Olympic champions Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg named Team Canada Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony Flag Bearers

PARIS (August 11, 2024) – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced Olympic champions Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg as Team Canada’s flag bearers for the Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony. 

McIntosh won three gold and one silver in the pool at Paris 2024. On the field, Katzberg won a gold medal in hammer throw. Combined, the duo won four of Team Canada’s nine gold medals and five of Team Canada’s 27 medals as of Sunday morning. Both of these are historic achievements – Canada’s second largest in both gold medal count and total medals at a single Olympic Summer Games.

Since making her Olympic debut as a 14-year-old at Tokyo 2020, McIntosh has become one of Canada’s most successful swimmers of all time. The 17-year-old kicked off Team Canada’s historic medal haul on Day 1 at Paris 2024, winning the country’s first medal of the Games, a silver in the women’s 400m freestyle. She would go on to win three gold medals in the women’s 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, and 200m individual medley. 

McIntosh is the first Canadian athlete to win three gold medals in one Olympic Games. She is also tied with teammate Penny Oleksiak for the most medals won by a Canadian athlete at one Olympic Summer Games. In Paris, she also set two Olympic records – in the women’s 200m butterfly (2:03.03) and the women’s 200m individual medley (2:06.56).

Katzberg went into his Olympic debut at Paris 2024 as the reigning world champion in men’s hammer throw and is leaving as Canada’s first Olympic gold medallist in any throwing event in 120 years (since St Louis 1904). The 22-year-old is the first Canadian in 112 years to win a medal in the hammer throw at an Olympic Games. 

On his first throw of the final, Katzberg launched a throw of 84.12 metres. Out of a field of 12, he was the only thrower to surpass the 80-metre mark in the Paris 2024 hammer throw final. He won by 4.15m – the largest margin of victory in men’s hammer throw since Antwerp 1920. 

QUOTES

“Summer’s performance was a tour de force; three gold medals at one Games is an incredible achievement. For Ethan, another colossal success, Canada’s first gold medal in the hammer throw, and the first medal for the sport in 112 years. These are two athletes who truly represent the values ​​of our Olympians and the competitive spirit that reigns within Team Canada 2024.”

– Eric Myles, COC Chief Sport Officer

“These two athletes represent exactly what Team Canada has been about in Paris: its will, its dedication and its pursuit of excellence at the highest level. I am incredibly proud of Summer and Ethan who fully deserve to carry our flag into the Closing Ceremony.”

– Bruny Surin, Olympic champion and Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Chef de Mission

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to be the flag bearer representing so many tremendous athletes. It is such an honour to hold the flag for Canada. It means the world and I will wave it with pride.”

–Summer McIntosh, Olympic champion and Team Canada Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony Flag bearer

“I am extremely honoured to be selected as one of Canada’s flag bearers for the Closing Ceremony. As a first time Olympian, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have surpassed all of my expectations. I will carry the flag proudly along with Summer, and I am extremely grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

– Ethan Katzberg, Olympic champion and Team Canada Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony Flag bearer

Note to media: A full Games recap will follow the final competition later today.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Thomas Hall
Team Canada’s Press Chief
WhatsApp: +1(514) 709-1054
E: thall@olympic.ca

Caroline Sharp
Team Canada’s Sport Communications Lead
Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Athletics Attaché
WhatsApp: +1 (613) 323-5605
E: csharp@olympic.ca 

Nathan White
Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Swimming Attaché
WhatsApp: +1 (613) 866-7946
E: nwhite@swimming.ca