Olympic viewing guide: 2 of Canada's best teams start competing tonight

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Women's hockey team captain Marie-Philip Poulin and longtime short track speed skating star Charles Hamelin were announced today as the athletes who will carry the Canadian flag into the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing on Friday. In the past, one athlete was usually chosen for the role. But starting at the Tokyo Olympics in July the International Olympic Committee began encouraging countries to pick a woman and a man to share it.

Poulin and Hamelin are both excellent choices. Combined, they've already competed in seven Olympics and won eight medals, including five gold, and they both have a chance to add more hardware in Beijing.

Poulin, 30, has authored some of the most thrilling moments in Canadian hockey history. She scored both goals in Canada's 2-0 win over the United States in the gold-medal game in Vancouver in 2010, then potted the late tying goal and the overtime winner in the classic 2014 Olympic final vs. the Americans. Last summer in Calgary, Captain Clutch scored another huge OT goal against Canada's archrivals, this time to beat them in the world championship final.

Hamelin, 37, also shone at the 2010 and '14 Olympics, winning an individual gold medal at each along with a relay gold in Vancouver. He also reached the relay podium in 2006 and '18. With those five medals, Hamelin needs just one more to match long track speed skater Cindy Klassen for the Canadian Winter Olympic record. A sixth medal would also tie Hamelin with Andre De Grasse as Canada's most decorated male Olympian. A seventh would put him alongside Penny