Who should receive the honour of carrying the Australian flag at the Rio Olympics

CYCLIST Anna Meares and walker Jared Tallent are among a small group of athletes being considered for the coveted role of Olympic flag bearer. VOTE IN OUR POLL!

Anna Meares is one of the favourites to carry the flag.

CYCLIST Anna Meares and walker Jared Tallent are among a small group of athletes being considered for the coveted role of Olympic flag-bearer.

The issue of who should carry the flag at the opening ceremony in Rio is coming into sharp focus as Australia will break with decades of tradition and name its flag-bearer before it leaves for Rio.

An announcement has been scheduled for July 6.

Olympic chef de mission Kitty Chiller has a list of more than six and less than 10 names she is mulling though before making the call.

The decision is hers alone and while the names are a closely guarded secret, the four key contenders are likely to be Meares, Tallent, hockey player Jamie Dwyer and hurdler Sally Pearson.

Meares won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and beat arch rival Victoria Pendleton for an epic London gold medal triumph in 2012.

She is hugely popular among her follow athletes and former stars including champion sprinter Raelene Boyle who carried the flag at the Montreal Games in 1976.

“For me it’s an easy choice — Anna Meares,’’ Boyle said.

“I don’t even have to think about that. She just stands out. I have met Anna and always liked her. She represents everything that is good about the Olympics.

Anna Meares is one of the favourites to carry the flag.

“She had that time where she fell badly and broke her neck a few months before the Beijing Games and still won a silver medal. And if they want a leader she fits that description very well.’’

And they do want a leader.

Chiller told News Corp recently that one of the reasons why she is breaking with the famous tradition of announcing the flag-bearer a night or two before the opening ceremony is to allow the chosen one to play more of an active leadership role.

“I want them to be a leader of the team,’’ Chiller said.

Jared Tallent has impressed AOC bosses.

“It is not just carrying a flag around the track for 400m. They are going to be team captain.

I will announce it in Australia so that person can enjoy the honour before they get into the focus of it and they get the respect and attention they deserve over a period.

“I want that person to be able to enjoy the experience, not think, -in 24 hours I am going to have to carry the flag and I cannot tell anyone because it is all a big secret.’’

Tallent, who won silver and bronze medals at Beijing in 2008 before taking gold in London when the walker who beat him was disqualified, is the dark horse because he is well respected by senior Olympic officials for his outstanding deeds and off-track poise.

Jamie Dwyer is back after his career was at the crossroads and is a flag-bearer contender.

Dwyer, likely to be chosen for his fourth Olympics and a gold medal winner in Athens, is an inspiring story given his career was at the crossroads when he was omitted from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games squad two years ago. Like Meares, Dwyer hails from Rockhampton and he once said she was his favourite Olympian.

Shooter Michael Diamond was hoping to be considered for the flag-bearer’s role but recent drink driving and firearm charges mean he is unlikely to make the Games, never mind carry the flag.

Sally Pearson, out to defend her Olympic gold following a broken arm, is also being considered to carry the flag.

The only hint Chiller has given away to her thought processes was that longevity would not be as important to her as to some others in the past.

“Traditionally longevity has played a big part in it. That is one part but it is certainly not the primary part of it for me. It is someone who exhibits the values we are trying to exhibit and to be a great role model for sport.”

Originally published as Who should receive the honour of carrying the Australian flag at the Rio Olympics