Bahrain's Paris 2024 Olympians have begun arriving at the French capital ahead of their participation at this year’s Summer Olympics.
The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad officially gets underway today with the opening ceremony at 8.30pm, Bahrain time.
For the first time in the history of the event, the inauguration will not be held in a stadium. It will instead take place on the Seine, the river that crosses the centre of Paris. Each participating delegation will be allocated a boat for the parade of nations. Each vessel has been equipped with cameras to allow fans watching from around the world to see the athletes up close.
The floating parade will be held along a six-kilometre route on the Seine, with the end-point being at the world-famous Trocadero, an area in the city where the rest of the ceremony and shows will dazzle.
Swimmers Amani Al Obaidli and Saud Ghali have been awarded the honour by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) to lead Team Bahrain in tonight’s parade as the flag-bearers.
Both are talented swimmers who have won multiple medals for the kingdom at the Arab and Gulf levels, and they are also current national-record holders.
Al Obaidli is based in Australia where she studies and competes, while Ghali was selected for the ‘Making Champions’ programme under the BOC, which has afforded him the opportunity to study in Hungary and also train to be a professional swimmer.
Al Obaidli and Ghali are two of a handful of Bahrain’s Olympians already in the French capital. Judoka Askerbii Gerbekov and weightlifters Lesman Paredes and Gor Minasyan are the others. They were all welcomed by Team Bahrain officials along with their accompanying coaches and support staff. Meanwhile, BOC vice-president and Cabinet Affairs Ministry Under-Secretary Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has also arrived in Paris ahead of this evening’s celebrations.
Shaikh Ali was welcomed upon reaching the French capital by Bahrain’s Ambassador to France Essam Abdulaziz Al Jassim and BOC executive director Ahmed Abdulghaffar, who is Team Bahrain’s Chef de Mission at this year’s Olympics. Vice Chef de Mission Fajer Jassim Mohamed was also on hand.
Shaikh Isa expressed his delight and pride in Team Bahrain’s participation at the major global sporting event. He added that it is an opportunity to strengthen sports and cultural relations between countries all around the world and wished all participating athletes success.
Shaikh Isa stressed that the BOC fully supports Team Bahrain in order to achieve the best results and raise the kingdom’s flag high on the international stage.
Other officials from the BOC and Bahrain’s General Sports Authority (GSA) have also reached France. Among them were BOC secretary general Faris Al Kooheji, GSA board member Nibras Mohammed Ali Taleb, BOC board member and Bahrain Weightlifting Federation president Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq, BOC board member and Bahrain Handball Federation president Ali Issa, and BOC board member and Bahrain Swimming Association president Dr Mohammed Mujbil.
Team Bahrain are making their 11th appearance at the Olympic Games.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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