Two-Time Olympic Sailing Champ Robert Scheidt Chosen As Flag Bearer For Brazil At Beijing Olympics

July 5, 2008 11:28 a.m. EST

Brasilia, Brazil (AHN) - Brazil has designated Robert Scheidt, two-time Olympic champion to carry the country's flag in the opening ceremony at the Beijing Games next month.

The 35-year-old Scheidt received the national flag from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a ceremony Friday where the country's Olympic hopefuls were feted.

The eight-time Laser class world champion started attracting attention after capturing the gold in the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina followed by his first World Title in the Tenerife Championships in Spain in the same year.

Scheidt, competing in his fourth Olympics, will be participating in the Star class for the first time. He will have a chance to bring home a third Olympic gold medal for Brazil.

In the 2004 Atlanta Olympics, he captured his first gold medal in the Laser class followed by a silver in Athens 2004. He went on to win a second gold in the 2000 Sydney Games.