Toronto, ON, January 4, 2012

An Olympic roar was heard from the packed gym at South Kamloops Secondary Wednesday as 16-year-old student curler Corryn Brown carried the Canadian flag into her high school gymnasium.

Next, she will carry it into the Opening Ceremonies at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria as Canada’s flag bearer on January 13.

“It’s been my dream,” said Brown. “This is such a crazy honour. I am so thrilled.”

“Corryn and the entire Canadian Winter Youth Olympic Team will make Canada proud. The Canadian Olympic Committee and the entire country will be cheering them on”, said Canadian Olympic President Marcel Aubut.

Selected to play third on the Canadian curling team at Innsbruck, the 16-year-old native of Kamloops, B.C. was the skip of the 2011 Canada Games champions from B.C. She has won the past two B.C. High School Curling Championships, as well as the 2010 B.C. Winter Games.

Brown will represent a team of 51 athletes, 21 coaches and officials as well as almost 34 million Canadians. The Team will compete in 13 sports, from January 13-22.

“This team is very special,” said Beckie Scott – Chef de Mission for the Canadian Youth Olympic Team and double Olympic medallist in Cross Country Skiing. “They are the first Canadian Winter Youth Olympic Team and that is something that they can say for the rest of their lives.”

The Winter Youth Olympic Games are a major sports and cultural festival celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Winter Games. Almost 1,100 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 will represent more than 60 countries to compete in the same sports which will also be represented at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

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