Ex-Hiroshima Mayor Akiba Picked as Milano-Cortina Flag Bearer

Milan, Feb. 3 (Jiji Press)–Tadatoshi Akiba, former mayor of the western Japan city of Hiroshima, has been selected as one of the bearers of the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. According to an announcement by the Games’ organizing committee on Monday, Akiba and seven others will carry the flag at Milan’s San Siro Olympic Stadium during the ceremony Friday, while two others will do so at a separate venue in Cortina. Akiba was selected for his efforts to promote peace, including nuclear disarmament. Hiroshima was devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in August 1945, in the closing days of World War II. The other selected flag bearers include Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion in the men’s marathon, Tongan athlete Pita Taufatofua, who has participated in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and Cindy Ngamba, who became the first Refugee Olympic Team member to win an Olympic medal, clinching bronze in the women’s 75-kilogram boxing competition at the 2024 Paris Summer Games. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]