Bryony Page and Alex Yee MBE have been named as Team GB’s flagbearers for the Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Crewe’s Bryony Page completed her set of Olympic Games medals with gold in gymnastics trampoline at Paris 2024.
The medal added to her silver at Rio 2016 – where she became the first-ever Team GB medallist in the sport – and bronze at Tokyo 2020. Page would go on to be crowned world champion in 2021 and 2023. Her realisation of winning gold in Paris 2024 will go down as one of the big Team GB moments for anyone who was watching her performance from the Bercy Arena.
Fellow flagbearer Yee confirmed his place as the most successful Olympic triathlete ever with two medals in Paris. The Lewisham-born 26-year-old won men’s individual gold and followed it up with mixed relay bronze. His Olympic medal haul now stands at four after he claimed individual silver and mixed relay gold at Tokyo 2020. Yee took gold at Paris 2024 with one of the most enthralling finishes triathlon has ever seen - overtaking Hayden Wilde of New Zealand in the closing stages of the run having looked out of energy moments before. Less than a week later, Yee joined forces with his Team GB teammates Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sam Dickinson and Beth Potter in a thrilling mixed relay event, which ended with bronze following a photo finish.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony will take place at the Stade de France in Paris from 20:00 BST, concluding a remarkable 16 days of competition which have seen Team GB amass 65 medals, concluding with Emily Campbell’s bronze in the women’s +81kg weightlifting.
Team GB has once again enjoyed medal success across a variety of sports with 131 athletes stepping on to the podium in Paris from 18 different sports.
Following the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and a shortened Olympic cycle of three years, Paris 2024 has seen the strength in diversity of Team GB provide the nation with numerous inspiring and joyful stories of determination, hope and excellence, not just for audiences in the UK but around the world as well.
Amongst many inspiring stories, Ellie Aldridge became the first Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing, Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe won Team GB’s first-ever Olympic medal in artistic swimming, while Toby Roberts became the first medallist for Team GB in sport climbing, winning gold in the boulder and lead combined.
Team GB also won medals in all five athletics relays, with bronze in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays, silver in the women's 4x100m and silver and bronze in the men's 4x100m and mixed 4x400m respectively.
A unique, historic Olympic Games double was also claimed for Team GB with Henry Fieldman. He became the first person in the history of the Olympics to win a medal in both men’s and women’s events, following a rule change in 2017. The coxswain claimed bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s rowing eight and returned to Paris 2024 as coxswain in the women’s rowing eight, where he also took bronze.
Whilst Ethan Hayter, Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Oliver Wood and Ethan Vernon powered to silver in the men's cycling team pursuit to claim Team GB's 1000th sporting medal of the modern Olympic Games.
In total, Team GB won 65 medals at Paris 2024, equalling the tally from London 2012 (65 medals) in the all-time list and two behind Rio 2016 (67 medals), with both Rio and London having more athletes participating.
Epitomising the Olympic spirit, Bryony Page and Alex Yee were nominated by a British Olympic Association panel and will carry the Union Flag into the Stade de France this evening.
Team GB’s Closing Ceremony flagbearer, Bryony Page, said:
“When I got the call to tell me, I couldn't believe it, it truly is such an honour. For a sport like trampolining, which is quite niche, it's quite amazing - and to be able to hold the flag for all of the Team GB Olympians here is incredible. It's a very emotional and proud moment, and I cannot wait to hold the flag for every single athlete who has competed - congratulations to every single one of them for their performances and how they have supported every other team member, it's such a special team to be a part of.
“To have won an Olympic gold at my third Games and now to be given this honour, it just caps the incredible experience that Paris 2024 has been for me.”
The Olympic Games' most successful triathlon athlete and Closing Ceremony flagbearer, Alex Yee, said:
"I'm really excited and honoured to be given the opportunity to be one of the Team GB flagbearers. It means a lot to me.
“The Closing Ceremony is a key part of the Olympic experience and having not got to experience it in Tokyo, I wanted to come to it in Paris. So, to be able to go to it, first of all, was really special, but then to get the phone call this morning to be asked to hold the GB flag was really, really special.
“There's been so many incredible performances over the last two weeks from Team GB, so to be selected as somebody who's represented Team GB well and made the country proud is really special.”