Great Britain with double standards at the Olympics

Swimmer Anita Lonsborough became the first woman to carry the British flag at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Mark England, captain of the British Olympic team, says they now want to pay tribute to the team from 1964.

– That band left a true historical legacy. “It was a big moment for women, and I hope this year's edition leaves a similar mark behind,” he added.

For the first time in the country's history, this year there will be a female and a male standard bearer. The International Olympic Committee changed its rules last year and began allowing — and encouraging — countries to have a flag bearer of either gender.

In the past, an athlete has carried the country's flag at the opening ceremony, and of the 26 British flag bearers at the Summer Olympics, only three were women.

Sweden has only had three women have had the honor of carrying the Swedish flag: boaters Anita Andersson (1988) and Anna Olsson (2000) and swimmer Therese Alshammar at the last Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The choice to make it in Tokyo is not clear.

The Tokyo Games will also be the first gender-balanced Olympics, with 49 percent female athletes compared to 51 percent male.

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8.

Ola Palmstrom/TT