SwimSwam will periodically update you on the biggest news around the Olympic and Paralympic world, outside of aquatic sports. Read on to learn about team USA’s flag bearers, a new anti-doping testing method, and Pentathlon United athletes petitioning for the organization’s leadership to resign.
Team USA elects flag bearers for opening ceremonies.
Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and curler John Shuster as flag bearers for opening ceremonies, which are scheduled to take place on Friday.
Meyers Taylor is a four-time Olympian and three-time medalist. She won silver medals in 2014 and 2018 as a driver, and a bronze as a brakeman in 2010. This Olympics, she eyeing a gold medal in the two-person bobsled, and the newly created single-slider monobob disciplines. In an Instagram post on Monday night, Meyers Taylor revealed that she tested positive for COVID-19, and has been moved to an isolation facility.
Speed skater Brittnay Bowe will substitute for Meyers Taylor during the parade of nations. Bowe received the second-most women’s votes. Bowe won a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics and was praised for her selflessness after she gave up her Olympic spot in the 500 meter event for Erin Jackson. Jackson was ranked 1st in the world for that distance, but slipped in the finals and finished 3rd in the event. Bowe had already qualified for the team in other events, so she gave her spot in the 500m to Jackson.
Shuster is a five-time Olympian winning gold in 2018 and bronze in 2006. He was part of the first American curling team to win a gold medal at the previous Olympics.
More than 150 members of Team USA are expected to participate in opening ceremonies, which will be held in the iconic birds nest venue that was also used for the 2008 Olympic ceremonies. At opening ceremonies, countries typically march in alphabetical order. Since the Chinese language does not have an alphabet, countries will march in ascending order based on the number of strokes in the first Chinese character that forms the country’s name. Team USA will march 56 out of 91 delegations.
A new anti-doping testing method will make its debut at the Beijing Olympics.
The new dried-blood-spot (DBS) specimen testing is an innovative way to detect banned substances in dried blood. This testing method is making its official debut at the Beijing Olympics.
DBS was piloted last summer at the Tokyo Olympics just for a trial phase.
“The DBS was jointly developed by the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Testing Agency and CHINADA as well as USADA, among others,” said China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) director Chen Zhiyu in an official press release.
WADA has referred to the testing as a “very valuable addition to the testing program” as it is much less invasive than the traditional blood tests and easy for storage and transportation.
The Pentathlon United athletes group petitions for Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) leadership to resign.
The group tweeted a four-point summary of why they’re fighting UIPM leadership. 667 athletes have signed a petition calling for UIPM leadership resignation.
The group is against UIPM replacing riding as part of the sport.
In November 2021, UIPM confirmed that riding will be dropped from pentathlon after the Paris Olympics in 2024. The sport’s governing body said that this was a “historic move” for the sport to boost its sustainability for future Olympics.
This news came after Germany’s pentathlon coach, Kim Raisner, was disqualified for hitting a horse at the Tokyo Olympics.
”A new discipline will provide fresh impetus to our sport and strengthen the position of Modern Pentathlon within the Olympic movement,” said UIPM President Klaus Schormann in November 2021. “The Modern Pentathlon will remain a five-discipline sport and will continue to provide the ultimate moral and physical examination of an athlete.”
The change is scheduled to occur after the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
According to the tweet, more than 75% of athletes do not want any other sport to replace equestrianism. The athletes believe that if UIPM leadership is not reverting the change, then they are unwilling to listen.
The Pentathlon United athletes are asking for Schormann to resign as he’s been the IF president for 28+ years, which is the longest IF president tenure by eight years.
