WADA Vice-President Yang Yang carries Beijing 2022 Flame during Olympic Games’ opening ceremony

Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) Vice-President and two-time Olympic short-track speed skating champion, Yang Yang, fulfilled the prestigious role of carrying the Beijing 2022 Olympic Flame during the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony at the ‘Bird’s Nest’ Stadium in Beijing, China.

As the ceremony drew to a close, national sports hero Yang Yang was one of six Chinese sporting legends and athletes to carry the Olympic Flame on the last leg of its journey inside the stadium before it was placed inside a giant snowflake and raised high above the ground, where it will remain lit for the duration of the Games.

WADA Vice-President Yang Yang said: “I am very proud to have been chosen to carry the flame in the stadium at the opening ceremony. It is an honor and a thrill for me to have this opportunity in my home country that I represented during three Winter Olympic Games. I welcome all athletes to Beijing and wish them great success in their competitions. It is my hope that the Games inspire youth from around the world to embrace sport and its values of teamwork and fair play. This platform also gives me the opportunity to highlight the work of WADA and the wider anti-doping community, which is focused on fair play as we lead a collaborative global mission for doping-free sport.”

WADA President Witold Banka said: “Today is a great day for Yang Yang and for WADA. For the Vice-President of the Agency to be selected to carry the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony is a tremendous honor for Yang Yang and for us. I believe she was an obvious choice, not just for how successful her career was on the ice, but also for how she conducts herself off the ice. Yang Yang’s sporting and professional success, her integrity and track record as an ambassador for clean sport made her perfect for this important role. We are all very proud of Yang Yang and what she continues to bring to the world of sport.”

Yang Yang’s Olympic career began in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, and concluded in Turin, Italy, in 2006. During that time, she won a total of five medals, including gold in both the 500m and 1,000m in Salt Lake City, USA, in 2002, making her one of China’s most successful individual Olympic athletes. Her victory in the women's 500m at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games made her China's first ever winter Olympic gold medalist. In addition, between 1997 and 2005, she won a total of 34 gold medals and six overall titles at the World Championships as she was dubbed ‘the queen of short-track speed-skating'. Since her retirement from competing in 2006, Yang Yang has remained involved in sports administration and, in 2020, became WADA’s first independent Vice-President.