BY: JASMINE MAKAR
As the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics come to an end, Canada’s choice of flag bearer for the closing ceremony is still up in the air, although there are many speculations.
The closing ceremony flag bearer is typically chosen by the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), and typically, only one flag bearer is chosen. However, in recent years, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) has chosen up to two flag bearers for closing and opening ceremonies.
Because the closing ceremony serves as a reflection of the accomplishments achieved throughout the games, many have speculated that 17-year-old swimmer Summer McIntosh will be this year's closing ceremony flag bearer.
McIntosh first qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when she was just 14, where she placed 4th individually in the 400m freestyle and with the Canadian team in the 4x200m freestyle relay. She shocked the world when she came into the Paris Olympics stronger than ever and “hungry” for a medal, as she said in an interview with CBC Sports after winning her fourth medal of the games.
She became the first Canadian athlete to win three gold medals in a single Olympic games, and she matched the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete, Penny Oleksiak’s, medal record of four medals in an Olympic game.
Canada chose three-time Olympic sprinter Andre De Grasse and two-time Olympic weightlifter Maude Charron (who won a silver medal on Thursday) to carry the flag during the opening ceremony in the Seine River. Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue were also the opening ceremony flagbearers in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, so it is not uncommon for two flag bearers (namely one man and one woman) to be chosen.
With 21 medals already awarded to Canadian athletes in this year’s games, there are many other athletes who could also be chosen as the flag bearer.
Christa Deguchi is a possible contender as she won Canada's first-ever gold medal in Judo, but she isn’t the only one who broke a record this year. Canada has also won two gold medals in both women’s (Camryn Rogers) and men’s (Ethan Katzburg) hammer throw events for the first time. Further history was made early on when Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray medalled in Men's 10m Platform Synchro for the first time in Canadian history.
The success continues with Gabriela Dabrowski and Félix Auger-Aliassime winning a medal in mixed doubles tennis, while Auger-Aliassime also finished fourth in his singles competition. If Canada is going to go with a second flag bearer and choose a man, Auger-Aliassime and Katzburg seem like the favourites.
All that being said, Summer McIntosh has outperformed all the competition and made headlines consistently throughout the games for her record-breaking performance at such a young age.
Summer has already gone back home to Toronto after her final swim with her relay team, but she said in an interview that if asked to return for the closing ceremony, she would be “honoured” to return to Paris on August 11th.
One has to think that it would only be appropriate for the COC to highlight the “Summer Olympics” during the closing ceremonies.
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