Wrestler Rckaela Aquino and Guam’s lone male athlete Joseph Green, who’s competing in the 100m, were named the island’s flagbearers for the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
Chef de mission James Borja announced Guam’s flagbearers during a meeting with the athletes and officials Friday evening Guam time.
The two athletes will have the honor of carrying the Guam flag during the opening ceremony for the Olympics being held in Paris, France the next few weeks.
The athletes are expected to ride on boats along the River Seine instead of the usual walk around an athletics track.
The opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics is set for early Saturday morning Guam time.
The ceremony starts 7:30 p.m. Friday in Paris which is 3:30 a.m. Saturday Guam time.
The world’s biggest sports event began on July 24 and runs through Aug. 11, with over 300 competitive events across 39 sports and over 10,000 athletes on the schedule.
The opening ceremony will be aired across NBCUniversal properties, including NBC, Peaco*ck, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com and the NBC/NBC Sports apps for streaming.
The island has eight athletes competing in Paris, the largest Guam contingent since Atlanta 1996, the Guam National Olympic Committee has said.
Among them, seven are women and one is male.
The Guam team consists of sisters Rckaela Aquino and Mia-Lahnee Aquino, Maria Escano, Joseph Green, Manami Iijima-Martin, Nicola Lagatao, Raina Taitingfong and Regine Tugade.
The Aquino sisters qualified to compete in wrestling at the Paris Olympics after competing at the Africa-Oceania Olympic Qualifier.
This is Rckaela Aquino’s second time representing Guam at the Olympics. She qualified to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She was the first female from Guam to qualify for the Olympics based on performance.
Escano secured the Continental Quota for Oceania in Women’s -57kg weight category in judo based on her performances over the last three years.
Green, who is competing in the Men’s 100m Sprint, was awarded a spot through the International Olympic Committee Tripartite Commission and mandated by the IOC’s Gender Equity requirement.
He was the first Guam athlete to advance at the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Hungary in the Men’s 100m Sprint, according to GNOC.
Iijima-Martin earned her spot to compete in triathlon on the Continental Quota for Oceania through consistent performances in the pro circuit over the past two years. She finished top in many of her races and accumulated the necessary points to compete in Paris.
Lagatao will represent Guam in weightlifting through the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission which awarded her the Universality Place Allocation in the Women’s 49kg weight division.
Taitingfong was awarded the Oceania Continental Quota in the 200m C1W Sprint. She will also compete in the 500m K1W event discipline.
Tugade secured her spot as the top athletics athlete for Guam in the 100m sprint. At the 2024 Micronesian Games in Majuro she won a gold medal, set a new Micronesian Games record, and broke Guam’s national record in the Women’s 100m Sprint. She also won an additional three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze medal.
This will be Tugade’s third time representing Guam at the Olympics having competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics based on the Universality Place.
“I’m so excited for this opening ceremony in particular. The opening ceremony sounds like it’s going to be incredibly unique and a much more exciting and enjoyable experience for the actual athletes compared to the past Olympic games,” Tugade said.
Guam has sent a delegation to every Summer Games since Seoul, South Korea in 1988. This will be Guam’s first Olympics since then without a swimmer.
Selfie with president
Green earlier this week was able to get a selfie with French President Emmanuel Macron. He shared the selfie on his social media page.
“We just so happened to be walking out of the dining hall right as he was exiting from a visit and right before his security stopped everyone from passing through,” said Green from the Athletes Village in Paris.
“I asked if I could give him a Guam pin, and then we took a selfie after,” Green added.
What to expect
Paris 2024 will mark the first time in history of the Olympic summer games that the opening ceremony is held outside a stadium, according to the IOC.
Instead of familiar images of athletes marching out along an athletics track, guests and viewers will be treated to a colorful river parade through the heart of the French capital.
The Seine, the city’s main water artery, will substitute for the traditional track, the quays will become spectator stands, while the setting sun reflecting off famous Parisian landmarks will provide the backdrop for the event.
This outdoor concept also makes Paris 2024 the largest opening ceremony in terms of audience and geographical coverage.
The parade route along the Seine is a visual journey through Parisian history and architecture.
The Austerlitz Bridge next to the Jardin des Plantes is the starting point for the flotilla, which will then continue west for about 3.7 miles along the Seine, passing under historic bridges and by iconic landmarks, such as the Notre-Dame and the Louvre, as well as some Games venues, including the Esplanade des Invalides and the Grand Palais.
Grouped on the boats with their national teams, the athletes will ultimately arrive opposite the Trocadero – the esplanade across from the Eiffel Tower – where the official protocols will be carried out, the Olympic cauldron lit, and the Paris 2024 Games officially declared open.
Almost 100 boats carrying an estimated 10,500 athletes will float along the Seine during the parade. The larger of the 206 National Olympic Committees represented in the parade will have boats to themselves, while the smaller ones will share boats.
Camera equipment set up on the decks will allow spectators to see the athletes up close and witness their emotions, the IOC said.
