Swedes celebrate their Flag Bearer

Now about to embark on her fourth Olympic Games, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist in the Women’s Dinghy, Josefin Olsson has been selected to carry Sweden’s flag into the Opening Ceremony in Paris on Friday evening. The rest of the sailing team is staying in Marseille and a little sad not to be joining ILCA 6 competitor Olsson for the big party, but they’re incredibly proud that their teammate will be representing them at the front of the Swedish contingent tonight in France’s capital city.

Anton Dahlberg, who also won Olympic silver in Tokyo, is back for his fifth Games. “We are very honoured to have Josefin bearing the Swedish flag,” said the 39-year-old now competing at this fifth successive Games. “It’s a huge moment for the Swedish sailing team.”

Dahlberg, racing with Lovisa Karlsson in the Mixed Dinghy, would love to have attended the Opening Ceremony, but has other priorities. “We are here for performing to our very best and we think that the day-to-day routines are quite key now, and it’s only recently that we’ve been allowed to practise [on the Olympic waters in Marseille].”

Another Swedish team tilting at a podium performance in Marseille are Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler. With the Women’s Skiff event due to begin this Sunday, day one of racing, there was no chance of them attending the Paris ceremony, but they’ll be celebrating the big moment from a distance. “I remember when I was at high school looking at Josefin going to her first Games [at London 2012] and thinking how cool she is,” said Bobeck. “I always looked up to her and now being in the same squad and seeing her carrying the flag, it’s just really cool to see.”

Netzler added: “We’re really honoured to have a sailor walking with the flag for Sweden, especially because sailing isn’t so big in Sweden. Hopefully she will bring some light on us as well. We’re just standing full behind her and will be sharing the moment together as a team.”

Like her teammates in the Women’s Skiff, Johanna Hjertberg will be competing on Sunday as the Women’s Windsurfing competition begins. Racing on the high-speed iQFOiL windsurfers commences with the marathon race, a 60-minute heart-busting blast around the Bay of Marseille. “We’ve just found out the course today,” said Hjertberg. “It’s quite a few different legs of the course and we’re pretty much using the whole Bay area, and I think we’re going round one of the small islands. It’s a bit like the Swedish archipelago except the water is deeper here and there are not so many rocks hiding just below the surface like we can have in Sweden.”

Competing at her first Games, Hjertberg appreciates having the medallists like Olsson and Dahlberg to bounce around ideas. “It’s really nice to be able to ask someone who has been here before, to ask them questions about what to expect. But I think everyone is also treating this as a new Games.”

Tonight the Swedes in Marseille will cheer on their flag-bearing teammate in Paris, and then tomorrow it’s back to business and getting their heads in the right place before the opening races on Sunday.