When flag bearer Todd Lodwick runs around the "Fisht" Olympic Stadium's track and approaches the section where Russian President Vladimir Putin will be sitting he might break an American law, according to Yahoo Sports.
Lodwick is faced with a dilemma: Whether or not to dip the flag to Putin, as other nations have done in previous Olympic protocol, according to Yahoo.
If Lodwick does dip the flag to Putin or other head of state officials as a sign of respect, he will be violating Chapter 1 of Title Four of the United States Code, a federal law, which prohibits the American flag to be dipped "to any person or thing," Yahoo reported.
The only instance the flag is allowed to be dipped is during unique situations involving naval vessels, according to Yahoo.
Flagbearers must keep numerous things in mind while performing a task which seems natural and unplanned: making sure the American flag is held high is considered the most important, Yahoo reported.
"That was the main thing I was told," Cameron Myler, a luge athlete who carried the flag at Lillehammer in 1994, said, according to Yahoo. "Don't dip the flag to anyone. They said to me that U.S. protocol says that the flag must not be dipped regardless of title, even though the Royal Family of Norway was in attendance."
Even though it is a federal law, it is treated more like a guideline, the Flag Code law does not carry "punishment as part of its provisions," according to Yahoo. Myler initially thought the flag would be heavy, but found out they are actually light weight.
"It is hard to believe 20 years have gone by," Myler, who now a professor at NYU, said, according to Yahoo.. "But when you think back on it, it is a lot of fun. It is something you will never forget."
Lodwick is also set to compete in the Nordic combined event for the last time and said having the honor to lead out the U.S. Olympic Team on Friday has made him feel "like I have already won a medal," according to Yahoo.
During the 2012 London Summer games, flag bearer and fencer Mariel Zagunis said a U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman said it is really a matter of choice, Yahoo reported. Zagunis followed every American representative since 1932 and kept the flag aloft, even when she passed Queen Elizabeth II.
