Emma McKeon dudded by brutal rule as fans question flag-bearer choice for Olympics opening ceremony

Fans have been wondering why Emma McKeon didn't get the nod to carry the Australian flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, but due to the swimming program starting the next day it was never going to happen. McKeon is Australia's most decorated Olympian and competing in her final Games in Paris, so it made complete sense for her to carry the flag in the opening ceremony.

No one is saying Jessica Fox and Eddie Ockenden are bad choices, but many have questioned why McKeon was overlooked. But with the swimming program beginning the day after the opening ceremony, it's highly unlikely McKeon and her teammates will attend at all.

Australia's chef de mission Anna Meares revealed this week that fewer than a quarter of the Australian athletes in Paris will actually attend the opening ceremony, with the swimmers the most likely to skip it. Meares said the opening ceremony would be an eight-hour commitment for the athletes, and with the swimming beginning straight away, McKeon and her teammates won't attend.

Meares said only about 80 athletes out of the 460-strong contingent will participate in the opening ceremony. “At the moment we’ve got approximately 200 spaces where we’ve got Australians going, we’re still looking at about 80 athletes attending and that’s probably just over 100 staff in attendance as well,” she said.

At past Olympics, the swimmers have held their own 'mini opening ceremony' of sorts in the athletes' village - opting to avoid being on their feet too much so they can rest up before their events. It goes to show why McKeon won't be the flag-bearer and answers the question on many peoples' lips.

Emma McKeon won't be at Olympics closing ceremony either

The next obvious move would be to give McKeon the flag-bearer role for the closing ceremony, but a controversial rule imposed by the Australian Olympic Committee means that's highly unlikely as well. Aussie athletes will be forced to vacate the Olympic village within 48 hours of their events finishing, and with the swimming taking place in the opening week, it's unlikely McKeon will still be in Paris for the closing ceremony.

McKeon and the majority of the swimming team were back in Australia by the time the closing ceremony took place in Tokyo in 2021. However the veteran swimmer might opt to remain in Europe this time around if the flag-bearer role is on the cards in Paris. It would be a massive shame if McKeon misses out considering everything she's achieved in her Olympics career.

The rule that athletes must leave within 48 hours has gone down like a lead balloon, with a raft of current and former swimmers slamming the edict. “You think of Emma McKeon and what she could achieve at the Games. But a lot of athletes won’t hang around Paris after they have finished because they cannot afford to," Leisel Jones told The Australian in February.

“The swimmers only find out whether they are going to Paris five or six weeks out from the Games so it could to be impossible for them to book accommodation for the second week. Can you imagine how expensive it would be? They would have to go well outside Paris.

“It will be devastating for them. Some of the greatest memories I have of my Games experience came in the second week. I never got to do an opening ceremony and to miss the second week would be horrendous."

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Aussie swimming stars blast Olympic village rule

Aussie star Ariarne Titmus described it as a "rip off". She said earlier this year: “After you’ve worked so hard to go to the Olympics, to be removed from that entire environment as soon as you finish...I completely understand the reasoning behind it that you want every Olympic athlete in the Australian team to have the best possible chance to perform the best they can.

“But not having Australian athletes in the village isn’t going to remove the noise or the partying from every other athlete in the village from around the world. The Australian swim team are the major medal winners for our country. We don’t get to go to the opening ceremony because we’re racing the first day. Now we don’t get to the closing. We literally miss out on our Olympic experience other than racing.”

Kaylee McKeown added: “It does make me mad. It makes a lot of athletes mad because we got that taken away from us because of a reason. Just let us experience an Olympic Games.”