ROWING: Veteran Olympic rower Drew Ginn has revealed that if he was asked to carry the Australian flag at Friday’s Opening Ceremony in London he would decline the opportunity.

Ginn, 37, who is competing at his fourth Olympics, said he believed there were several athletes on the Team who were more deserving of the honour and that he wouldn’t be able to march anyway because he was competing on Monday.

There has been enormous speculation about who will be chosen to carry the flag, with an announcement coming on Thursday at the Team Reception, and Ginn is among those with support.

But when asked at a media conference Tuesday if he would accept the honour if chosen, he replied: “I would decline the flag and suggest someone more deserving, someone like Anna Meares (cycling), Stuart O’Grady (cycling) or Andrew Hoy (equestrian). They are more deserving. It’s a big honour on behalf of the country and it’s a big deal, but for me it’s not something I’m interested in. I’m here to do a job and row for the Australian team and I won’t be marching. The competition in the first week is the focus for me.”

Ginn, who won a gold medal at each of his first three Olympics and was an original member of the “Oarsome Foursome” that was successful in the men’s fours at Atlanta in 1996, said he had informed the Australian team’s Chef de Mission, Nick Green, some time back that the flag-bearing job wasn’t something that fitted in well around his campaign, just in case he was being considered by his former crew-mate.

Ginn’s 2012 crew of Josh Dunkley-Smith, William Lockwood and James Chapman defeated the British crew at the final World Cup race of the season in Munich with the anticipated battle between these crews expected to be a highlight on the Eton Dorney course.

Ginn will overtake James Tomkins as Australia’s most successful rower if the Four medal in London.

Greg Prichard at Eton Dorney
Olympics.com.au