On the 23rd of July 2021 the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will commence with the Opening Ceremony at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium, with Cate Campell and Patty Mills named as Australia’s Flag Bearers for the momentous occasion.

For Swimmer Campbell the significance of her appointment is immense, as she becomes the first Australian female swimmer to fly the flag at an Opening Ceremony.

Campbell’s Olympic journey started when she was only 16 at Beijing 2008, where she won bronze in both the 50m Freestyle and the 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

At London 2012, Campbell won her first gold medal in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, and her efforts at Rio 2016 saw her come away with a consecutive gold in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, this time winning alongside her sister Bronte Campbell. In Rio she also claimed silver in the 4x100m Medley Relay.

However, the 29-year-old promotes more than just brilliance in the pool, and the Australian Olympic Team's Chef de Mission, Ian Chesterman expressed that both Campbell and Mills earnt their place for not only being “champion athletes,” but “champion people”.

"I think importantly they’ll have strong support from their Team members, I think that is always a key criteria, and I think they’ll have great support from the Australian public as well," Chesterman said.

The last time a swimmer carried the flag for Australia was the last time the country had two Flag Bearers - with swimmer Maxwell Metzker and sprinter Denise Robertson-Boyd named Flag Bearers at the Moscow 1980 Olympics. For Campbell, this adds to the significance of her role as Flag Bearer for Tokyo 2020.

“I think honour and privilege have been thrown around a lot, and Patty Mills used those words a lot too,” she said at the live announcement on Wednesday evening.

“The real sentiment of emotion that I’m feeling right now, it has absolutely blown me away, I can’t quite put into words the emotions I’m feeling.”

It’s been a long road to Tokyo, one the Olympic World has never seen before. Campbell’s attitude towards the Games is unhindered by the hardship, if nothing else the whole experience has inspired her.

“I don’t think we will see an Olympics like it,” she said. “No one knows what to expect.”

“It’s a big part of why I was so honoured and why I'm so excited to be one of the Flag Bearers.

”I just think this is a moment in history and a moment in time, and I want to make sure I soak it up as much as possible.

“It’s not that I'm dialing down the pressure, it’s that I’m dialing up all the other sensations that go along with being in the Olympic Games as well,” she added.

Campbell is an Olympic Champion and success at the Olympic level is in the mind of every Champion. Tokyo 2020 will be Campbell’s fourth Olympic Games, but the first time she attends an Opening Ceremony.

In past years she’s been unable to attend due to her competition schedule, and this year her place as Flag Bearer was reliant on whether she’d be able to come up with a strategy that guaranteed her performance wouldn’t be impacted.

“Performance always comes first and that is a non-negotiable for me,” she said.

“But I’d just like to say, I actually think my performance will benefit from this.

“To be able to go out and feel the sense of community behind me that you get when you compete under the Australian flag, I think it will only fuel me for the week ahead and I really feel like this is going to be a performance bonus for me and I made sure my performance wasn't going to suffer at all.”

If we turn back time to 1964, Campbell’s position today almost emulates that of the brilliant Dawn Fraser. The Olympic Games in 1964 were also held in Tokyo and at the Games, Fraser was appointed Australian Flag Bearer for the Closing Ceremony.

Both Fraser and Campbell are honoured with the rarity of medaling at three consecutive Games, each time in the same swimming event. To this circumstance, Campbell put it simply, “sometimes reality is more perfect than fiction.”

Representing Australia at the Olympics is what Campbell has strived at her whole life. Throughout her Olympic journey she’s seen support as an invaluable determinant for success.

“No athlete gets to where they are without an enormous support team behind them.

“When I walked out [at the Opening Ceremony]... I'm sure I'm going to be feeling all the love and support of Australia behind me,” she said.

Willow Berry