Olympia 2018: U. S. flag bearer election: Davis criticizes “dishonorable” tossing of coins

Ice-skating star Shani Davis has criticized the US Olympic Committee for selecting the flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang and hinted at racism as the reason for his failure to consider it.

“Team USA has launched a dishonorable coin toss. No problem. I can wait until 2022,”wrote the two-time Olympic champion on Twitter.

In his tweet Davis set the hashtag “BlackHistoryMonth2018”, because in February the black history of the countries is celebrated in the USA and Canada. The background of his anger is the fact that the (white) luge athlete Erin Hamlin was given preference.

Responsible persons of the eight American winter sports federations had voted on the flag bearer, the result between Hamlin and Davis was 4:4. There were, as always, many candidates who deserved this honor,”said Mark Jones, spokesman for the USOC, and defended the case:” We are pleased that Erin Hamlin will lead our delegation.”