At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Irbe was Latvia's flag-bearer in the opening ceremonies.
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After playing in only 2 games during the 1986–1987 season Irbe got a chance to become Dinamo Riga's number one goaltender during the 1987–1988 season when their starting goaltender and Olympic champion, Vitali Samoilov went down with a long term injury.