Australia has selected Ben Tudhope and Georgia Gunew as flag-bearers for the Winter Paralympics opening ceremony in Milano Cortina. The pair will lead the Australian team into the Verona Arena on Saturday morning AEDT, marking the start of a Games that will run until 15 March.
Tudhope brings considerable experience to the role. At 26, he is competing at his fourth Winter Paralympics and holds a remarkable distinction: he is the first Australian winter Paralympian or Olympian to accumulate 50 World Cup medals. His personal resilience is evident in his trajectory. At just 14, he was the youngest competitor from any country at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi. At the 2022 Beijing Games, he won Australia's only medal, a bronze in para snowboard.
In reflecting on what the Paralympics represents, Tudhope articulated a perspective that speaks to the broader significance of these Games. "Something that I love about the Paralympics, and being here, is that your disability is the last thing that matters," he said. "You walk around the village, you walk around the venues, and no-one cares if you have one leg or if you're blind or anything like that. We are elite sportspeople and we just want to do the best we can in our sport."
Gunew's selection as co-flag-bearer carries particular weight, marking a personal redemption of sorts. Eight years ago, at 15, her competitive sporting life seemed to have ended when diminishing vision forced her to abandon hockey. The transformation since then has been remarkable. Making her Paralympic debut in para alpine skiing, Gunew will compete with guide Ethan Jackson.
The emotional significance of her selection was evident in her response. "If you'd asked 15-year-old Georgia if this was possible, this wasn't even a thought, not even a possibility," she reflected. "So, if you told her this, she wouldn't have believed you. Being here, in this position, it is just such an honour. There isn't another word for it."
The choice of these two athletes reflects the Paralympics' deeper purpose beyond medal counts and world records. Both have demonstrated resilience in the face of significant personal challenges, yet neither defined their narrative by those challenges alone. Their selection sends a message to Australian athletes and to young people navigating disability: that adaptation, persistence, and excellence are not merely possible but can lead to positions of genuine honour and achievement. The opening ceremony, then, becomes more than a ceremonial formality. It is a statement of values about what competitive sport can represent when structured to include, rather than exclude.