The Czech Iveta Miculyčová rejoices at the title of European champion in the BMX freestyle discipline at the European Championships in Munich, August 12, 2022.
Kraków – The flag-bearers of the Czech expedition at the opening ceremony of the European Games on Wednesday will be the European champion in freestyle BMX Iveta Miculyčová and sports climber Jan Kříž, vice-champion of the world in speed climbing from 2019. The Czech Olympic Committee (ČOV) informed about this.
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Since the Games in Tokyo the year before last, a female athlete and a male athlete have carried the flag together at Olympic events, which include the European Games. This time the selection was more complicated than other times, when the athletes themselves choose. “Due to the rules for staying at the European Games, not everyone is there at the same time. In addition, many athletes are competing the next day, so they don't even want to go to the opening. In the end, we used nominations from individual sports, which were suggested by cyclist Iveta Miculyčová and sports climber Jan Kříž.” said in a press release Martin Doktor, the head of the Czech team at the European Games, which ultimately has 246 athletes.
The 17-year-old Miculyčová will take up the honorary position after she competes on Wednesday in the qualification to advance to the final of her competition on Thursday . “It's a great honor and I'm extremely happy. When they announced it to me, I wasn't nervous. I was excited and I'm looking forward to that moment,” said the bronze medalist from last year's World Championships.
The cross was from nomination surprised. “It's thick, I didn't expect it. It's a great honor to have the opportunity to wave the flag for all Czech athletes,” said the twenty-seven-year-old climber. He recalled watching the opening ceremonies on television as a child. “The first time was in 2004, when the Olympic Games were in Athens. Just watching it on TV is an experience. Now I will participate in it live,” he added.
The European Games in Krakow and other Polish cities will last until February 2. July.
