Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 10:51 | Updated 3:10 p.m.
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On June 26, the name of the two Spanish flag bearers at the Paris Olympic Games will be made official. An honor that is reserved for athletes who present a better track record at the time of the election and who have not been standard bearers in previous events (in Tokyo they were Saul Craviotto and Mireia Belmonte). The canoeists Marcus Cooper -gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo- and Maialen Chourraut -gold in Rio, silver in Tokyo and bronze in London- are the ones who have all the votes. Nobody in the Spanish delegation has the medals of the Basque and the Mallorcan born in Oxford. «Spain has made me as a person and athlete; He has raised me since I was little. Being a flag bearer is something very exclusive, and symbolically so strong that I don’t think I can describe it in words,” the athlete tells this newspaper. With him there is no doubt. He wants to be a standard bearer and he will be.
With the woman who will accompany Cooper at the opening ceremony that will take place on the banks of the Seine, in the heart of the City of Light, there are many doubts. Chourraut, who at 41 years old will be in her fifth Games, has given the official ‘no’ and will reject any proposal. She competes the next day and doesn’t want distractions or arriving tired. The security shield will force the delegations to stand for many hours. “I would love to be the flag bearer, although we must keep in mind that I compete the day after the ceremony and in this one I have to be on my feet for eight or nine hours,” said Carolina Marín, the next to appear in the spotlight. «If the COE could do something to change the schedule or propose playing on the second day, I would facilitate it if they proposed it to me. But if being one is going to jeopardize my great goal, without a doubt I will have to say no,” warned the recent winner of the Princess of Asturias Sports Award, gold in badminton in Rio 2016.
The player from Huelva feels that she was robbed of the opportunity to defend her title as Olympic badmiton champion in Tokyo after missing the event due to injury, and since then the Paris Games have been etched in her memory. The athlete who participated at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) in an act of gratitude to the collaborating companies of the ADO program, indicated that she would have to “see all the circumstances” and speak with her team “to take everything into account.” The president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, stated that there are a “series of circumstances” that must be “considered and evaluated” to make the decision, and recalled that the decision on the flag bearer was made by the Board of Olympic Federations. «We have a rule that has been imposed in this house since the Athens Games, and that is what it has to be. Before we meet, we will look at who has the most merit based on that standard,” he announced after the presentation of the ‘ADO, Making History Together’ campaign.
Another of the great medal options for Spain in the Games also appears on the horizon: Támara Echegoyen. He already managed to get on the podium in London 2012 and there are many challenges ahead of him in Paris 2024 after two fourth places in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Támara Echegoyen is one of the great medal options for Spain in the Olympic Games. He already managed to get on the podium in London 2012 and has many challenges ahead of him in Paris 2024 after two fourth places in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. “It would be a pride for me,” she said in a recent interview. Also as an option is Fátima Gálvez, a skeet shooter who achieved gold in Tokyo 2020 and who will seek the individual gold medal in Paris – in her fourth Games – after winning the mixed pit medal in Tokyo with Alberto Fernández.
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2024-06-12 13:10:04
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