Rio de Janeiro, Aug 3 (CTK special correspondent) – Judo fighter Lukas Krpalek, 25, will carry the Czech flag during the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on Friday, the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) announced yesterday.
“I am very happy,” said Krpalek, who was judo world champion in 2014.
“To represent the Czech Republic at the Olympic ceremony and carry the flag, this is one of the greatest things an athlete can experience,” he said.
The flag bearer was chosen by a vote of the Czech athletes.
Czech athletes selected the flag bearer in their vote at the European Games in Baku last year for the first time.
Czech Olympic mission head Martin Doktor said the athletes decided to make a tradition of this kind of vote.
All Czech athletes who have qualified for the Games chose the flag bearer from those who will be in Rio at the time of the opening ceremony and want to take part in it.
Krpalek clearly won the vote, Doktor said.
Krpalek took part in the opening ceremony at the London Olympics four years ago and in the closing ceremony in Baku in 2015. In Rio, he will compete in the judo category under 100 kilogrammes.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, badminton player Petr Koukal carried the Czech flag. Kayaker Stepanka Hilgertova carried the flag in Beijing in 2008.
