Katinka Hosszu Will Carry Hungarian Flag at Olympic Closing Ceremonies

Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu will carry her country’s flag at the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The closing ceremonies, which will begin at 8:15 PM Brazilian time (7:15 U.S. East Coast time) on Sunday, will feature a parade of athletes much like the one at the opening ceremonies more than two weeks ago, and include extinguishing the flame.

Many swimmers skip the opening ceremonies, because competition in the pool starts the next day, which gives them the opportunity to experience the pageantry at these closing ceremonies.

While opening ceremonies flag bearers are often decided on the basis of lifetime achievement or expectations, closing ceremony honors are more frequently given on the direct performance of those specific Olympic Games, and in that sense, few have earned the right to represent their nations as has Hosszu.

While this was her 4th Olympic Games, she came to Rio without any medals. She’ll leave with 3 golds 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 back) and a silver (200 back), which were accompanied by a new World Record in the longest of those events.

Hungary was represented by 120 athletes in 21 sports at the Olympics, coming away with 8 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze medals. That ranked them 12th on the overall, all-sports medals table. In total, swimming accounted for almost half (7/15) of Hungary’s Olympic medals.

Hosszu will be one of 16 swimmers to carry their nations’ flags in the closing ceremonies.