Nipper Georgie Holyman’s best birthday present ever

GEORGIE Holyman turns 11 on Wednesday and will celebrate with a starring role in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.

BIRTHDAY presents don’t come much bigger or better than this.

Mermaid Beach Surf Club nipper Georgie Holyman turns 11 tomorrow and will celebrate with a starring role in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.

Mermaid Beach SLSC nipper Georgie Holyman is rapt to be performing at the Commonwealth games opening ceremony on her 11th birthday and her dad, James Holyman, thinks it's pretty special too. Picture: Glenn Hampson

She will be among a phalanx of proud nippers ushering the athletes from 71 competing nations and territories into Carrara Stadium.

A beaming Georgie was on Monday unveiled as one of several hundred lifesavers who will play a key role in the three-hour spectacular.

The nippers will all be clad in fluoro pink and will carry matching pink rescue boards printed with the name of the nation they are escorting.

“It’s really exciting, especially on my birthday,” Georgie said.

“We had to do a couple of auditions and then we got the news we were in the ­ceremony.

“We’ve done a couple of rehearsals and they do go quite late, which is a little bit tiring sometimes – but it’s worth it.”

Georgie’s father, James, who will be among the 35,000-strong crowd at the stadium, said he was incredibly proud of his “little girl”.

“I’ve got three children and Georgie’s our beautiful little daughter,” he said.

“Her birthday’s on the opening ceremony and she’s in it, so we couldn’t be more proud.”

Commonwealth Games Federation president Louise Martin said “wee Scotty dogs (scottish terriers)” had led the athletes into the stadium during the last Games in Glasgow – “and this time we’ve got wee nippers”.

The children will be clad in pink as a nod to the traditional nippers’ colour.

Games and Tourism Minister Kate Jones said having some of the state’s 11,000 ­nippers in the opening ceremony was “quintessentially Queensland”.

“We wanted to make sure that surf lifesaving had a prominent position during the opening ceremony,” she said.

Originally published as Nipper Georgie Holyman’s best birthday present ever