(Reuters) – Four times Olympic champion ski jumper Simon Ammann will compete in his seventh Winter Games after being named in the Swiss team for Beijing on Tuesday.
The 40-year-old is the only jumper to have won a golden double of both individual titles – normal hill and large hill – at two Olympics, in 2002 and 2010.
He will also be the first Swiss athlete to compete in seven Games. Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai competed in eight Olympics and Finland’s Janne Ahonen in seven.
“Simon Ammann is an exceptional phenomenon in Swiss sport and we are very pleased to welcome him to the Swiss Olympic Team for the seventh time,” said Swiss Chef de Mission Ralph Stockli in a statement.
Four times Olympic cross-country ski champion Dario Cologna will compete in his fourth Games.
Patrizia Kummer, the 2014 parallel giant slalom snowboard champion, was also confirmed on the team.
The 34-year-old said last week that she was leaving early for Beijing to complete a mandatory three-week quarantine period for non-vaccinated visitors.
“After my personal decision not to be vaccinated, quarantine is the logical consequence,” she said in a statement issued by Swiss Ski on Jan. 11.
“I respect the regulations of the authorities and the IOC. Now I want to concentrate completely on my sporting goals at the Olympic Games in Beijing.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
