Mattarella delivers the flag to the flag bearer Goggia

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Sofia Goggia received from the hands of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, the Italian flag that will fly at the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in Beijing at the Quirinale. The champion of alpine skiing on the evening of next February 4th will be the standard bearer of the Italia Team. The ceremony will be held at the national stadium of the Chinese capital which is known in sports as “Bird’s Nest”. Goggia, increasingly number one in the world of fast disciplines of alpine skiing (supergiant and downhill), will be the eighth female standard-bearer in the history of Italian sport at the Snow and Ice Games. After 20 years – Isolde Kostner in Salt Lake City 2002 – skiing returns to have a standard-bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Goggia, 29, from Bergamo, bearer of the Fiamme Gialle, is the Olympic champion of PyeongChang 2018 in downhill. In the showcase of “Sofi” also two downhill cups and two world medals, the silver in supergiant in Are 2019 and the bronze in giant slalom in Sankt Moritz 2017. In the current season, Sofia has already won five Cup races. As a rule, the Italian National Olympic Committee appoints an athlete who played the Mameli anthem in one of the previous editions as standard bearer for the opening ceremony, both for the summer and winter games. For the first time in history, CONI on the occasion of the Beijing 2022 has designated in advance the standard-bearer of the closing ceremony which will be Michela Moioli, five-circle gold in 2018 in the spectacular snowboard cross. Goggia and Moioli in the footsteps of the unforgettable Fides Romanin, the Carnic skier of the former standard-bearer in Oslo who has been gone for two years now. –