SWEDEN will send 116 athletes — the nation’s largest Winter Olympics squad ever — to the Beijing Winter Olympics as the last names were announced Monday. “We have a large and strong squad and our goal is to make it Sweden’s best Winter Olympics of all times,” Peter Reinebo, CEO of the Swedish Olympic Committee, said in a press release. Ski cross skier Elliott Baralo and alpine skier Charlotta Safvenberg were the last names added to the list. Although neither of them has displayed great successes, many other Swedish athletes have. Based on this, Reinebo recently said that the squad has a good chance to improve the medal tally from Pyeongchang where seven of the 14 medals Sweden won were gold. Among the greatest Swedish hopes are ski cross skier Sandra Naslund, skater Nils van der Poel, biathlon sisters Hanna and Elvira Oberg, and freestyle skier Henrik Harlaut. The cross-country squad is also expected to bring home medals, although their buildup to Beijing was last week marred when Leo Johansson tested positive for COVID-19 in connection with a high-altitude training camp in Italy. The committee said that it is still possible to make changes due to illness or injuries, but the squad will not be expanded with any additional sports or athletes. Meanwhile, a total of 95 athletes have been selected for the Finnish team for the Beijing Games. The Finnish team has athletes from nine disciplines, namely alpine skiing, biathlon, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, snowboard, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, figure skating and Nordic combined, featuring 51 male and 44 female athletes.(Xinhua) | 