Hoops player Anderson, swimmer Roxon named Canada’s Paralympic flag-bearers in Paris

Basketball player Patrick Anderson and swimmer Katarina Roxon have been named Canada’s flag-bearers for Wednesday’s opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games in Paris.

Anderson of Fergus, Ont., will compete in his sixth Paralympic Games.

The 45-year-old is considered one of the best wheelchair basketball players of all time. Anderson led Canada to three gold medals and a silver in previous appearances.

Roxon will be the first Canadian woman to compete in five Paralympic Games in swimming.

The 31-year-old from Corner Brook, N.L. was born missing her left arm below her elbow. Roxon won a gold medal in breaststroke in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.

Canada’s team of 126 athletes will compete in 18 sports starting Thursday until the closing ceremonies Sept. 8.

Canadian athletes won 21 medals, including five gold, at Tokyo’s Paralympics, which were delayed from 2020 to 2021 and held with no spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anderson and the men’s basketball team open against host France at Bercy Arena on Friday, while Roxon’s first race is Friday at La Defense Arena.

The Paralympic opening ceremonies won’t involve athletes arriving to the festivities on boats as was the case for the Olympic Games opener July 26.

Athletes from 184 countries will instead parade on the Champs-Elysées into La Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris.

Anderson will carry the flag on the left side of his wheelchair so Roxon can have her right hand on the flagpole.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly, whose Olympic opening ceremonies included ballet, opera, drag queens, a headless Marie Antoinette and Celine Dion singing Hymne A L’Amour, also designed the Paralympic opener.

Wednesday’s weather forecast is more favourable for the Paralympians with warm temperatures and clear skies, compared to a downpour on their Olympic counterparts.

Anderson has been described as the “Michael Jordan of wheelchair basketball”.

He was born in Edmonton, but grew up in Fergus. In 1989, at the age of nine, he was struck by a drunk driver and lost both of his legs below the knee.

He led the men’s hoops squad to Paralympic gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2012 and a silver in 2008, as well as a world championship in 2006.

Anderson has played professionally in Australia, Germany and Spain.

He took a break from the sport and didn’t compete in Rio, but returned to the Canadian team for Tokyo, where the team lost in a quarterfinal to Britain.

He’s averaged 21.7 points, 12 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game in his Paralympic career.

Newfoundland’s route 490 near Stephenville is named Katarina Roxon Way.

She won 100-metre breaststroke gold in the SM8 classification in Rio and helped Canada to a women’s relay bronze medal in Tokyo.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2024.