Davis Tweeted his displeasure with the process for choosing the American team flag bearer. Following a vote among representative athletes from each of the eight winter sports federations, Davis and four-time Olympic luger Erin Hamlin had each received four votes. Following the pre-determined procedure for settling a tie vote, a coin toss was made. Hamlin won the toss and was therefore selected to carry the flag. Davis's Tweet called the coin toss "dishonorable" and included the hashtag #BlackHistoryMonth2018, implying that race was, or should have been, a factor in the selection voting process. Hamlin is a white female. Davis decided to boycott the opening ceremony. Reaction to Davis's tweet and his opting out of the opening ceremony was overwhelmingly negative—so much so that on the evening of February 9, he "protected" his Twitter profile so that only his confirmed followers could see or reply to any of his tweets. Retirement He announced his retirement from skating in November 2019. Records Personal records World records Personal life Davis trained at the Olympic speedskating center in Marquette, Michigan, where as of February 2010 he also was attending classes at Northern Michigan University. Frozone, an African-American superhero with ice powers from the animated movie The Incredibles, was allegedly inspired by Shani Davis. References External links Shani Davis at SpeedSkatingStats.com Shani Davis at SpeedskatingBase.eu 1982 births American male speed skaters American male short track speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in speed skating Olympic silver medalists for the United States in speed skating Northern Michigan University alumni African-American sportsmen Speed skaters from Chicago Living people World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people