Laura Peel isn’t expecting the weight of being Australia’s flag bearer and an unbackable aerial skiing Olympic gold medal favourite to stop her flying high in Beijing.
Peel and figure skater Brendan Kerry will carry the flag in Friday night’s Olympics opening ceremony, with the winter team following their summer counterparts in naming dual flag bearers for the first time.
The 32-year-old wasn’t fazed by the extra attention that came with being the face of the Games team, and the pressure of being the gold medal pick.
The triple Olympian arrived in China after sending a message about her medal intentions, winning the World Cup round in Deer Valley with a score of 118.05 – more than 33 points clear of the field.
“I’m very honoured to be the flag bearer – we’ve got such a fantastic team and I’m so excited to march out with them,” the world champion said on Friday.
“I supposed compared to previous Olympics there is a little more pressure but as they say, pressure’s a privilege so I’m very proud of everything I’ve done leading into now and hopefully I can do my best here as well.”
Peel also became just the third woman in history – behind Australian gold medallist Lydia Lassila and former world champion Ashley Caldwell of the US – to land a quadruple twisting triple backflip, nailing the manoeuvre in training.
She’s undecided if she will bring out the high-risk jump for the final at the Genting Snow Park on February 14, with a gold medal a certainty if she lands it.
Peel and her aerial cohorts Danielle Scott and Olympic debutant Gabi Ash were yet to check out the jump site, but the Canberra athlete said there would be a lot of factors to consider before deciding which jump to execute.
“Ultimately it’s going to come down to the night of the competition, how I feel, how the weather is and how the competition’s going so I’m going to remain adaptable and see what comes,” Peel said.
Scott is also a strong chance to climb the podium, returning from a knee reconstruction last year to win her first World Cup back.
Also a triple Olympian, the Sydneysider has added a back full-full-full to her repertoire, which puts her right into medal contention.
“There’s no doubt we’ve got such a great team here,” Peel said.
“There’s a lot of competition from all over the world as we know the Chinese are very strong, the US, Ukraine, Belarus, so we certainly can’t get complacent.”
Meanwhile, chef de mission Geoff Lipshut expected about half of the 43-strong team to march in the opening ceremony in Beijing.
He said the competition schedule and travel factor – with a seven-hour turnaround from the mountain village to the National Stadium, which also hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic ceremonies, restricting some athletes.
Those who didn’t travel to Beijing planned to conduct their own mini-march around the athletes village.
Lipshut also said that the unidentified athlete and team official who were deemed to be close contacts this week continued to be managed, but hadn’t tested positive to COVID-19.
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