Eve Muirhead and Dave Ryding are Team GB flag bearers at Beijing 2022

Eve Muirhead and Dave Ryding will share flag-bearing duties for Great Britain at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics in the famous 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium on Friday.

Muirhead, a bronze medallist at Sochi 2014, and Ryding, who made history last month in Kitzbuehel as the first British athlete to win an alpine skiing World Cup, are both preparing to compete in their fourth Olympics.

Ryding said he was 'beyond proud' to be afforded the joint honour, and is relishing the experience of taking part in his first ceremony given schedules that have ordinarily dictated his late arrival at the Games.

The 35-year-old is aiming to make more history in Beijing, and is driven by the desire to win an Olympic medal for his assistant-coach Alain Baxter, who finished in the bronze medal position in Salt Lake City in 2002 before being controversially stripped for his use of a nasal inhaler.

'I still remember watching him win the medal and it ignited something in me, whether it was passion or excitement,' recalled Ryding.

'Whatever I achieve, Alain for me will be above, because that is how you perceive your heroes. If he didn't do what he did in Salt Lake, who knows if I would have had the drive to do what I did in Kitzbuehel.

'What went on after that was crazily unfortunate and he was proven innocent. If I were to get a medal, the best thing I could do would be to cut it in half and give him half of it.'

Former world champion Muirhead returns with a relatively experienced rink to her fourth Games, but is convinced all three British curling teams - including mixed doubles pair Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds - can make it on to the podium.

Mouat and Dodds, the defending doubles world champions, have made a strong start