Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Nathan Hirayama has been given a rare honor for Friday’s opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The 33-year-old Men’s Sevens co-captain has been selected as one of Canada’s two flag-bearers, the other basketball player Miranda Ayim. It’s not yet clear if they will share one flag or carry one each.
The recognition comes after well over a decade of toil on the World Sevens Series that sees Hirayama third among the world’s all-time scoring leaders. His Olympic dream comes after the disappointment of missing out on Rio, and is perhaps fittingly set in the country of his father’s grandparents.
Hirayama is the first Canadian rugby player to receive the honor but not the first rugby player at the Olympics. Fiji Men’s captain Osea Kolinisau carried his country’s flag in 2016. Kenya’s Andrew Amonde, New Zealand Sarah Hirini, and Fiji pair Rusila Nagasau and Jerry Tuwai will all do the same in Tokyo.
