Defending Olympic champion Andy Murray has spoken of the “incredible honour” of being chosen as Team GB’s flag bearer for Friday night’s opening ceremony in Rio.
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This was met with much amusement by the Princess Royal, who lives at Gatcombe Park near Avening, and Lord Coe stood next to the 29-year-old. “I’m sure it’s going to be a night I’ll never forget”. I was just following instructions.
“I ended up putting the flag in front of Princess Anne’s face”.
“Let’s try to make this another awesome Olympics to remember for Great Britain”, he said.
“Here it’s totally different conditions, different venue, different country, so I’ll try and treat it like any other tournament and prepare as best I can”, he told reporters. I hope she was OK.
By turning the tables in the Olympics, Murray put himself in the conversation with Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and rode the momentum to his first major title at the U.S. Open later that summer.
“It is by far the proudest moment of my professional career”, he said.
He added “this is my third Olympic Games, and it is a very special competition for me”.
Murray was selected from a short-list of athletes “who exemplify the Olympic values and uphold the Team GB values”, with the final choice being made by a panel headed by Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England.
“He explained why he thought I’d be a good person to do it”.
“Winning a medal is extremely hard but to do it with your brother it would be very, very, special”, Murray said.
The first round of the men’s singles tennis competition in Rio begins this weekend and, depending on the outcome of tomorrow’s draw, he could begin the defence of his title as soon as Saturday afternoon. “I was willing to sacrifice that to give myself the best chance to do well here”.
“I didn’t know what to say”.
The three-time grand slam victor will also play in the doubles alongside his brother Jamie, who was ranked No. 1 in the world for doubles earlier this year.
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The three-time grand slam victor and Olympic gold medalist four years ago in London, expressed his excitement to have been rewarded with flag-bearing duties for the Maracana extravaganza.
