Athletes Steve Serio and Nicky Nieves have been selected as the Team USA flag bearers for the upcoming 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
The wheelchair basketball star and sitting volleyball player will represent the U.S. during the opening ceremony Aug. 28, Team USA revealed Aug. 23.
Serio, who had surgery at 11 months old to remove a spinal tumor, is considered incomplete paraplegic, according to Team USA’s website. The 2024 Games in Paris will mark his fifth Paralympics as he previously competed in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, 2012 London Paralympic Games, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games and 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. He has already earned two gold medals and one bronze.
Ahead of the Paris Paralympic Games, Team USA shared a video on Instagram of Serio, 36, taking a trip down memory lane as he revisited his headshots for past Games. In the clip, he remembered snapping the 2008 Beijing photo just a few days before he turned 21 and competed in his first Games. Now, 16 years later, the athlete is ready to defend his gold medal.
Nieves is already a gold medalist as well. The 34-year-old athlete, who was born without a left hand, was a first-time Paralympian in 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Games and earned a gold medal with her teammates. She has been playing volleyball since the sixth grade, according to the Team USA website, and was also a cheerleader and track and field star in school.
The Team USA Instagram account shared a photo of Nieves posing alongside some of her USA women’s sitting volleyball teammates on Aug. 22.
For the first time, the Paralympic Summer Games will be held in the City of Light. The 2024 Paris Paralympic Games begins with its opening ceremony on Aug. 28 and will end on Sept. 8. More than 4,000 athletes from all over the world will show off their skills in 22 different sports.
The opening ceremony is making history as it will be held at the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées instead of a stadium, according to the Olympics official website.
USA Network and Peacock will cover the ceremony, which starts with a special one-hour pre-show at 1 p.m. ET. Then, Serio, Nieves and the other flag bearers will arrive for the opening spectacle at 2 p.m. ET.
The full schedule for the events can be found on the Olympics website.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
