Three-time champion Kostelic to carry Croatian flag at Olympics

Three-time champion Kostelic to carry Croatian flag at Olympics{mosimage}Zagreb, Croatia Alpine skier Janica Kostelic was chosen to carry Croatia’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Kostelic, who won three golds and a silver in her second Olympics at Salt Lake City in 2002, will lead out 23 more Croatian athletes, the Croatian Olympic Committee said Tuesday.

Kostelic is the only Croatian to have won a medal at the Winter Olympics and is a strong contender at the Feb. 10-26 games. Her brother, Ivica, is also a medal hopeful in skiing

After three races in Cortina d’Ampezzo Jan. 27 – 30, Italy, she maintained a comfortable lead in the women’s overall World Cup standings 1,264 – 1,030 over Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria.

In races at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Germany, in mid-January Kostelic increased her legend, capturing her first World Cup super G and becoming the first woman to claim wins in six different disciplines on the skiing circuit.

Among her 24 World Cup wins, Kostelic now has captured all five main disciplines, the giant slalom, downhill, slalom, super G and combined. Two other women had accomplished that feat, Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg and Austria’s Petra Kronberger.

But Kostelic also owns a win in the new super combi race, taking the first one when it was held last February in San Sicario, Italy.

”It’s funny. I feel like laughing, like crying – it was my goal,” Kostelic said after accomplishing the feat.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.