LeBron James for the United States, Giannis Antetokounmpo for Greece and Dennis Schröder for Germany. There will be three basketball players as flag bearers on the Seine at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. We can even add three more names, in 3×3 basketball this time, with Przemyslaw Zamojski (Poland), Nauris Miezis (Latvia) and Worthy De Jong (Netherlands).
While it is a highlight for the three players nominated, particularly for LeBron James, the first male basketball player to have this honor for the United States, it is not a first for basketball at the Olympic Games.
Before this trio, other NBA and WNBA players had carried the flag of their country. A little flashback.
Manu Ginobili, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki… but not Tony Parker
It all started twenty years ago, in Athens in 2004, with Dawn Staley. The player has already won two gold medals in Atlanta and Sydney, and in Greece she will win her third gold medal. That same year, she is “accompanied” by Yao Ming for China. The pivot repeats the feat four years later, at home in Beijing.
He is not the only All-Star flag bearer in 2008 since two prestigious names are to be noted: Manu Ginobili2004 Olympic champion, for Argentina, and Dirk Nowitzki with Germany.
In 2012 in London, with his three silver medals in the three previous Olympics, Lauren Jackson is selected for Australia, when Pau Gasol represents Spain, four years after the legendary final in Beijing against Team USA. Also in 2012, China is betting on a basketball player again, with Yi Jianlianand Russia offers this chance to Andrei Kirilenko.
For the Rio Games in 2016, there is only one basketball player as flag bearer: Luis Scola with Argentina. A small balance sheet quickly repaired in Tokyo in 2021, with Sue Birdone of the greatest legends of women's basketball in the United States, and also Patty Mills And Rui Hachimura for Australia and Japan respectively.
And France in all this? Tony Parker was the most obvious name but the Blues did not participate in the Beijing Games in 2008. In 2012, it was Laura Flessel, five Olympic medals around her neck, who was entitled to this honor. Then in 2016, Teddy Riner, who was then aiming for a second gold medal, was preferred to the former Spurs playmaker, who was then playing in his last Games. Perhaps Victor Wembanyama will have this chance in 2028 in Los Angeles…
