July 23, (THEWILL) – A plea from the International Olympic Committee IOC for participating countries whose athletes were taking part in the opening ceremony to represent their mixed contingent by having both a male and female flag-bearer lead the rest of the athletes appeared to have been largely followed.
For instance, Team Nigeria, in their beautiful white outfits that were bedecked with green flavours and waving their flags whilst acknowledging cheers from the sparsely filled national stadium, were led by the country’s flag-bearer, wrestling athlete Odunayo Adekuoroye, who was ably assisted by tennis icon, Aruna Quadri.
This was in line with the February statement issued by the IOC which requested that participating countries arrange to have both a male and female flag-bearer where possible for the first time as a representation of the mix of athletes they are sending to the Games.
Like Nigeria, the parade saw this mix among the athletes for many countries. However, not all countries complied. A handful of countries stood out on Friday for having only either a man or a woman flag-bearer.
The Ethiopian contingent, for instance, was led by the male swimmer Abdelmalik Muktar while the male judoka Temur Rakhimov held the leading flag for the Tajikistani delegation, though each country had a mixed team.
The African delegation from Congo flipped that by having a single female flag-bearer in the sprinter Natacha Ngoye Akamabi, who took the lead for their contingent parade even though they had a mixed team as well.
The case for an exception could be made for a country such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose male-only delegation had a male flag-bearer only.
But it was a refreshing change to witness the contingent from an unapologetically conservative country with strong gender values such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia comply with the request of the IOC.
In front of their athletes and waving the country’s flag proudly were male rower Husein Alireza and female judoka Tahani Alqahtani, illustrating the principles of sportsmanship.
Events of recent have caused the IOC to pledge to work towards gender equality. As THEWILL reported in February, Yoshiro Mori, the ex-President of Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, was roundly criticised for making sexist remarks about women.
He was eventually forced to step down from his role for the comment.
Then in March, THEWILL reported that Hiroshi Sasaki, Creative Head Director of the Tokyo Olympic Games resigned his position after a derogatory remark about a popular female Japanese entertainer, Naomi Watanabe, went public in another controversy over insensitive remarks towards women.
As creative head, Sasaki was responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies at this year’s Games. The comments concerned refer to Sasaki telling a planning group through a group chat that Watanabe could play a role as an “Olympig” during these ceremonies.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
