Michael Phelps Chosen As Team USA’s Flag Bearer For Rio Olympics

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, was selected as Team USA’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee announced on Wednesday.

Michael Phelps Chosen As Team USA’s Flag Bearer For Rio Olympics

“I’m honored to be chosen, proud to represent the U.S., and humbled by the significance of carrying the flag and all it stands for,” Phelps said in a statement.

The opening ceremony will be held Friday (Aug. 5) at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Phelps, who is the first American male swimmer to qualify for a fifth Olympic Games, was chosen by a vote of fellow Team USA members.

“For Sydney, I just wanted to make the team,” Phelps continued. “For Athens, I wanted to win gold for my country. For Beijing, I wanted to do something nobody else had done. In London, I wanted to make history. And now, I want to walk in the opening ceremony, take it all in, represent America in the best possible way and make my family proud. This time around, it’s about so much more than medals.”

The 31-year-old superstar made history at the 2008 Beijing Games when he won gold medals in eight events and added to his accomplishments in 2012 when he became the most decorated Olympic athlete in history with 22 career medals, including 18 golds. Now, 16 years after his debut in the Sydney Olympics, Phelps will seek to add to his legacy in Rio, where he is slated to compete in three individual events.

“We’ve seen amazing achievements from Michael Phelps over the last 16 years, raising the sport of swimming to incredible heights that have never been reached before,” USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said. “Michael’s commitment to change the sport of swimming, to his team and to his country epitomize what being the flag bearer means. There’s no better person to lead Team USA into the Olympic Games, and I can’t wait to see him parade in our delegation.”

Phelps is the second swimmer to lead the U.S. delegation into the opening ceremony and the fifth swimmer to be the flag bearer for Team USA at the Olympics. Four-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall carried the flag into the opening ceremony of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. When he made his Olympic debut in 2000, Phelps became the youngest male Olympian since 1932, and his eight gold medals from the Beijing 2008 Games mark an Olympic record.

“As swimmers, we don’t really think that we have this opportunity,” Phelps said in an interview on NBC’s”Today” show following the announcement. “But I guess the opportunity that I have is a dream come true and one that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Phelps won the preliminary 200-meter butterfly heat at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in June.

The Olympic Games will finish on Aug. 21. They are the first games to be held in South America.

U.S Olympic Team Flag Bearers – Opening Ceremony 
1908     Ralph Rose, Track and Field
1912     George Bonhag, Track and Field
1920     Patrick McDonald, Track and Field
1924     Patrick McDonald, Track and Field
1928     Lemuel (Bud) Houser, Track and Field
1932     F. Morgan Taylor, Track and Field
1936     Alfred Jochim, Gymnastics
1948     Ralph Craig, Yachting
1952     Norman Armitage, Fencing
1956     Norman Armitage, Fencing
Warren Wooford, Equestrian*
1960     Rafer Johnson, Track and Field
1964     William Parry O’Brien, Track and Field
1968     Janice Lee Romary, Fencing
1972     Olga Fikotova Connolly, Track and Field
1976     Gary Hall, Swimming
1980     U.S. did not attend
1984     Edward Burke, Track and Field
1988     Evelyn Ashford, Track and Field
1992     Francie Larrieu Smith, Track and Field
1996     Bruce Baumgartner, Wrestling
2000     Cliff Meidl, Canoe/Kayak
2004     Dawn Staley, Basketball
2008     Lopez Lomong, Track and Field
2012     Mariel Zagunis, Fencing
2016     Michael Phelps, Swimming

*Due to Australia’s immigration laws for horses, the 1956 equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden.

OMAHA, NE – JUNE 28: Michael Phelps competes in a semi-final heat of the Men’s 200 Meter Butterfly during Day 3 of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Center on June 28, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Jeff Curry/Getty Images)