Right after he won medals at the Athens Olympics in 2004, Adam van Koeverden went to Shanghai for the World Dragon Boat championships to paddle with Larry Cain and the Canadian dragon boat contingent. It was to be his first time in a dragon boat.
MONTREAL - He's by no means a superstitious guy, so star Canadian kayaker Adam van Koeverden doesn't believe in the so-called "flag-bearer jinx" that supposedly casts a dark cloud over the athlete chosen to lead his country into the Olympic Games.
"Alex Baumann carried the flag in 1984 and he won two golds, so I can deal with that jinx," van Koeverden said Wednesday during a news conference to announce he would be Canada's flag-bearer for the Beijing Olympics.
Baumann, the star swimmer, was Canada's flag-bearer for the '84 Games in Los Angeles where he won gold in both the 200-and 400-metre individual medley events.
It will be the second time that van Koeverden has been a Canadian flag-bearer. The 26-year-old native of Oakville, Ont., also carried the Maple Leaf at the closing ceremony for the 2004 Athens Olympics where he won gold and bronze medals in flatwater kayaking.
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080723/national/oly_canada_flag_bearer
