Billy Morgan said it is a “huge honour” to be named Great Britain’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and that he “hopes everyone else is pretty stoked about it”.
The 28-year-old claimed a surprise bronze medal in the snowboard Big Air competition on the penultimate day of the Games on Saturday.
In doing so, Morgan ensured the British team would finish the Pyeongchang Games with a record five medals.
“I still can’t believe I got a medal. I never expected it coming into the contest. I keep forgetting and then remembering all over again.
“If I have to do a speech I will keep it short and say it’s an honour to be flag bearer and I hope everyone’s pretty stoked.”
Billy!!!!! ????????????????????
— Lizzy Yarnold (@TheYarnold) February 25, 2018
Morgan, is renowned as a party-goer but insisted he was in bed by 10pm on Saturday night, albeit having been wheeled through the security checkpoint in the athletes’ village on a luggage trolley, after “sending it too hard too early.”
And Great Britain chef de mission Mike Hay joked that he was concerned that Morgan might not be the most reliable choice to represent the nation in front of the world.
Hay said: “Yes, I’m slightly worried that he gets the right stadium and carries the flag the right way. But I had a good chat with him and he is very humbled and is taking it very seriously.
Morgan competed in Sochi without an anterior cruciate ligament and subsequently needed substantial knee reconstruction two years ago.
