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Born to luge and carry the flag: Mark Grimmette to be U.S. flagbearer

By Helene Elliott
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Luge athlete and five-time Olympian Mark Grimmette of Muskegon, Mich., has been chosen to carry the U.S. flag into the Olympic opening ceremony Friday at BC Place.

The honor is traditionally reserved for someone who has persevered through hardship or shown extreme dedication, and that applies to Grimmette in a sport that doesn’t usually bring athletes great endorsement contracts or fame. Grimmette, 39, is the all-time leader in medals among American lugers with 65, and he won a bronze medal at the 1998 Games and a silver medal at Salt Lake City in 2002, both in men’s doubles.

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Grimmette, who was chosen by a vote of other U.S. Olympians, will discuss his selection Thursday at a news conference.

-- Helene Elliott, from Vancouver, Canada

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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