Closing ceremony at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Antoine Dupont and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot appointed flag bearers for the French delegation

The two flag bearers for the closing ceremony. MAXPPP

Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and rugby player Antoine Dupont, who won gold with the French rugby 7s team, have been designated flag bearers for the French delegation for the closing ceremony.

After an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine, the closing ceremony will be held in the Stade de France from 9:00 p.m.

Ils emmèneront la délégation ce soir lors de la cérémonie de clôture des Jeux Olympiques de Paris 2024, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot et Antoine Dupont seront nos deux porte-drapeaux tricolores 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/G33IBTCjmI

— Equipe France (@EquipeFRA) August 11, 2024

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Antoine Dupont were appointed by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and take over from Mélina Robert-Michon and Florent Manaudou, flag bearers during the opening ceremony .

“Among the women, it will be one of the first athletes who has taken us on board and made us dream in these Olympic Games […] Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and […] from the beginning there is also another team sport that has taken us on board with this gold medal in rugby […] and it will be Antoine Dupont the second flag bearer", announced David Lappartient, president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) during a press conference on Sunday morning.

Antoine Dupont is the superstar of the French rugby sevens team, which brought the very first gold medal of these Paris Games to France, on July 27 at the Stade de France after beating the Fiji (28-7).

Léon Marchand, in another role ?

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who has dominated mountain biking for a decade, won her first Olympic medal, gold, for her fourth participation, the day after the rugby 7s victory, bringing France its second gold medal of the Games.

During the opening ceremony, which took place in an unprecedented way on the Seine, swimmer Florent Manaudou and discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon had carried the tricolor flag.

The name of Léon Marchand, a five-time medalist swimmer including four golds at the 2024 Olympics, had been circulating as the flag bearer for the closing ceremony, which will return to a classic setting on Sunday, that of a stadium.

“We wanted an individual sport and a team sport, it seemed complicated to us not to have a champion from a team sport. We had plenty of choices, so much the better for us”, stressed Lappartient, inviting “to attend the closing ceremony this evening (Sunday)”.