The COE has already chosen. The Huelva native Carolina Marin and the Mallorcan Marcus Cooper Walz, who will compete in his third Olympic Games, will be the Spanish flag bearers at the opening ceremony of Paris 2024. The Spanish delegation will once again have two athletes as already happened with Mireia Belmonte and Saul Craviottowho led the national parade in Tokyo 2020. It will be the fourth time that a Mallorcan athlete will carry the national flag in an Olympic event: before the tennis player Rafa Nadal did so in an opening ceremony, the cyclist John Llaneras in another closing and Ursula Pueyo at the opening of the Paralympic Games.
Next Wednesday, June 26 (1:00 p.m.), just one month before the Olympic event starts, Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, will make the decision official, which must be approved that morning at the Olympic Federations Board. An event in which the list of Spanish athletes who will compete in Paris will also be made official, in the absence of the Basketball Pre-Olympic dispute (July 2 to 7).
Carolina Marín had recently spoken about the option of being a flag bearer, although the proximity of its competition to the inaugural gala made its presence with the Spanish delegation on the boat that will travel the Seine difficult. The Huelva native, gold medalist in Rio 2016 and absent from Tokyo 2020 due to injury, makes her debut on Saturday, July 27, just a few hours after the inauguration.
“I would consider everything if they called me and asked me to be the flag bearer, but I have to keep in mind that it is 8 or 9 hours on my feet and I compete the next day. If they tell me now I don’t know whether to say yes or no, because I don’t know if I’m going to compete in the morning the next day. If so, it will be very complicated,” he explained during a recent event, although he pointed out that if his debut were in the afternoon, being at the opening gala would be easier.
Second Majorcan flag bearer in an Olympic opening
In the case of Marcus Cooper Walz, His debut will not take place until August 6 and the Mallorcan of British origin has already stated on several occasions his desire to be the flag bearer. His Olympic medals support the Spanish canoeist who conquered the gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016, in the K1 1000 test, and silver in Tokyo 2020, in K4 500.
It will be the second time that a Mallorcan will be the Spanish flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Before, he was the tennis player Rafa Nadal, in Rio de Janiero 2016. At an Olympic closing ceremony, cyclist Joan Llaneras wore the national flag in Beijing 2008, and skier Úrsula Pueyo did so at the opening of the Vancouver Paralympic Games in 2010.
2024-06-21 14:20:31
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