Fox and Ockenden unveiled as flag-bearers for Paris opening ceremony

Carrying the national flag along the Seine, celebrated by her birth country, France, and her home country, Australia, would be a moment of perfect joy for canoeist Jessica Fox but for one thing; she has to compete the next day.

Fox has, as ever, approached the challenge with meticulous preparation. She used a Taylor Swift concert as a rehearsal – staying up late, doing her hydration testing and meditation when she got home, and training the next morning.

That training session was average, says her mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi. “I’m not sure [the late night] is going to work in her favour,” she said. But carrying the flag was such an honour that “within a minute she said she was going to do it, for Australia, for sport, for herself, of course, and for her teammates”.

Fox’s fellow flag-bearer Eddie Ockenden also paused before he accepted. Chef de Mission Anna Meares offered the honour to the five-time Olympian, hockey champion and father of three when he was driving to the gym.

There was silence on the phone. “He said, ‘Look I’m really interested, but I just have to check with the team’,” says Meares. “This goes to show where his priorities lie, because he was like, ‘If it impacts this team I can’t do it’.”

Meares had worded up his coach. A moment later he called back to embrace the opportunity, proud to become the first Tasmanian to carry the flag.

In other countries, athletes vote on the flag-bearers (the US chose basketballer LeBron James), but in Australia it’s the choice of the chef de mission. Meares thought long and hard about her decision.

She chose them based not just on their successes, although both are giants of their sport, but on their personal qualities.

“They’re humble, they’re hardworking, they’re dedicated,” said Meares. “They love their sport. They have great connections, not just within their own team but to Australia. And I think they are great role models.”

The call to Fox was extra special. When Meares arrived home from Athens with her first cycling gold medal, a 10-year-old, curly-haired Fox, who would one day become the best individual paddler in the world, was waiting in the crowd at the hangar.

For Fox, flying the flag in France is the next best thing to carrying it on home soil. She was born in Marseille, her mother is French, she has family in France, including her 88-year-old grandmother, and she speaks fluent French. Her parents, both champion canoeists in their own right, moved to western Sydney when she was four.

“The French connection is very strong. It will be a wonderful, special, unique moment to bring my two cultures together,” Fox said. Her sister, Noemie, is also competing at these Games.

The announcement was made on Wednesday at the Monnais de Paris – the mint – on the left bank of the Seine. It has a particular resonance for Olympic athletes: it’s where the medals awarded in Paris were made.

Australians covet those medals. But the naming of the flag bearers is equally special, and one of the greatest honours in Australian sport. They were joined by sporting greats of the past, including former flag-bearers Cate Campbell (swimming) and James Tomkins (rowing).

Details are still scarce about the barge that will carry Fox, Ockenden, about 80 athletes and 100 staff along the river for the first summer opening ceremony to be held outside a stadium.

On Wednesday morning, Meares was still waiting to find out whether there would be toilets on the Australian barges.

About 320,000 spectators are expected to watch the opening ceremony, the first in the history of the summer Olympics not to take place in a stadium.

It’s the fifth games for Ockenden and the fourth for Fox, who is considered one of the greatest individual canoeists of all time. She has eight world championships and an Olympic gold, and is chasing three more gold medals in Paris.

In Tokyo, the male flag-bearer was basketball legend Patty Mills, the first indigenous man to carry the Australian flag into an Olympic stadium.

Mills will also compete in Paris, his fifth Olympic Games. Just four other Australian athletes have reached that milestone this year: Ockenden, basketballers Lauren Jackson and Joe Ingles, diver Melissa Wu and show-jumper Edwina Tops-Alexander.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.