OLYMPICS – SWIMMERS Amani Al Obaidli and Saud Ghali will have the honour of leading Team Bahrain tomorrow as flag-bearers in the official opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Al Obaidli and Ghali have been hand-picked by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) to be at the forefront of the kingdom’s delegation during the parade of nations.
Both Al Obaidli and Ghali are competing in their first Olympics at the French capital.
The International Olympic Committee decided in 2020 that national delegations would have two flag-bearers – one male, one female – at the opening ceremony in an Olympics in a move to further promote gender equality.
At the Tokyo Games, handball national team skipper Hussain Al Sayyad and swimmer Noor Yusuf Taha led Team Bahrain at the parade of nations.
Al Obaidli and Ghali follow in the footsteps of Al Sayyad and Taha, as well as other prominent athletes who have had the honour of carrying the Bahrain flag.
They most recently include swimmer Farhan Saleh Farhan in Rio 2016, women’s shooter Azza Alqasimi in London 2012, and multi-titled women’s sprinter Ruqaya Al Ghasra in Beijing 2008.
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