Limerick athlete Sarah Lavin and Offaly golfer Shane Lowry will be Ireland's flag bearers for the Olympic Games in Paris.
The ceremony takes place along the River Seine in the French capital tonight β the first time it has been held outside a stadium.
Team Ireland has a total of 133 competitors for the games.
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Sarah Lavin and Shane Lowry are our Team Ireland Flagbearers for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony β¨#TeamIreland | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/nisrUyyjRjβ Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 26, 2024
Lavin said it is the greatest honour she's even been given.
"It's surreal to be honest with you - [it's] the greatest honour I've ever been given," she said.
"I would even go so far as to say probably any Olympic athlete ever could be given".
"I'm so grateful to those who've trusted me and put me in this position".
Lavin said it's also emotional as "there's a lot of people you're representing".
"[It's] a testament to all the hard work and how much you've dug deep; not just in the last 12 months but in the entire Olympic cycle and in your entire career," she added.
Athlete Sarah Lavin during the Team Ireland Paris 2024 team announcement, 18-7-24. Image: Sam Barnes/SportsfileLowry said it's a huge honour for him and his family.
"Anybody that knows me know how patriotic I am and how much I love Ireland," he said.
"Something that I'd not sure you'd even dream about as a kid because it's so far out there that it's sometimes not achievable.
"To get to do something like that is a huge honour for me and I always wear the Irish flag with pride".
The athletics team are in Paris on a high, following on from phenomenal performances at the European Championships last month.
Marathon runner Fionnuala McCormack will be making history by becoming the first Irish woman to compete in five Olympic Games, when she competes on the roads of Paris on August 11th.
The track and field events take place in the Stade de France, which transforms from the Rugby Sevens events earlier in the games to a bespoke athletics stadium with a purple track.
Ireland's 400m runner and relay racer Sharlene Mawdsley will be competing in her first Olympics.
Disruption
People traveling to France for the games are facing major disruption as arsonists have carried out attacks on France's high-speed train network.
It said the attack was aimed at "paralyzing the high-speed line network" and saw a large number of trains diverted or cancelled.
"Affected travellers will be contacted by email or SMS. We ask all travelers who can to postpone their trip and not to go to the station," the company said.
It added that all tickets for the disrupted journeys are exchangeable and refundable.
French railway operator SNCF said fires had been set at installations along the lines connecting the capital with cities such as Lille, Bordeaux and Strasbourg.
It said the attack was aimed at "paralyzing the high-speed line network" and saw a large number of trains diverted or cancelled.
It added that all tickets for the disrupted journeys are exchangeable and refundable.
