The flagbearers for the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Paris have been announced – and they’ve already competed in 10 previous games between them.
Seven-time wheelchair basketball Paralympian Terry Bywater, and wheelchair tennis athlete Lucy Shuker, who will be competing at her fifth games, will lead the British team at the Place de la Concorde on 28 August.
Fellow British athletes voted for the pair to take on the honour.
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Redcar-born Bywater, who made his Paralympic debut in Sydney 2000 at just 17 years old, has won four Paralympic bronze medals – most recently in Tokyo.
The 41-year-old told Sky News that being a flagbearer “means the absolute world to me”.
“It’s a dream, I have to keep pinching myself. This is my seventh Paralympic Games, I actually play number seven, and then to be chosen by my fellow peers, it’s unbelievable,” he said.
“Going back to Sydney 2000… here I am today coming into my seventh games and obviously now a flagbearer, it’s fantastic.”
He also said it was “super special” to be a flagbearer in Paris as it means his family and friends can support him closer to home.
Bywater and his teammates take on Germany in their opening Group A fixture on Thursday morning before meeting Canada and hosts France on Saturday and Monday respectively.
He was born without a tibia and a fibula in his left leg, which was amputated when he was two.
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Shuker first represented ParalympicsGB at Beijing in 2008 and claimed her first medal four years later when she won the women’s doubles bronze alongside Jordanne Whiley in London.
The pair won another bronze medal at Rio 2016 before claiming silver in Tokyo 2020.
Shuker, from Fleet, Hampshire, was paralysed from the chest down following a motorbike crash in 2001 and made her Paralympic debut seven years later.
The 44-year-old told Sky News she is “going to be so proud”.
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“I never thought when I had my accident, I’d qualify for one Paralympics, let alone five.
“It’s a huge honour and I’m just going to treasure that memory, that moment,” she said.
Following Whiley’s retirement, Shuker will partner with 21-year-old Abbie Breakwell with the competition beginning on Friday at Roland Garros. Shuker will also enter the women’s singles draw.
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Up to 4,400 athletes are due to parade along the Champs Elysees to Place de la Concorde in front of an estimated 65,000 spectators. Another 300 million people are expected to tune in at home.
Competition starts on Thursday, with medals up for grabs in track cycling, swimming, taekwondo and table tennis, and continues until the closing ceremony on Sunday, 8 September.
