Curler Tia Laurie and short track speed skater Willem Murray have been named as Team GB’s flagbearers for the Opening Ceremony of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in South Korea.
Seventeen year old Laurie and sixteen year old Murray were each nominated by their Team Leaders for being outstanding ambassadors for their sports and best displaying the Team GB values, before being selected by Team GB Chef de Mission Eve Muirhead. Murray is no stranger to the duty of Flagbearer having previously been selected as Team GB's Flagbearer for the Closing Ceremony at the Friuli Venezia Giulia 2023 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOF) in January last year.
They will lead the team out and carry the union flag at the Opening Ceremony in Gangwon tomorrow evening (Saturday 19 January), which marks the beginning of the 13-day multi-sport winter event.
After hearing the news, Willem Murray said: “It's a huge honour to represent my country and lead the team out, especially after experiencing it in Friuli last year at the last winter EYOF. It's given me a really good start to the week ahead of our competition and I can't wait to get going now."
Tia Laurie, who starts her competition in the Mixed Team Round Robin Session on the 20th January, said: “It's such an honour to be chosen to be one of the flag bearers for Great Britain at the Opening Ceremony. I'm so proud to hold our country's flag and it feels even more special with Eve by our side."
Eve Muirhead, Team GB’s Chef de Mission for Gangwon 2024 said: “I am so thrilled for both Willem and Tia upon being chosen as the Opening Ceremony flagbearers. Both athletes are thoroughly deserving of this accolade and have truly embraced being part of One Team GB.
“The honour of leading your country out at a Games is a huge accomplishment and for athletes who are already such great ambassadors for their sport at this age, they’ll remember this for a long time.”
Gangwon 2024 runs until February 1, with the YOG seeing Team GB’s 39 young athletes compete in 11 of the 15 sports on the program: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, short track speed skating and snowboard.