Carrying flag ultimate team game
Ayim, Hirayama named Canada’s flag-bearers for Tokyo Olympics ceremony
TOKYO — Women’s basketball player Miranda Ayim and men’s rugby sevens player Nathan Hirayama have been named Canada’s flag-bearers for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.
They are the first members of a team sport to be chosen to lead Canada’s athletes into a Summer Olympic Games.
“I feel so honoured to represent Team Canada and lead Team Canada in the opening ceremony alongside Nate,” Ayim said Monday in a video conference. “This past year and a half has demanded a high level of teamwork, and Canadians from coast to coast to coast stepped up and demonstrated togetherness, resilience and solidarity.”
The opening ceremony will take place Friday.
Tokyo will be the third and final Games for Ayim, who made her Olympic debut at London 2012 and announced she would be retiring after Tokyo.
Ayim and the fourth-ranked women’s basketball team start their quest for Canada’s first ever medal in the sport next Monday.
Hirayama is co-captain of Canada’s men’s rugby sevens team and helped the squad capture two gold medals and a silver at the last three Pan American Games.
Canada’s men’s sevens team is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo and starts play Sunday.
“It’s a massive honour to be asked to do this, especially alongside someone as decorated and (who) has had the kind of career Miranda has had,” Hirayama said. “Very excited to get over there with my squad and get into these Games.”
The reveal of Canada’s flag-bearers was made Monday morning by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Miranda and Nathan are leaders on their respective teams,” Trudeau said. “They embody the resilience, perseverance and excellence of Team Canada.”
Trampoline champion Rosie MacLennan carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Women’s hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser was the last member of a team sport to carry the Maple Leaf in any Olympic ceremony, opening the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Women’s soccer captain Christine Sinclair, who held the flag at the 2012 London Olympics, was the last at a Summer Games.
OLYMPIC ATHLETES TEST POSITIVE
A third athlete at the Olympic Village in Tokyo has tested positive for COVID-19, with the Czech Republic team reporting the case Monday of a beach volleyball player who could miss his first game.
Czech beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic could miss his opening game on Monday after a PCR test confirmed his infection. Perusic and his playing partner are due to the begin the Olympics against Latvia.
Czech team leader Martin Doktor said they would ask to postpone the game until the infected player is cleared to play.
Perusic, who said he has been vaccinated, is the second member of the Czech delegation to test positive in Tokyo after a team official’s case was reported Saturday.
He is the third athlete who was staying at the village to test positive. Two South African men’s soccer players had their COVID-19 cases announced Sunday.
Also Monday, the personal coach for U.S. gymnast Kara Eaker confirmed that the 18year-old alternate had tested positive in an Olympic training camp in Japan. The coach, Al Fong, said the 18-year-old Eaker was vaccinated against the novel coronavirus two months ago. Eaker, the first American athlete to test positive after arriving in Japan, had been rooming with other alternates, with the competitive team rooming with fellow competitors.
The South African players and a team video analyst who tested positive one day earlier were moved to the “isolation facility” managed by the Tokyo organizing committee.
Their 21 close contacts around the South Africa team now face extra scrutiny before their first game Thursday against Japan in Tokyo. The monitoring regime includes daily testing, travelling in a dedicated vehicle, training separately from teammates not affected and being confined to their rooms for meals.
Earlier Monday, before the Czech case was reported, Olympic organizers confirmed three new COVID-19 cases, including a media worker arriving in Tokyo and a Games staffer or official in the Chiba prefecture.
The Tokyo metropolitan authority reported 727 new COVID-19 cases Monday, which was the 30th straight day the tally was higher than the previous week. The count was 502 last Monday.
The games open Friday with no fans in nearly all event venues, including at the opening ceremony, amid a state of emergency in Tokyo, and a slower than hoped for vaccine rollout. Japanese authorities said Monday 21.6% of the nation’s 126 million population is fully vaccinated.