Switzerland will send its largest team ever to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. All five gold medalists from 2010 will compete in the field of 163 Swiss athletes.
Swiss Olympic team leader Gian Gilli predicts the squad has the potential to bring home 10 medals.
Simon Ammann, a four-time Olympic champion in ski jumping, will carry the Swiss flag into the arena during the Games’ opening ceremony on February 7.
The other returning gold medalists are cross-country skier Dario Cologna, Alpine skiers Didier Defago and Carlo Janka and skicross racer Mike Schmid. The team includes a total of 61 previous Olympians.
This year’s Winter Games will debut several new Olympic sports: slopestyle skiing and snowboarding, luge team relay, snowboard parallel slalom, ski halfpipe, women’s ski jumping, biathlon mixed relay and a figure skating team event.
In 2010, Switzerland sent 146 athletes to the Winter OIympics in Vancouver, bringing home six gold and three bronze medals.