PARIS – Fergus wheelchair basketball athlete Patrick Anderson was one of two Paralympic champions named to lead the Canadian Paralympic team in the opening ceremony for the games.
Anderson, along with Newfoundland para swimmer Katarina Roxon, were chosen as the team’s flag bearers for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremony on Aug. 28.
“This is a big honour and a special thing,” Anderson stated in a news release.
“This is a special country and an opportunity to represent wheelchair basketball in front of the world and the entire Canadian Paralympic team. I’ve been chosen, and I will step up. It’s going to be really cool.”
The Paris games will be Anderson’s sixth Paralympic Games.
The 45-year-old has four Paralympic medals, winning gold with the men’s wheelchair basketball team in 2000, 2004 and 2012, and earning silver in 2008.
He and his teammates will play their first game in the Paris tournament on Aug. 30 in a preliminary round against Germany. The squad finished eighth at Tokyo 2020 and sixth at the 2023 world championships.
Roxon will also be in competition on Aug. 30, competing in the SB8 100m breaststroke, the event in which she won gold in Rio in 2016.
“What an incredible flag bearer duo,” stated Josh Vander Vies, co-chef de mission for the Paris 2024 Canadian Paralympic team, in the release.
“Pat and Katarina are amazing representatives for their country, their teams, and for the Paralympic movement. It has been a joy to follow their careers, and this is another achievement to add to a long list they have worked so hard for.
“I know the whole Canadian Paralympic Team will be proud to walk and roll behind them at the opening ceremony.”
A total of 126 athletes will be competing for Canada in 18 sports at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, taking place Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.
