Out hockey player flies the flag for Team GB during Olympic Closing Ceremony
Olympic Gold medallist Kate Richardson-Walsh flew the flag for Team GB at the Closing Ceremony in Rio last night.
The captain of the Team GB women’s field hockey team made history last week in a unique way: becoming the first ever Olympian to win Gold alongside her wife.
Her spouse Helen Richardson-Walsh is also a hockey player, and the pair worked alongside eachother to help Team GB clinch Gold in a nail-biting victory over the Netherlands.
Following the historic victory, Richardson-Walsh was selected for the honour of carrying the UK’s flag during last night’s Closing Ceremony.
She followed in the footsteps of Andy Murray, who carried the flag during the Opening Ceremony in Rio.
She said: “I feel incredibly proud to have been chosen.
“There are so many athletes here who have achieved great things in Rio and I’m incredibly surprised and excited to carry the flag.
“I’m very aware of the magnitude of this honour having been part of this magnificent team who have just excelled in so many ways and in so many sports.
“There are so many fantastic multi-Olympians and multi-medallists here I feel it’s such a huge honour for me and for hockey as a sport.
“I’ve had such a fantastic Games. If you could write a movie script with a fairy tale ending then this would be it.
“However much you talk about working hard and believing that your dreams will come true, when it actually happens you still have to pinch yourself. It’s just been an amazing few weeks here.
“What the whole team has done here has been infectious. The professionalism, attention to detail and real British spirit that every athlete has brought to their performances has culminated in this record-breaking achievement.
“It’s just the most special and supportive place to be. I will certainly miss it and hope it is an environment that will continue for many Olympic Games to come.”
Head of the Team GB delegation Mark England said: “To captain the team to a first women’s hockey gold is an incredible achievement and befits a remarkable Games for Team GB.
“There is no one more fitting than Kate to lead Team GB into the closing ceremony in what has been the greatest British sporting triumph of all time.”
Caster Semenya, an out athlete who was previously subjected to humiliating ‘gender tests’, was chosen as South Africa’s flagbearer.
