Vareeraya Sukasem, a 12-year-old skateboarder, and 18-year-old sprinter Puripol Boonson will be the flag bearers for Thai athletes at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Friday.
Thana Chaiprasit, chief of the Thai Olympic delegation to Paris, made the announcement today as the world’s finest athletes gather in France.
As many as 51 Thai athletes will compete in the world’s largest sporting competition, from July 26 to August 11. Thirty-six of them are participating for the first time.
Vareeraya, known by her nickname “ST,” is the first young Thai skateboarder to qualify for the Paris Olympics and is the youngest of all the athletes competing in this global event.
She qualified for the Paris Games after an impressive performance in the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest in June.
Starting skateboarding at the age of seven, ST has become one of 88 street skateboarders heading to Paris.
Fans can cheer her on at the Paris 2024 Olympics, in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France, on July 28.
Skateboarding, divided into park and street events, made its Olympic debut in Tokyo three years ago, with skaters judged on the height and difficulty of their manoeuvres.
Vareeraya told Agence France-Presse that her skating idol is Britain’s Sky Brown, who won a bronze medal at Tokyo at just 13 years old and will compete again in Paris.
Brown will however be competing in the park event, which involves ramps and half-pipes.
The Paris Olympics will also see the debut for Puripol, who has been nicknamed “Angel Bew” by the Thai media.
The qualifying heats for the men’s 100m dash will take place on August 3, with the semi-final and final races scheduled for the following day.
Puripol, a native of Surin province, won the 100m silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, clocking a personal best time of 10.06 seconds.
The parade of 10,500 athletes will be held on the Seine River, with boats representing each nation. They will cruise through the heart of Paris, the main venue for the Games.
The parade will complete its 6km journey in front of the Trocadéro esplanade, adjacent to the Eiffel Tower.
by Marisa Chimprabha
