The Canadian Olympic Committee will name flag-bearers for the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, and there are plenty of deserving candidates to carry the Maple Leaf on the Seine river Friday.
The International Olympic Committee suggested before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics that countries pick a male and female athlete to perform the role, and Canada followed that advice in Japan and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
It is not an easy task to make selections — first of all, not all athletes will have arrived in Paris by Friday. For example, golfer Brooke Henderson, who certainly would be a possibility if she was at the ceremony, will be playing in the second round of an LPGA Tour event in Calgary while the Olympics start.
Other athletes might be in Paris and not available — top swimmers like Summer McIntosh and Maggie Mac Neil are scheduled to compete Saturday morning and seem unlikely to be at the ceremony. The Canadian women’s soccer team is competing hours away in Saint-Etienne, while the men’s basketball team plays the following day in far-off Lille.
Also, the COC does not always simply stick to best medal bets. In 2021, basketball player Miranda Ayim and rugby sevens player Nathan Hirayama were picked in a year in which Canada qualified a record number of teams for the game. Neither of those teams ended up on the podium.
In 2022, the COC went with bigger names in hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin and multi-Olympic-medal-winning speedskater Charles Hamelin.
Finally, not everyone wants to carry the flag. Some used to consider it a jinx, though several flag-bearers have eliminated that theme with strong performances at recent Olympics.
With all that in mind, here’s a list of 11 names we think might be available and deserve consideration to carry Canada’s flag.
Andre De Grasse
The Markham, Ont., sprinter has been one of Canada’s most successful athletes at the past two Olympics, capturing six medals. He’s the biggest name on a track and field team that is poised for a big meet in one of the glamour sports of the Olympics. De Grasse isn’t a favourite like he was in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, but has a great resume and is well known to even casual sports fans. The first full day of track and field at the Olympics isn’t until Aug. 2.
Maude Charron
The Rimouski, Que. weightlifter won gold in the women’s 64-kg division in Tokyo, only to see that event dropped from the Paris schedule. So, Charron switched to 59 kg and won bronze at the world championship in 2022 and silver at the Pan American Games in 2023. Charron competes Aug. 8, so there’s a question of whether she’ll be in Paris for the ceremony. But she’s an athlete who has excelled in a sport that is typically not in the Canadian spotlight, and this would be a well-deserved honour.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
While the men’s basketball team does play Saturday well outside Paris, it’s a night game in France. It’s also worth considering that at least three NBAers — LeBron James (USA), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and former Toronto Raptor Dennis Schroder (Germany) already have been named flag-bearers for their respective countries. Greece faces Canada in Saturday’s tip-off, so Gilgeous-Alexander has to be considered here. The Hamilton star led Canada to its first Olympic spot since 2000 as the country won bronze at last year’s World Cup.
Kylie Masse
The LaSalle, Ont. swimmer is a co-captain for one of Canada’s top teams at the Olympics and is not scheduled to compete in an individual event on Saturday. The University of Toronto product has been a remarkably consistent performer, winning four medals at the past two Olympics to go along with nine outdoor world championship medals.
Josh Liendo
The Toronto swimmer also won’t compete individually on Day 1, but seems more likely to get a team call with the 4×100-m freestyle relay squad. If he’s freed up to go to the opening ceremony, the fellow swim team co-captain certainly would be in the mix for flag-bearer duties. Liendo has won four medals at the world championships for a men’s team that hasn’t had the same success as the women’s program. He is the first Black Canadian to win a swimming medal at a major international championship.
Natalie Achonwa
The Guelph, Ont. basketball player is heading to her fourth consecutive Olympics. Achonwa became a mother in April 2023 and her son, Maverick, has been on the road with the national team at times. Her ability to play at a high level for the world’s fifth-ranked team while being a mom to a young child is a story worth celebrating. Achonwa’s team doesn’t play its first game at the Olympics until Monday.
Marco Arop
The Edmonton runner won gold in the tremendously competitive men’s 800 metres at the world championships last year. Arop’s family fled Sudan during a civil war when he was a young child, moving to Egypt, then Saskatoon, and finally Edmonton. Arop has beaten the odds to become an Olympic contender in a truly international event.
Philip Kim
The Vancouver breaker is a strong contender in a sport making its Olympic debut in Paris. He won silver at last year’s world championship and gold in 2022. The sport is not on the program at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, so this kind of honour would give the dance sport a real boost in Canada as it tries to make a case to return to the Games in 2032. Kim’s event isn’t until Aug. 10, so again there’s a question of whether he’d be in Paris yet.
Tammara Thibeault
The Saint-Georges, Que. native has a real shot to become Canada’s first Olympic champ in boxing since Lennox Lewis in 1998. Thibeault won gold in the women’s 75-kg division at the 2022 world championships. She speaks three languages and has studied Chinese, which puts Thubeault into part-time translator duty on the road with the national squad, per Olympics.com.
Bianca Andreescu
The Mississauga, Ont. tennis star made history in 2019 when she became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open. Since then, of course, she hasn’t had the same success, with injuries taking her off tour several times. But Andreescu is trying to fight back and did make the third round at Wimbledon earlier this month. The schedule may not work in her favour, though. She’ll play her opening Olympic match Saturday or Sunday.
Evan Dunfee
The Richmond, B.C. native won bronze in the 50-km race walk in Tokyo, but that event is no longer on the program. However, he finished fourth in the 20-km race walk at last year’s worlds, and he’ll try again at that distance in Paris. Dunfee also earned praise at the 2016 Olympics when he appeared to win bronze when Hirooki Arai was disqualified for a bump, only to be moved back to fourth on Japan’s appeal. Dunfee opted not to make a further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, saying he felt the right decision was made.
