‘Absolutely surreal’: Hall and de Rozario to fly Australian flag at Paralympics
By Billie Eder
Madison de Rozario and Brenden Hall will carry the flag for Australia at the Paralympics opening ceremony next month after they were announced as dual flag-bearers at Admiralty House on Friday afternoon.
Against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, Paralympics chef de mission Kate McLoughlin announced the pair would lead the Australian team from the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde on August 29.
Australian Paralympians Brenden Hall and Madison de Rozario at Friday’s flag-bearer ceremony in Sydney. Credit: Louie Douvis
It will be the fifth Paralympics for both de Rozario and Hall, who were 14 and 15, respectively, when they made their debuts at Beijing in 2008.
Six-time Olympic medallist Hall, a freestyle swimmer, said he was shocked when he found out on Friday morning.
“I wasn’t expecting this, so still kind of taking it in,” Hall said. “My mind is going 100 miles an hour ... I think it will set in a little bit tomorrow. I’m over the moon to have this honour, to carry the flag. Lost for words at the moment.
“We didn’t get a call, they [McLoughlin] just rocked up at our sessions this morning and kind of just dropped the bombshell on us. I thought I was doing plenty of different stuff today, I had a whole itinerary sent to me of what I was supposed to be doing for the day, but it did not include any of this. Let’s just say that’s how that conversation went this morning.”
Madison de Rozario won two gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics. Credit: Getty
For middle- and long-distance racer de Rozario, a two-time Paralympic gold medallist, it was a full-circle moment from her first Games 16 years ago.
“I feel like this Paralympic team has been just such an enormous part of who I am, my identity, we were both so young in Beijing ... this is our family, this is who we are, and so much of who I am as a person is shaped by the Paralympics, and by the people that are involved in the movement,” she said.
“Both of us, the only opening ceremony we’ve ever done was Beijing, and so we walked out into the Bird’s Nest in 2008 ... it’s just this overpowering moment. That’s for both of us, the only opening ceremony we’ve ever done as athletes, so to get to now be both at our fifth Games, doing it for the second time ever and going from just kids in this big team to getting to hold the flag, it’s absolutely surreal.”
Hall, 31, is considered a veteran of the team. He had a few words of wisdom to pass on to the next generation of Australian Paralympians.
“Just lean into the failures, and don’t be afraid of them,” Hall said. “It’s something that always kind of scared me, but I had to fail to learn the hard way.
“The most important thing ... is to just be in the moment, and have fun as much as possible.”
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.