Tokyo gold-medal winning paddler Jess Fox and Kookaburras veteran Eddie Ockenden have been chosen to carry the Australian flag at the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, chef de mission Anna Meares announced on Wednesday.
Fox and Ockenden will lead the Australian delegation during the ceremony on Friday, which will take place on boats along the river Seine in central Paris. Between them, the pair have won seven Olympic medals during storied careers in national colours – Paris will be Fox’s fourth Games and Ockenden’s fifth.
The moment will be particularly special for Fox, who was born in France and retains family connections to the country – her mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, competed in two Olympics for France. Fox is the most successful paddler in history, with over a dozen world titles to her name, but an Olympic gold eluded her in London and Rio before finally arriving in a moment of joy three years ago in Tokyo.
“I am proud to follow in the steps of so many great Australians who have carried the flag,” Fox said in a statement. “The Olympic Games bring us together as sports, as athletes and as a nation. And of course I am immensely proud to represent Australia in the country of my birth.”
Fox is the second canoeist to carry the flag for Australia, following in the footsteps of the late Dennis Green who was flag bearer in Munich in 1972.
Ockenden, a stalwart of the Australian hockey team, made his national debut in 2006 and has competed at every Olympics since – in Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo and now Paris. The Kookaburras won the silver medal three years ago, along with bronze medals in 2008 and 2012. Ockenden has also won four consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medals with the Kookaburras.
“It goes without saying it’s an incredible honour to be asked to carry the Australian flag into the Opening Ceremony,” said Ockenden, the second hockey player to be chosen as flag bearer, after Ric Charlesworth led the team in Seoul in 1988.
“I feel like I’ll be able to take so much positive energy out of this for the Kookaburras, and I hope the whole Australian team connect to this energy as well. I’m immensely proud to be representing Australia, Tasmania and my sport hockey.”
The flag bearing duties for Fox on Friday evening will be followed on Saturday with her first outing in Paris, in the kayak slalom (K1) heats. The 30-year-old will also compete in the canoe slalom (C1) and kayak cross, a new event on the Olympic program. Fox is a gold medal favourite in both the K1 and C1, and will compete alongside her sister, Noemie Fox, in the kayak cross.
“I am used to a busy schedule with racing and have worked with our team to make sure I’m as best prepared as I can be for this and have a plan in place to ensure I can be ready the next day and Anna and the AOC have been amazing as well to support that,” Fox said.
The Kookaburras, meanwhile, begin their Paris campaign against Argentina on Saturday afternoon.
Meares, the Australian Olympic Committee’s head honcho in Paris, was herself the flag bearer eight years ago at the Rio Olympics, in her fourth and final Games following a glittering track cycling career. After retiring, Meares served as general manager for the Australian Commonwealth Games team in Birmingham two years ago, before being picked for the Paris role.
“It was such a pleasure to ask Jess and Eddie to take on this role,” said Meares. “They are both so deserving and provide great leadership within their sports and more broadly. Each has longevity, character, humility and great support in the Australian community.
“These decisions are never easy, but I felt extremely comfortable asking Jess and Eddie and even more so when they explained what the honour meant to them, when they eventually found the words,” the chef de mission added.
Fox and Ockenden become the third pair to lead the Australian team at the Games, after Denise Boyd and Max Metzker (Moscow 1980) and Cate Campbell and Patty Mills (Tokyo 2020). At other Games, only a single athlete has been chosen for the honour.
Australia’s Olympic campaign begins on Wednesday afternoon with the men’s rugby sevens team in action against Samoa and Kenya. All eyes will then turn to the Matildas, who face Germany on Thursday evening, before the Games’ official curtain-raiser takes place on Friday.
