Sailors represent the athletes at Opening Ceremony

Sailing was one of the best represented sports at the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Maracana Stadium last night.

Brazil’s five-time Olympic medallist Torben Grael was one of a select group of athletes to carry the flag of the International Olympic Committee into the stadium, which was packed with 78,000 spectators.
 
The other of Brazil’s five-time Olympic medal winners, Robert Scheidt, had the honour of reading out the athlete’s oath on behalf of all competitors at the Rio Games. About to compete in the Laser class at his sixth successive Games, Scheidt read aloud the oath: “In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.”
 
There were 12 nations that chose sailors as their flag bearers, including the wife of Robert Scheidt, Gintare Scheidt, the 2008 Laser Radial silver medallist representing Lithuania.
 
The New Zealand 49er helmsman Peter Burling took the unusual but popular step of insisting his crew Blair Tuke march beside him at the head of the Kiwi contingent.
 
The other flag bearers representing sailing were:

• Nicole Van der Velden – Aruba
• Sofia Bekatorou – Greece
• Pavlos Kontides – Cyprus
• Karl Martin Rammo – Estonia
• Tuuli Petaja-Siren – Finland
• Joao Rodrigues – Portugal
• Rodney Govinden – Seychelles
• Dolores Moreira – Uruguay
• Cy Thompson – U.S. Virgin Islands

By Andy Rice – World Sailing

RIO 2016 OLYMPIC SAILING COMPETITION USEFUL LINKS
World Sailing Olympic Website – http://www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/home.php
Rio 2016 Schedule – http://www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/about/schedule.php#.V5Yw346BLqM
Rio 2016 Olympic Sailors – http://www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/qualification/sailors.php#.V5Yw946BLqM