A total of 12 paddlers have been announced as flagbearers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony today.
The much-anticipated parade of athletes on the River Seine will be the first in the history of the Summer Olympic Games to be held outside a stadium.
Benjamin Savsek of Slovenia, Australia’s Jessica Fox, Brazilian Isaquias Guimaraes Queiroz and Spain’s Marcus Cooper were all announced as flagbeareres for their respective nations earlier this week.
Joining the quartet are Monica Doria of Andorra, Felix Oschmautz of Austria, Fernando Pimenta of Portugal, Combe Seck of Senegal, Slovakian duo Jakub Grigar and Zuzana Pankova, Salim Jemai of Tunisia and Thi Huong Nguyen of Vietnam.
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Slovakia is the only country to have canoe athletes as both flagbearers.
Grigar is the K1 silver medallist from Tokyo 2020 and has a silver medal from the 2015 and 2021 World Championships.
The nineteen-year-old Pankova is a two-time European champion and is a junior world and European champion.
World bronze medallist Doria made her Olympic Games debut in Tokyo, participating in both C1 and K1 events and the Canoe Slalom specialist was also the flagbearer for her nation in the Japanese capital.
Oschmautz is a junior world champion and won a K1 team silver at the European Championships this year. He also won kayak cross silver at the European Games last year.
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Pimenta is a two-time Olympic medallist and is also a five-time K1 world champion.
Seck will compete in the C1 200 at Paris 2024. She qualified for the Olympics after winning silver in the category at the 2023 African Online Canoeing Racing Championships in Abuja.
Jemai, who is residing in France, will become the first athlete to represent Tunisia in Canoe Slalom, making the occasion extra special.
Meanwhile, Nguyen will become the first Vietnamese Canoe Sprint athlete to represent her nation at the Olympics Games.
