Which sportswoman will be second Olympic flag-bearer?

 

AN INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (COI) decision that each country should have two flag-bearers with at least one being female – to boost gender equality worldwide – has sparked speculations in Spain as to who might be picked to join highly-decorated canoeist Saúl Craviotto.

Alejandro Blanco, head of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) reiterated in October that the flag-carrier is always the competitor with the most medals from the Games to their name, meaning that a heated social media debate at around that time was merely academic.

Craviotto has so far won a silver, a bronze and two golds, meaning he automatically qualifies, but in the run-up to the Rio 2016 Games, Spanish sports fans started to clamour for gender equality.

They wanted to see star swimmer Mireia Belmonte carry the flag instead of tennis ace Rafael Nadal, but many others thought should be allowed to go ahead since he was bitterly disappointed to have to pass up on the honour when a knee injury that led to his crashing out of Wimbledon in the first round forced him to scratch from the London 2012 Olympics.

Nadal did, in fact, lead up the opening procession in Rio de Janeiro, and his disappointment four years earlier was cured.

But calls for a female to do so – and not just from Spain – have led to COI chair Thomas Bach's opting to have two flag-bearers from every country at Tokyo 2020 to give women a chance – particularly in the case of competing nations where women still have fewer rights and recognitions than men.

Although those not picked to lead the opening ceremony also have a chance at the 'second prize', carrying the flag in the closing ceremony, it is arguably the first of these that brings the greatest honour and pride.

Among those in the sporting world competitors and fans considered most deserved to lead up the procession if Saúl Craviotto did not, or could not, were Jesús Ángel García Bragado, 50, a power-walker who has only so far achieved two fourth-place diplomas but who has taken part in more Olympics than any other Spaniard – Tokyo 2020 will be his eighth.

But as the joint flag-flier has to be female, those who could be in the running – and who are the subject of a straw poll on Spanish media at the moment for readers to choose their favourites – are the women pictured above: Left to right, weightlifter Lydia Valentín; Sandra Sánchez (karate); canoeist Maialén Chourraut; badminton ace Carolina Marín, and the swimmer known as 'A Fish Called Mireia'.

“We have a rule that prioritises the number of medals won and, in the event of a tie, the number of Games participated in,” says Blanco.

“There's Saúl Craviotto with two golds, a silver and a bronze; Lydia Valentín with a gold, a silver and a bronze, and Mireia Belmonte with a gold, two silvers and a bronze.”

Blanco says the decision will not be known until April, but that one of the flag-bearers will almost certainly be Craviotto, based upon his results.

Many Olympic followers would be keen to see Lydia Valentín given the honour – Mireia will be 29 by then, but Lydia is now 35, meaning her participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics is not guaranteed as she will by then be 39, a geriatric in her field.

Also, Lydia has never enjoyed any kind of public honour for her Olympic achievements. She took home a fifth-place diploma from Peking 2008, her first games, which she was content with as a starting result, and then a fourth-place diploma from London 2012.

She reached her goal of getting onto the podium in Rio 2016 with a bronze.

But a year later, the entire podiums from Peking and London were disqualified for doping, giving Lydia the silver from 2008 and the gold from 2012, which she received 10 years after the former.

Although she was delighted to find out she had done far better than she originally thought, Lydia has twice missed out on the pride of standing on the podium, once on having the national anthem played in her name, and potentially, up to 10 years' worth of valuable sponsorship – like most participants in the 'minority' sports, Lydia has to have a full-time job on top of her training and competing.

Another candidate sports fans would be keen to see hold the flag is Sandra Sánchez – the 39-year-old from 'Gwyneth Paltrow's town', Talavera de la Reina (Toledo province), has won medals at every one of her 53 competitions since 2015 and never once failed to get into the top three, but was not ready for the Rio Games and, as karate will no longer be an Olympic sport after this year, Tokyo 2020 will be her first and last, so she will never again get the opportunity to fly the flag.

Carolina Marin, who will have just turned 27 when the Tokyo Games start, is widely held to be the best female badminton player in the history of the sport, in Spain and in the world.

She won a gold in 2016, her first Games, and is only just back on the circuit after an injury last year left her out of action all season.

Badminton may not attract much attention in Europe and Carolina is helping to raise its profile, but in Asia, it is one of the most popular – Carolina's toughest two rivals are from India – and her presence at the head of the line would be more significant in Tokyo than it would have been in the last two or would be at the next.

This said, given her young age, she has several Olympic Games left in her, which will definitely include Paris 2024 unless she is prevented by force majeur.

Maialén Chourraut, 37, is also in a sport which suffers from lack of publicity, but as well as making the podium in the last two Games – a gold in Rio and a bronze in London – she is something of a hero for working mums in Spain and beyond: she has a young daughter, and takes her to every single competition worldwide.

Based upon COE criteria, it will almost certainly be Mireia who walks alongside Craviotto at the front of the line, although a reader poll on the popular Spanish-language news site 20minutos.es has Sandra Sánchez in the lead (40.61% of the votes), followed by Lydia (20.3%), and Mireia third choice (19.96%).

 

Photograph: COE