The Beijing 2022 Games will be Król's third Olympics. She finished 30th in the women's parallel slalom at Sochi in 2014 and came 11th in the parallel giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea four years ago, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
“Maybe it will be the case of third time lucky, as the saying goes,” the 31-year-old told reporters when asked about her medal chances.
Król has won one World Cup event this season, in Simonhoehe, Austria, last month.
Poland’s other flag bearer, 37-year-old speed skater Zbigniew Bródka, claimed an individual gold and a team bronze in Sochi and was also Poland’s flag bearer at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Czerwonka is one of several Polish athletes and officials who have tested positive for the coronavirus before the Beijing Games.
Beijing 2022 countdown marred by coronavirus
Two days before the Games were due to begin, Andrzej Kraśnicki, who leads the Polish Olympic Committee, said: “We are worried that the coronavirus could stop our athletes from competing and take away our medal chances, but we are also hopeful of success.”
Asked if Poland’s 57-strong team for the Beijing Olympics was an accurate reflection of the strength of the country’s winter sports, Kraśnicki said: “We’ve had a similar number of athletes at the Winter Olympics for years. It reflects our capabilities, our potential.”
Karśnicki voiced hope that the team for Beijing would add to Poland’s medals tally, the PAP news agency reported.
“I am confident our athletes will rightly mark the 50 years since Wojciech Fortuna won the ski-jumping gold for Poland at the Sapporo Olympics in 1972,” Kraśnicki said.
The Beijing Olympics take place between February 4 and 20, with athletes from 84 countries set to compete in more than 100 events. The Polish team will be represented in 10 of the Games' 15 sports.
Poland has so far won 22 medals at the winter Olympics, seven gold, seven silver, and eight bronze.
The Beijing Games will be held under strict safety protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP