# Canada Picks Flag Bearer for Olympics



## Rob Broad (Jul 20, 2004)

Judo veteran Nicolas Gill will carry Canada's flag at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Athens, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Monday.

Gill, 32, will be competing in his fourth Olympics. The Montreal native is a two-time judo medallist at the Games, winning a bronze in 1992 and a silver in 2000. He has also earned three medals at the world championships.

The 10-time national champion is coming off knee surgery in November but has shown since he is still a force to be reckoned with, winning gold at a tournament in Germany earlier this month and a bronze last month in an Italian event.

Gill is one of 266 Canadian athletes going to Athens - 134 women and 132 men, plus 77 coaches. Canada sent 311 athletes to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Sport organizations submitted nominees for flag-bearer last month. The final say came down to a vote by a five-member committee of Canadian chef de mission Dave Bedford, assistant chef Natalie Lambert, two athlete representatives and one coaching representative.

There was plenty of competition for the honour, including world champion sprinter Perdita Felicien, Olympic champion wrestler Daniel Igali, young diving star Alexandre Despatie, veteran equestrian Ian Millar, three-time Olympic cyclist Alison Sydor, world trampoline champion Karen Cockburn, and tennis champion Daniel Nestor.


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## captnigh (Jul 21, 2004)

That's awesome.


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