13 Feb 2010

Snow boarder Juliane Bray named Olympic flag bearer

1:12 pm on 13 February 2010

The snowboarder Juliane Bray has been named flag bearer for the New Zealand team at tomorrow's opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

This is the second Olympic appearance for Bray, who placed 16th in the half-pipe and 22nd in the boarder-cross at the last games in Italy, but this time around the 34-year-old will only compete in the halfpipe.

Bray says she was hoping to be made the team's flag bearer and to put on the Te Mahutonga maori cloak that New Zealand flag bearers wear for both the summer and winter games.

And despite the lack of snow, warm temperatures and rain in Canada that's forced the temporary closure of the halfpipe on Cypress Mountain, Bray says these Olympics are better organised than the last.