Manitoba’s own, Clara Hughes Named Flag-Bearer for the Opening Ceremonies

Clara Hughes, multiple Olympic medallist, champion cyclist and star speedskater, will lead Team Canada into BC Place Stadium carrying her country’s flag at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The Winnipeg native is one of only four athletes in the world who has won medals at both the Summer and Winter Games. She reached the podium five times in three Olympics — and that includes a speedskating gold at the 2006 Turin Games. She competed as a cyclist in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Then, as a speedskater, she raced in Salt Lake 2002 and Turin 2006.

Vancouver will be Hughes’s fifth Olympics. And at age 37, she’s still a medal threat in the 5,000-metre race.