Hayley Wickenheiser a good choice to carry the Maple Leaf at Sochi

The selection of Hayley Wickenheiser as Canada's flag bearer at the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics will not kill debate on who should be the one marching at the head of the Canadian delegation.

After all, arguing the merits of the chosen one and those who didn't make the cut is one of Canada's unofficial national sports. Odds are that many who believed that Sidney Crosby or Alexandre Bilodeau or Erik Guay should lead the parade probably still feel that way today.

But, seriously, it will be pretty hard to dispute that Wickenheiser won this honour on merit. When the Games open on Feb. 7, it will mark the Shaunavon, Sask., native's fifth Winter Olympics. She also has a Summer Games participation card in her hope chest, having competed admirably for Canada's women's softball team at the 2000 Olympics.

In that time, she has been the face of women's hockey across the world while collecting three Olympic gold medals and one silver. She is a two-time Olympic tournament MVP and has a long list of other hockey accomplishments, including becoming the first woman to score a goal in pro hockey.

And she has done it all with admirable grace, which she demonstrated once again after being named flag bearer on Thursday. She even opened a media conference call with a comment in French, though it was delivered with a pretty thick Saskatchewan accent.

"I'm so proud to be representing my team and the greater team of Canada's athletes and all Canadians in Sochi to carry the flag," she said. "It is such an honour."

She spoke of how much she owed to others, especially former teammate Danielle Goyette, who in 2006 became the first female hockey player to carry the flag into the Opening Ceremony.

When Wickenheiser was notified of the honour a week ago, one of the first people she told was Goyette, now an assistant coach with Team Canada.

"I'm very proud to follow in her footsteps," Wickenheiser said from Austria, where the team is training prior to Sochi.

She also spoke of what might be going through her mind when she enters the Sochi stadium carrying the Maple Leaf and whether or not this might be the end of her Olympic life. After all, she'll be 39 by the time the next Games are played and in her 24th year as a national team member.

She said she'll be thinking about how the women's game has grown in that time, even though the lack of deep competition may threaten its survival as an Olympic sport.

"Everything I have in my life in one way, shape or form I owe to sport and to hockey," she said.

She won't be thinking about retirement, though.

"Right now, I'm just sort of weighing the different options and I want to take time after Sochi to sit back and just reflect on if I want to carry on," she said, adding that she has a desire to go into medicine. "It's not a good time to make that decision until Olympics are over.

"If I do end up retiring, this is my last Olympic Games, then I will be able to look back and say, 'Wow, I did that and carried the flag.'"

But her main thoughts will be on adding to Canada's Olympic legacy. "The ultimate prize at the end of this is to come out of it with a gold medal and that's really, I think, what's at the forefront for me right now," she said.

Wickenheiser, who has spoken out against Russia's anti-gay laws, feels that she's a good choice to take a lead role in a Games deep in controversy even before it has started.

"I guess I am a big believer that the Olympic Games should be about including everyone and treating everyone with respect in the spirit of fair play and dignity for everyone," she said. "I am certainly supportive of every athlete being able to compete regardless of their race, gender or your orientation and I will carry that Canadian flag proudly believing in representing all the athletes that feel that way as well."

Wickenheiser, who earlier expressed her disappointment at being replaced as Team Canada captain this season, didn't dodge any controversial questions during the media conference. Asked if athletes representing low-profile sports should get consideration as flag bearers over the pros, she said they should.

"I personally do think that the flag bearer should represent those athletes who live most of their lives in this arena of amateur sport and elite sport outside of professional sport," she said. "Having said that, I look at our men's hockey team and somebody like Sidney (Crosby) and think that him carrying the flag, every single Canadian would be so proud to see him walk into that stadium for everything he does for hockey around the world. I don't think there's really any bad choice ... but I do think there's something pure in having those athletes who toil in those shadows."

The selection of which athlete gets to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremony has often been a flashpoint for Canadians. There's been such a long history of national hand-wringing and controversy over the ceremonial role it might replace hockey as our national sport.

During the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, 'Hockey Night In Canada's' Don Cherry (surprise!) reacted to a Bloc Quebecois complaint about too many Canadian flags at the Olympic village by turning on flag-bearer Jean-Luc Brassard. "They don't like the Canadian flag," he thundered. "You know it's funny, they don't want the Canadian flag but they want our money.

"Then we pick a French guy, some ski guy that nobody knows about."

Brassard brought some criticism on himself shortly afterward by suggesting that carrying the flag may have affected his performance.

In Athens in 2004, controversy raged when it disclosed that flag-bearer Nicolas Gill had once been a separatist.