Olympia: Olympic opening ceremony as boat parade, 13 flag bearers are sailors
Tatjana Pokorny
· 26.07.2024
On Friday afternoon, the Olympic harbour in Marseille was calm before the storm. After the last training sessions in the morning, the Olympic boat park was almost deserted in the late afternoon. The organisers had limited all activities in the Olympic harbour to 4 p.m. for this penultimate day before the Olympic regatta starts on 28 July in view of the opening ceremony taking place in Paris that evening.
Public viewing in the Olympic sailing village
Like many other national teams, the German sailors, windsurfers and kiters will meet up on Friday evening for public viewing in their Olympic village to watch the opening ceremony in Paris together. In Marseille, the Olympic Village consists of two athletes' and coaches' hotels near the Olympic harbour: the "Golden Tulip" and the "nhow Marseille" hotel have been transformed into accommodation and meeting places for the Olympians. Some coaches are staying in a third hotel.
The national sailing team and their coaches are staying at the "Golden Tulip" for the Olympic regatta and will watch the opening ceremony together in front of a big screen on Friday evening. Five sailors and kiters from the German Sailing Team will experience the opening ceremony in Paris live. They are taking the opportunity of the late start to the Olympic regatta to experience the biggest opening party in the history of the Olympic Games.
The 470 mixed sailors Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (Olympic start on 2 August), Nacra 17 headsailer Alica Stuhlemmer (Olympic start on 3 August) and kiters Jannis Maus and Leonie Meyer (Olympic start on 4 August) will be there tonight when thousands of athletes ring in the biggest event in the sporting world on the Seine.
Opening ceremony for the Olympics
The opening ceremony will be different than usual: the athletes will not march into the central stadium, but will travel along the Seine in boats. The organisers of the Olympic Games, which are being held in France for the third time after 1900 and 1924, are celebrating the ceremony of superlatives on their most famous river. On the Seine, the nations will sail past the hotspots and sights of Paris on boats. More than a quarter of a million people are expected along the approximately six-kilometre-long parade route.
The opening ceremony with boat parade begins today, 26 July, at 7.30 pm. ARD-Sportschau will be broadcasting the show live on the first channel and in parallel as a live stream. The boats will begin the Olympic tour at the Pont d'Austerlitz and head in a north-westerly direction. They will also pass Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is currently being rebuilt. On course for the Eiffel Tower, they will pass the Louvre, the Grand Palais and many other magnificent Parisian buildings.
Last sailor to fly the GER flag: Willy Kuhweide
Almost 100 boats will be deployed to carry the participants and delegation members of the nations. More than 100 heads of state and government from all over the world are also expected to attend the opening ceremony. Around 40,000 security personnel, including around 800 elite soldiers, will be deployed to protect athletes, participants and spectators. As usual, the order of the nations is determined by the alphabet. The teams follow the Olympic nation of origin, Greece, in alphabetical order. Germany can already be seen in the third boat as "Allemagne". The boats will be shared by several nations.
The German flag will be carried by judoka Anna-Maria Wagner and Dennis Schröder as captains of the German basketball team during the Olympic boat race along the Seine. 150 athletes and 100 coaches, support staff and officials from Team D are on board, including Simon Diesch, Anna Markfort, Jannis Maus, Leonie Meyer and Alica Stuhlemmer.
As a sailor, Willy Kuhweide, 1964 Finn Dinghy Olympic champion, last carried the German flag for the Federal Republic of Germany into the stadium in Los Angeles in 1984. In Paris, 13 sailors will also have the honour of carrying their country's national flag at the Seine Parade: Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom, who won gold in the Ilca 6 in Enoshima and is pursuing the same goal in Marseille, will do so "with great pride" for Denmark. The Spaniards have also chosen a sailing star as their flag bearer in the form of Olympic champion and circumnavigator Tamara Echegoyen, who will once again be chasing medals in the 49er FX in the Bay of Marseille.
All sailing flag carriers at the 2024 Olympics
- Bermuda: Adriana Penruddocke (Ilca 6)
- British Virgin Islands: Thad Lettsome (Ilca 7)
- Cayman Islands: Charlotte Webster (Ilca 6)
- Denmark: Anne-Marie Rindom (Ilca 6)
- Fiji: Viliame Ratulu (Ilca 7)
- Finland: Sinem Kurtbay (Nacra 17)
- Lithuania: Rycius Jasiunas (iQFoil)
- Malaysia: Only Shazrin Mohamad Latif (Ilca 6)
- Montenegro: Milivoj Dukic (Ilca 7)
- New Zealand: Jo Aleh (49er FX)
- Singapore: Ryan Lo (Ilca 7)
- Spain: Tamara Echegoyen (49er FX)
- Sweden: Josefin Olsson (Ilca 6)
