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Looking at Canada’s top flag-bearer candidates for Tokyo Closing Ceremony

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By on Sport
Looking at Canada’s top flag-bearer candidates for Tokyo Closing Ceremony

As the Olympic Summer Games come to a close in Tokyo, the world reflects on the incredible accomplishments of the greatest athletes on the globe.

Many of those great feats were achieved by Canada’s own athletes. And with the Closing Ceremony on the horizon (Sunday at 6:30 a.m. ET on SN / SN1), the question now becomes: who will carry the Canadian flag? And after the Canadian Olympic Committee awarded the Opening Ceremony honour to two Olympians — basketball star Miranda Ayim and rugby player Nathan Hirayama — to usher in the Games as co-bearers, might we see another collaborative effort?

It’s important to point out that this year’s decision will be a little different than it’s been in Games past. In accordance with the long list of COVID-19 safety protocols in place, athletes must leave Tokyo about 48 hours after the conclusion of their final competition. That means several medallists from the first half of the Games — including Canada’s tremendous swimmers — are already at home.

As for athletes currently in Tokyo and more than worthy of the honour, we’ll look to the track and the soccer field for inspiration when it comes to who might represent Canada during Sunday’s Closing Ceremony:

Andre De Grasse | Sprinter
Between Rio and now Tokyo, Canada’s star sprinter has become as a sure a thing as Canada has seen at the track — he’s reached six Olympic Finals, and has medalled in all of them.

After racing to bronze in the men’s 100-metre sprint with a personal-best time of 9.89 seconds in Tokyo, De Grasse accomplished his ultimate goal in the 200-metre when he raced to his first-ever Olympic gold, his time of 19.62 also setting a new Canadian record. His podium-topping performance marked the first time in nearly a century a Canadian has won gold in the men’s 200-metre (Percy Williams won the event 93 years ago in Amsterdam in 1928) and just the third time in history a Canuck has won the event.

Then on Friday, De Grasse added to his legacy when he ran the final leg of the men’s 4x100m relay and won bronze alongside Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake, becoming the only Canadian sprinter to win three Olympic medals in one Games.

Damian Warner | Decathlon
To call him the world’s best all-around athlete is no hyperbole. Warner’s performance in the Games’ most gruelling all-around event, the decathlon, was not just inspiring — it was historic. Sitting in first place heading into the final discipline, Warner found another gear during the final stretch of the 1500-metre, posting a time of 4:31:08 to claim Canada’s first-ever decathlon gold medal and do so with a new Olympic record of 9,018 points.

For decathletes, reaching 9,000 points is truly a mark of greatness. Warner is just the fourth athlete to ever surpass it, writing his name into the history books of one of the Games’ most storied events. (Kevin Mayer of France, who won silver in Tokyo, recorded 9,126 points in 2018, which is the highest score in history.)

To put his accomplishments in some of the decathlon’s disciplines into perspective, his 10.12-second 100-metre sprint time would have seen him almost qualify for that individual event’s final, racing among the fastest men on the planet. His long jump performance, 8.24 metres, would have won him bronze in the men’s long jump single event.

He also registered an Olympic record in the 110-metre hurdles with his time of 13:46, and a personal-best in pole vault.

Christine Sinclair | Canadian women’s soccer team captain
She’s a four-time Olympian, the face of soccer in Canada, and the all-time leading scorer on the international stage. And now Sinclair is an Olympic champion, at last.

After leading Canada to back-to-back bronze medals in London and Rio, the longtime Canadian captain led the national team onto the Olympic field in Tokyo in its campaign to “change the colour” of its medal. On Friday, the women’s team did exactly that with a golden victory over Sweden.

Sinclair’s legacy on the sport was already cemented, her impact felt on fields across the nation. Even this particular squad is a testament to her long-term impact — the young stars that played leading roles in this tournament grew up watching her and following in her footsteps. Her impact on the growth of Canadian soccer will continue to be seen for decades to come.

Sinclair was Canada’s flag bearer for the 2012 Closing Ceremony after leading the country to bronze. Now a gold medallist at 38, a victory lap would be a fitting conclusion to these Games.

Jessie Fleming | Canadian women’s soccer midfielder
Canada’s redemption tour and search for gold was shaped by the power (and drama!) of Fleming’s right foot. “Clutch” is the word to describe the icy-veined Team Canada midfielder and Olympic gold medallist. Three times, she was called upon by her nation to take the penalty kick in a must-win game to get Canada on the board — first, against the U.S. in the semi-final and then in Friday’s final against Sweden in both regulation and the shootout — and three times, she delivered with the ultimate focus and brilliance.

Stephanie Labbé | Canadian women’s soccer team goaltender
If we’re gonna talk about clutch performances, we must highlight Labbé, too. The Canadian soccer goaltender put together a really strong Olympic tournament, and her efforts took centre-stage in the gold medal match. Her calm, cool strength was on full display during a nail-biter of a shootout, during which she put on a clinic in how to read a shooter, diffuse an opponent’s momentum, and make the biggest saves in the biggest moments. She’s already stated this would be her final Games — what a way to go out, on top.

Or, the entire Canadian women’s soccer team!
Canada’s golden soccer victory was truly a team effort, and it would only be fitting to make the Closing Ceremony a full-squad affair — at least symbolically. Between Sinclair’s leadership, Labbé’s dominance, the clutch boots of Fleming and shootout winner Julia Grosso, and midfielder Quinn’s inspiring run to gold as the first openly trans, non-binary person to win an Olympic medal, this team is full of stars, icons and role models deserving of the honour of carrying the flag in Tokyo.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS, AT HOME

Even though Canada’s top swimmers are already back in Canada and therefore unavailable to carry the flag in Tokyo, we cannot have the conversation about Canada’s top flag-bearer candidates without also highlighting the accomplishments of a pair of swimmers in Maggie Mac Neil and Penny Oleksiak:

Maggie Mac Neil | Swimmer
Mac Neil’s Olympic debut brought a couple of firsts not just for her, but for the nation. Early in the Games, Mac Neil helped claim Canada’s first medal of 2021 — silver, in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, alongside Kayla Sanchez, Rebecca Smith, and Oleksiak. One day later, she won Canada’s very first gold of these Games when she stunned the world with her incredible swim performance leading what was a historically strong group of competitors in the 100-metre butterfly.

She added a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay to complete the podium trifecta and write another chapter in Canada’s successful story at the Olympic pool.

Penny Oleksiak | Swimmer
Five years ago, Canada watched a 16-year-old Oleksiak make her mark at the pool in Rio, becoming the first Canadian athlete to earn four medals at the same Games with her gold, silver, and pair of bronze medals. She led the nation through the Closing Ceremony as Canada’s flag bearer, too.

She made more history in Tokyo. Her trio of medals — silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze in 200m freestyle and 4×100 medley relay — makes her Canada’s most decorated Olympian ever, and a would-be candidate to carry the flag once again.

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