Some fourteen European athletes have been bestowed the honour of being their country's flag bearers for tonight's (26) Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In a break from the norm, the Opening Ceremony will take place along the Seine River, beginning at the Austerlitz Bridge before embarking on a four-mile journey to the Trocadero, opposite the Eiffel Tower.
The list of European athletes who have been nominated as flag bearers include reigning Olympic champions Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk who is aiming for her fourth successive title in the women's hammer.
Albanian trailblazer Luiza Gega, the 2022 European 3000m steeplechase champion, will be carrying her country's flag for the third successive Olympic Games Opening Ceremony while Cyprus is the only European nation to nominate two track and field athletes as flag bearers in European U23 high jump champion Elena Kulichenko and 2019 European indoor 60m hurdles champion Milan Trajkovic.
And the honour of being one of the French flag bearers lands to legendary discus thrower Melina Robert-Michon, the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, who will be making her seventh successive Olympic Games appearance at the age of 45.
- Albania - Luiza Gega (3000m steeplechase)
- Andorra - Nahuel Carabana (3000m steeplechase)
- Bosnia & Herzegovina - Mesud Pezer (shot put)
- Cyprus - Elena Kulichenko (high jump) and Milan Trajkovic (110m hurdles)
- France - Melina Robert-Michon (discus)
- Greece - Antigoni Ntrismpioti (20km race walk)
- Ireland - Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles)
- Italy - Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump)
- Luxembourg - Bob Bertemes (shot put)
- Poland - Anita Wlodarczyk (hammer)
- Portugal - Ana Cabecinha (20km race walk)
- Republic of North Macedonia - Dario Ivanovski (marathon)
- San Marino - Alessandra Gasparelli (100m)
The athletics programme begins on 1 August with the men's 20km race walk at 7.30am local time (CEST).