RICHMOND, B.C. - The country's worst-kept Olympic secret was confirmed as fact this afternoon, as veteran, speed skating marvel Clara Hughes was annointed to carry the Canadian flag during the march of athletes into BC Place at the 2010 Winter Games' opening ceremonies, Feb. 12.

The 37-year old, Olympic gold medalist will be representing Canada at her fifth Olympics - three Winter and two Summer Games.

She is the only Canadian athlete to win medals in two different Olympic sports, having earned two cycling and three speed skating medals, including her stirring gold medal triumph in the 5,000 metres at Torino in 2006.

Although Ms. Hughes had been widely-touted to march with the flag at the head of Canada's Olympic contingent, what little remaining uncertainty about the honour vanished earlier in the day, when her speed skating coach spilled the beans on Twitter, ahead of time.

When the 2010 Games close, Hughes will be concluding an incredible Olympic career. She won two bronze medals in cycling at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, a bronze medal in long track speed skating's 5000m at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and at the 2006 Turin Games, she earned silver medal in the team pursuit and chased down that elusive gold medal in the 5000m, collapsing with emotion at the finish line.

The native of Winnipeg who lives in Glen Sutton, Que. does extensive humanitarian work with Right to Play, an international humanitarian organization using sport and play to better the lives of the world's most impoverished children. She made a touching gesture at the 2006 Games, donating $10,000 of her own money after her gold medal win and challenging others to donate to the cause.

She was also made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2007.

The news that Clara had been chosen was buzzing on the web on Friday as Ingrid Paul, a Dutch native who is a coach with the Canadian long-track team, revealed the flag-bearer's identity via Twitter before the scheduled Friday afternoon announcement.

"Clara will carry the flag for Canada into the stadium. Good choice," she said in Dutch via Twitter.

Paul's tweet was removed quickly and replaced with a more generic message in which the coach said Hughes and fellow speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon had good chances of landing the honour. That tweet was soon removed as well.

Hughes is the sixth Canadian speed skater to be an Olympic flag-bearer. She joins Catriona Le May Doan (2002), Sylvie Daigle (1992), Gaetan Boucher (1984), Ralph Olin (1964) and Gordon Audley (1952).

Hockey player Daniele Goyette carried the Maple Leaf at the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Turin Olympics.

With files from The Canadian Press