Fairfield, Conn. native and four-time Olympian Julie Chu carried the U.S. flag at the closing ceremony of the Sochi Games on Sunday.
The U.S. Olympic Committee made the announcement on Friday, a day after Chu earned a silver medal with the U.S. women's hockey team.
This is Chu’s fourth Olympic medal. She has also won three silvers and a bronze.
While silver is a great accomplishment, members of the U.S. team thought they were strong contenders for gold.
“It’s definitely a tough loss for us,” Chu said. “We came into this Olympics for the last four years with the goal of winning a gold medal and we really, truly believed that this was the group that would be able to do it.”
Even after Canada came back and scored two goals in three minutes, Chu said the U.S. team stayed positive and thought they could win in overtime.
“It didn’t happen that way, but I’m still proud of this group, of our resiliency and what we’ve done in this entire journey,” Chu told NBC Connecticut’s Kevin Nathan.
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The Americans lost 3-2 in overtime to Canada in the gold medal game Thursday night.
Chu says she does not know if it has really sunk it yet that she will be carrying the flag for the United States.
“It’s really such an honor. … I am so grateful to be a part of Team USA with so many inspiring athletes and to know how many incredible athletes that are part of our delegation, it’s incredibly humbling,” Chu said.
A 2001 graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Chu deferred her acceptance to Harvard to participate with Team USA in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. She graduated from Harvard in 2007, having studied psychology.
Chu has not decided whether this will be her final Olympics, but when asked how she wants to be remembered, she said she wants to be thought of as someone who has true Olympic spirit.
“I just want to be remembered as a great competitor, but one that was a great sportsman and really appreciated Olympic spirit. I love the fact that all these nations come together in the most incredible sporting event ever and we bring people together,” Chu said. “Hopefully I’m a part of that as well and continue to be an ambassador for sport and the Olympics.”
