who are Nantenin Keita and Alexis Hanquinquant, the two French flag bearers

PARALYMPIC GAMES – As with the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of the Paralympics will take place outside a stadium for the first time this Wednesday, August 28. On the Champs-Élysées and the Place de la Concorde, two para-athletes will have the honor of being the flag bearers for the French delegation.

Chosen in July by the athletes involved in these Games, Nantenin Keita and Alexis Hanquinquant will succeed Stéphane Houdet and Sandrine Martinet, who carried the French flag at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

The first, aged 39, will take part in para-athletics events. Daughter of the great Malian musician Salif Keita and ambassador for the rights of people with albinism, she has already won medals at Beijing 2008 (bronze in the 400m and silver in the 200m), London 2012 (bronze in the 100m) and Rio 2016 (gold in the 400m). When the Olympic flame arrived in Marseille on 8 May, she received the torch from Florent Manaudou before passing it to Jul who lit the cauldron.

The second, 38, won gold in Tokyo in 2021 in triathlon for his first appearance at the Paralympic Games. Before that, he had started the discipline in 2015 and had participated in his first French championships in 2016. He has also been world champion six times in a row.

Once again the favorite for the title, Alexis Hanquinquant was in the spotlight at the last Cannes Film Festival by carrying the Olympic flame on the steps of the Croisette. More recently, he accompanied Amélie Oudéa-Castera for her impromptu swim in the Seine.

A duo in the spotlight on July 26

At the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games a month ago, the two were among the last torchbearers alongside Amélie Le Fur, president of the Paralympic Committee.

That same July 26, on stage, the discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon and the swimmer Florent Manaudou had been the flag bearers of the French delegation. The latter had won a few days later a bronze medal in the 50 m freestyle.

On August 11, during the closing ceremony at the Stade de France, it was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Antoine Dupont, both gold medalists in their disciplines (mountain biking and rugby 7s), who in turn carried the French flag. They then handed it over to Nantenin Keita during the ceremony, for a symbolic passing of the baton.

At the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games this Wednesday evening, around 4,400 athletes will march down the Champs-Élysées to reach the Place de la Concorde, where the “official parade”Around 65,000 spectators are expected.

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