Canada’s most successful Olympic athlete will join Canada’s first hammer throw medallist in 112 years as the country’s flag bearers at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Teen swimming sensation Summertime McIntosh and hammer throw champion Ethan Katzberg will carry the flag, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Sunday.
McIntosh, 17, won three gold medals and one silver during the first week of Paris 2024, becoming the first Canadian to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.
The Toronto native flew home last week but said she would be happy to return to Paris if she were chosen as flag bearer.
“There have been so many incredible performances at the Games, and to be chosen as the flag bearer is pretty incredible,” McIntosh said in a statement. Team Canada Press Release“It is a real honour for me to hold the Canadian flag.”
McIntosh is expected to be a strong contender to take home more medals at Los Angeles 2028.
Katzberg, 22, became the youngest ever hammer throw champion at the Summer Games with a throw of 84.12 meters, just shy of the Olympic record of 84.80 meters set by Russia’s Sergey Litvinov in 1988.
Originally from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Katzberg captured the first gold by a Canadian man at Paris 2024.
His medal also marked Canada’s first Olympic gold in a throwing event since 1904, when Etienne Desmarteau won the 56-pound shot put in St. Louis.
“The support over the last week has been absolutely incredible,” Katzberg said in the same Team Canada release. “Not even this last week, people have been so supportive and encouraging of me for so long. To be able to have such an incredible Olympic experience has been amazing and to bring it home at the closing ceremony and to wave that flag high and proud is truly an honour.”
Canada has won 27 medals in Paris, a national record for a non-boycotted Summer Games.
The closing ceremony begins at 2:15 pm ET / 11:15 am PT.
