According to NBC Sports, Australian sports history will be made on Friday as San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills of Canberra, Australia will be the first Indigenous Australian to carry the flag for Australia in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He will also be joined by two-time Olympic gold medalist Cate Campbell, who will be the first ever female swimmer to carry the flag for Australia in the Opening Ceremonies.
Mills, who has played 12 seasons in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers and Spurs, averaged 10.8 points per game with San Antonio this past year. He won the NBA Finals with San Antonio in 2014, and will now be trying to do sone damage on the international stage for Team Australia. The Aussies begin their quest for an Olympic medal in men’s basketball on July 25 against Nigeria (6:20 PM AEST). Australia and Nigeria have something in common. They both beat the heavily-favoured United States in exhibition play.
Mills also becomes the third Australian basketball player to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Andrew Gaze of the Melbourne Tigers carried the flag for Australia during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and women’s basketball player Lauren Jackson carried the flag during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Campbell meanwhile becomes the third Australian swimmer to carry the flag in the Opening Ceremonies. Boy Charlton was the flag bearer during the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and Max Metzker was the flag bearer during the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Campbell won the gold medal for Australia in the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
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