From Deseret News archives:

Olympic national flag carriers standing very tall

Published: Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008 9:17 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
BEIJING - Try out this starting five: Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitski, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, former Indiana Pacer/Golden State player Sarunas Jasikevicius and Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko.

All five have enjoyed standout professional basketball careers - four in the NBA, with Jasikevicius seeing his best days playing in Europe.

The five will share another honor Friday night by carrying their respective national flags in the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies.

That includes Kirilenko for Russia, Yao for China, Nowitski for Germany, Ginobili for Argentina and Jasikevicius for Lithuania.

"There will be a lot of tall people in the opening ceremony [carrying flags]," said Kirilenko. "Yao will be the funniest because the other Chinese will look so small behind him."

Track athlete Lopez Lomong, once a child refugee from Sudan who specializes in the 1,500 meters, will carry the U.S. flag, while a pair of tennis stars - Switzerland1s Roger Federer and Chile1s Fernando Gonzalez - will bear their national flags in the ceremonies.

Recent comments

how about manny pacquiao of the philippines???

Anonymous | Aug. 15, 2008 at 12:42 a.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

4A volleyball: Warriors top Flyers

I was at UVU last weekend and wanted to comment on a player that I enjoyed...

SLC council OKs gay rights policies

I think the Church made the right decision here, but I am sorry that they had...

Both parties disrespect Constitution

Hawaii SAID?? No, that is not what the Constitution means by PROVING it. And...

SCHOOL BOARDS decide on school curiculum...in each school district. That...

Alta's Ohai is Ms. Soccer 2009

Whats impossible is to get back to KSL afterward... I there an LDS ksl in...

What happened to kananb when they had the number 1 offense in 1a and got shut...

Just a correction-Davis defeated Hunter in the 2002 Quarterfinals. It is...

We would get over it when you stop trying to control everything around us....

You must be a part of that Obama crowd who believes everyone deserves...

Alta's Ohai is Ms. Soccer 2009

direct link from ksl...that must be G 101 the space gate to stardom!

Advertisements
Advertisement