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Sarah Lavin leads Team Ireland at Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony
Limerick Sprint Hurdler Sarah Lavin led Team Ireland at Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony.
Sarah Lavin had the “greatest honour” of her career, leading Team Ireland and carrying the Irish flag with golfer Shane Lowry at the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony
Limerick is bursting with pride as sprint hurdler Sarah Lavin had the honour of carrying the Irish flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Friday, July 26.
Lavin was joined by Offaly golf superstar Shane Lowry in leading Team Ireland’s 133 athletes in what was an emotional, historic career highlight for both Lavin and Lowry.
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An emotional Lavin described the experience as the greatest honour of her career, she said, “It’s surreal to be honest with you, the greatest honour I’ve ever been given, and I would even go so far as to say probably any Olympic athlete ever could be given to carry the country’s flag.
“It’s just something you can’t prepare for. I’m so grateful to those who’ve trusted me and put me in this position.”
This opening ceremony was also a historic event as it was the first time the Olympic Opening Ceremony took place outside of a stadium, making its way along a six-kilometre route on the Seine.
Athletes sailed past Parisian landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and Notre Dame Cathedral in a parade which included more than 200 delegations in 85 boats.
Team Ireland shared boat number 28 with Iraq, represented by approximately 20 athletes and support staff.
Team Ireland included taekwondo athlete Jack Wooley, Donegal badminton player Rachael Darragh, showjumpers Daniel Coyle and Shane Sweetnam, and sailors Finn Lynch and Eve McMahon, among others who were all led by Lavin and Lowry.
A European Youth Olympic bronze medallist in 2011 and a European Junior silver medallist in 2013, Lavin’s journey to the 2024 Olympics is a success story having clinched her first senior medal, a bronze, at the 2023 European Games.
The Limerick sprint hurdler broke Derval O’Rourke’s longstanding senior record at the World Championships and ended 2023 by breaking the Irish 100m flat record with a time of 11:27.
Sarah is set to compete in the 100m hurdles with the opening heats taking place in Stade de France on Wednesday, August 7.
Limerick also has links to a number of other Irish athletes competing in the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, including UL Graduates Thomas Barr, Sharlene Mawdsley and Tiarnán O’Donnell as well as current UL student Róisín Ní Riain and Kelly McGrory who trains at the UL Training Base.
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