Rosie MacLennan named Canada’s flag-bearer for Rio 2016

Gymnast Rosie MacLennan has been named Team Canada’s flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

As the Flag Bearer for Team Canada, MacLennan will lead a team of approximately 314 athletes when marching into the opening ceremony.

“All of our extraordinary athletes embody the motto of the Olympics – swifter, higher stronger”, said Trudeau.

“I am honoured to have been chosen as Flag Bearer for Team Canada”, McLennan said.

MacLennan said carrying the flag was a dream come true.

CAREER HIGH: Earned a career high score of 57.305 for her routine that gave Canada its only gold medal of the London Olympics.

Kingston-born triathlete Simon Whitfield carried the flag into the London Games, where his hopes of a third Olympic medal ended in a nasty fashion with a freak cycling crash.

Last year, after suffering her second concussion when she was accidentally hit on the head by a auto trunk, MacLennan was only able to train for one week before finishing fourth at 2015 worlds.

Hamilton basketball star Kia Nurse, who shone in last year’s Pan Am Games was a consideration, as was golf sensation Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont.

She went on to book her ticket to Rio with a fourth-place finish at November’s world championship. After her Olympic triumph, MacLennan maintained her top global ranking, winning her first world title in 2013. Her twists, flips and somersaults appear effortless and have a smooth fluidity.

Also worthy of consideration were canoeist Mark Oldershaw of Burlington, a bronze medalist in London and Mark de Jonge, a world champion kayaker and London Games bronze medalist.

She showed her London win was no fluke by taking her first world title in 2013 and adding silver the following year. She successfully defended that gold medal at home at Toronto 2015, sharing the podium with teammate Karen Cockburn, after coming back from a concussion.