” were chosen, who “embody a fair and manipulation-free competitive sport not only with their successes, but also with their personality and attitude”.
Thus, the DOSB management once again made it clear that it considers the pitchstone, which was blocked in 2009 because of conspicuous blood tests, to be rehabilitated. Prior to the event, DOSB President Hörmann had personally spoken out in favour of Pechstein’s nomination.
In addition, the “diversity of sport” should be expressed with five athletes from five sports. Equal rights should be taken into account with at least two athletes. The DOSB also emphasized that the competitions had been given priority in the selection process. For this reason, biathlete Laura Dahlmeier’s nominees and Olympic luge champion Felix Loch, both of whom are competing for medals the day after the opening ceremony, were out of the question.
The not uncontroversial five-time Olympic speed skating champion Pechstein, Germany’s most successful winter Olympic athlete, will also be competing in the event on the day after the opening ceremony, albeit over her secondary route of 3000 metres. The 45-year-old has been fighting doggedly for years, but so far unsuccessfully for her official rehabilitation and for compensation from the ISU. Among other things, she took on the current IOC President Thomas Bach on several occasions.
Four years ago in Sochi, ski racer Maria Höfl-Riesch carried the German flag. At that time, only the DOSB made the choice. The first casting “Germany is looking for the flag bearer” took place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, when table tennis star Timo Boll won.