Minnesota's John Shuster named flag bearer for Beijing Olympics
John Shuster and Brittany Bowe will be the flag bearers for the U.S. Olympic team during the Beijing Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.
A resident of Duluth, Minnesota, Shuster is the skip for Team USA's curling team that took the gold medal at the 2018 games in Pyeongchang. Twelve years earlier he was part fo the curling team that won a bronze at the Turin Olympics.
“To get to lead all the rest of these amazing athletes ... we’re going to do us proud,” Shuster said Wednesday morning on the Today show. “It’s one of the biggest honors that I’ve ever had bestowed upon me.”
He'll be joined in Beijing by Matt Hamilton of McFarland, Wisconsin, and Duluth residents John Landsteiner and Chris Plys.
Bowe is a speedskater who received the honor as a replacement for bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who will miss the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
The U.S. women's curling team features sisters Tabitha and Tara Peterson of St. Paul, and two McFarland, Wisconsin, residents, Nina Roth and Becca Hamilton.
The Opening Ceremony will be held Friday, Feb. 4. But because China is 14 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone, live coverage will begin on NBC and the Peacock streaming service at 5:30 a.m. Central Time.
Mixed doubles curling competition actually begins today (Feb. 2) and can be watched on USA Network at 5 p.m. CT and 7:05 p.m. CT.
