The COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee) announced on Monday night (22) that the canoeist Isaacs Queiroz and the rugby player Raquel Kochhann will be Brazil’s flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, starting at 3 pm (Brasília time) on Friday (26), on a 6 km route along the River Seine.
The Bahian Isaiah30 years old, is the only Brazilian to win three medals in a single edition of the Games. He, who almost died as a child and has only one kidney, has already won four Olympic medals, helping to popularize sprint canoeing: two silvers (C1 1000m and C2 1000m) and a bronze (C1 200m) in Rio-2016 and a gold in Tokyo-2020 in the C1 1000m. In Paris, he will defend his title in the event and will also compete in the C2 500m.
“I’m very happy to be able to represent my Bahia, my Northeast, all of Brazil. It’s going to be an incredible ceremony. Mainly because I’m able to represent my sport, which is still shy in Brazil. I’m going to show my strengths. After Paris, people will definitely have more knowledge about this great sport. It’s an incredible experience to be able to represent your country. I had the opportunity to close the ceremony in Rio. But now, being the flag bearer at the opening ceremony is going to be something very special,” said Isaquias.
Already Raquel is one of the leaders of the women’s rugby team, known as Yaras, and has recently recovered from cancer. Born in Saudades, in the interior of Santa Catarina, she dreamed of scoring goals in football, but ended up in rugby sevens, leading the Yaras since the Rio Olympics. Shortly before her second participation, in Tokyo, she discovered a lump that would turn out to be breast cancer.
Rugby sevens player Raquel Kochhann was one of those chosen by the COB to be Brazil’s flag bearer. Despite undergoing a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she remained active and returned to high performance. In December of last year, she was called up to the national team again, and is now celebrating her return to the Olympic stage by carrying the flag for the Brazilian team, which is predominantly female, with 153 women among the 276 qualified.
“Being an Olympic athlete is difficult. That feeling of being at the front, carrying the flag for the whole world to see at the Opening Ceremony is something I can’t explain in words. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I think I’ll only know what I’ll feel when I’m there,” said Raquel.
“In Brazil, we work hard to ensure that rugby grows and gains its space. We know that the reality of our sport is not to have a gold medal at the Olympics for now, although we have that dream. But I have always seen that whoever carries this flag has an incredible history, with gold medals, and it represents a great achievement. Thank you very much for this honor. I will sleep with this flag by my side,” said Raquel, bronze medalist at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.
COB president Paulo Wanderley explains how the organization defined the two athletes: “Both Isaquias and Raquel represent Olympic values and are exponents of excellence and respect. They are an inspiration to Brazilian athletes, and we are all very pleased to see them carry the national flag along the River Seine.”