NBA star Patty Mills has become the first Indigenous Australian to be named a flag-bearer of the team after he was selected alongside Cate Campbell to share the honours.
Mills is a proud Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam man.
This year's Tokyo Olympics will see a new tradition where nations must name one female and one male to share the role of carrying the flag into the Games.
For Campbell, she will be the first female swimmer to carry the flag.
Both Mills and Campbell are four-time Olympians, with both athletes having competed at every summer Olympic event since 2008.
Campbell, 29, has two Olympic gold medals, one silver and two bronze to her name, while 32-year-old Mills – an NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs – is looking for his first medal after falling one point short of a bronze medal during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Australia's men's national basketball team, the Boomers, are medal hopefuls having fallen just short after reaching the bronze medal game in Rio, losing to Spain.
"To be selected to carry the flag and lead our team into the Olympic stadium is the highest recognition of achievement and leadership that can be bestowed on any athlete in any Australian sport or multi-sport team," Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said in a letter to both flag bearers.
"While you will not be leading a team into a packed Olympic stadium due to COVID-19 countermeasures, you will readily appreciate the significance of your selection from the congratulations and acknowledgement from your peers within the Australian Olympic team and the wider public."
https://twitter.com/AUSOlympicTeam/status/1412697542979207175
Mills spoke on how special it meant to him to be able to represent Australia and his Indigenous culture.
"As a proud Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam man it's incredible," Mills said after the announcement.
"A very passionate moment I can feel in my bones. But what does it actually mean to me to be a flag bearer?
"My answer comes from how this particular person in past years, in this role, has impacted me. It's leadership, representation and It's insanely meaningful. It's inspiring. It's symbolic. It's emblematic.
"But I think my honest answer would be, what does it mean to everyone else? What does it mean to the team? What does it mean to everyone in Australia? The thousands of ex-pats living around the world? What does it mean to the next generation? The people that have come before us?
"Because those are the people I proudly represent and will carry the flag for.
"As the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flag Bearer my connection between our country – the land, the sky, the sea, our culture, our history and this particular moment runs extremely deep."
Campbell added: "It's such an honour and a privilege."
"It's right up there amongst one of the greatest things that has happened to me.
"it's one thing to represent your country in a sport that you love, it's another thing to be able to represent your fellow Olympians and the Olympic family you become a part of."
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