By Pearl Josephine Nazare
MILAN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Speed skater Erin Jackson was caught off guard when her teammates voted for her to carry the American flag into Friday's Milano Cortina Olympics opening ceremony, calling the honour added motivation.
Jackson, who made history as the first Black woman to win Winter Olympic gold in an individual sport four years ago, will share flag-bearing duties with bobsledder Frank Del Duca after being selected through a vote by her compatriots.
"It's a really big
honour and I'm super grateful, especially being chosen by my teammates," Jackson said on Wednesday.
"The moment when I found out I was actually at practice with my team, which was really cool. Our coach kind of sat us down on the edge of the ice and announced it to the team."
The 33-year-old was surprised by the selection despite knowing she was among the candidates.
"I knew that I was kind of in a list of maybe seven or so people. I didn't know what my chances were because there were a lot of really heavy hitters and really worthy people to carry the flag," she said.
"It was definitely a big surprise because, yeah, I thought there were like legends who I was running against."
Jackson said the honour will fuel her performance at the Games.
"I think it'll definitely give me a lot of motivation because just walking out into opening ceremonies, even without carrying the flag, it's this amazing feeling of, okay, we're here. We're at the Olympics," she explained.
Jackson plans to seek guidance from speed skater Brittany Bowe, who carried the flag at Beijing 2022 on behalf of bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who had tested positive for COVID-19.
"Having Brittany right next to me because she was the flag bearer for the last Olympics. Just trying to keep the legacy going," Jackson said.
She heads to Milan after battling persistent injury issues. A recurring back injury has haunted her since 2019 and required multiple surgeries, while in March 2023 she had an operation to remove 16 non-cancerous fibroids from her uterus.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Milan; Editing by Ken Ferris)
