Wyndham Clark will be making his Olympic debut in Thursday’s first round of the men’s competition at Le Golf National, but he got his first and probably biggest taste of the Paris 2024 Games floating down the Seine on the Team USA boat as part of the Opening Ceremony on Friday.
“I wanted to participate in the Opening Ceremony because it’s a dream come true,” said Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion and the No. 5-ranked player in the world. Clark and U.S. teammate Collin Morikawa were on the boat with about 350 U.S. Olympians. “I think it’s probably the coolest part about the Olympics, to be together with all the athletes and see all the countries and what the Olympics means to represent your own country. It’s something I didn’t want to miss, and it was something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Clark and Morikawa were all smiles, taking selfies with Steph Curry and others throughout the ceremony. The former University of Oregon college golfer said he also spent time with WNBA star Sabirina Ionescu, as well as NBA Derrick White. Clark and White grew up together in Colorado and played for rival schools in basketball in 2012. Clark played for Valor Christian and White for Legend.
Clark also said he spent some time with members of the USA track and swim teams. “We got to take pictures together and talk and catch up,” Clark said. “I didn’t really get any autographs, but definitely got a lot of selfies and some pins.”
Clark and Morikawa were two of several golfers to participate in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony. That list included Albane Valenzuela, who is representing Switzerland in the women’s golf competition, and Morocco’s Ines Laklalech, Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti and Ireland’s Shane Lowry, all of whom were one of the flag bearers for their respective national teams. France had all four of its golfers at the Opening Ceremony, Celine Boutier and Perrine Delacour on the women’s side, and Matthieu Pavon and Victor Perez for the men. Other LPGA players at the Opening Ceremony included Ashley Lau (Malaysia), Sara Kouskova (Czechia), Maja Stark (Sweden) abndShannon Tan (Singapore)
The boat ride parade of nations was a first for an Opening Ceremony that saw more than 200,000 fans line the Seine, braving some driving rain. For his part, Clark saw the river ride as a great sight-seeing opportunity.
“The most memorable part was the probably being on the boat and going by and seeing all the people that were in the stands waving down,” he said. “Also, you’re in a very historic city that has so many amazing monuments and then you have the people waving their country flags, just was honestly pretty surreal.”
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Publish date : 2024-07-27 14:47:05
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