Shuker and Bywater to be ParalympicsGB flagbearers

Lucy Shuker (left) and Terry Bywater have won seven Paralympic medals between them

Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater have been announced as Great Britain's flagbearers at the Paris 2024 Paralympic opening ceremony.

Wheelchair basketball player Bywater and wheelchair tennis athlete Shuker are Paralympic veterans, representing GB at their seventh and fifth Games respectively.

Bywater, 41, and 44-year-old Shuker will carry the British flag at the opening ceremony at Place de la Concorde on Wednesday evening.

The 2024 Games take place in the French capital between 28 August and 8 September.

Bywater made his Games debut in 2000 and has won four bronze medals for ParalympicsGB.

Shuker represented GB for the first time at Beijing 2008 and has won one silver and two bronze medals alongside Jordanne Whiley.

The British flagbearers are voted for by their ParalympicsGB team-mates, with all 215 athletes getting a vote and every sport with a GB representative allowed to nominate a representative for the selection.

BBC Sport understands 81% of the athletes cast a vote, with Bywater and Shuker elected.

Middlesbrough-born Bywater told BBC Sport he had "goosebumps" after being picked and was looking forward to carrying the flag with his family, including 15-year-old son Benjamin, watching.

"I'm super proud to be carrying the flag, it's genuinely a dream come true," he said. "I was emotional, I cried. I had my team-mates cuddling me with tears in their eyes. It's going to be an emotional evening.

"I have the same buzz that I had from Sydney, it's fantastic to represent my country and play basketball with my friends."

Shuker added: “It's an incredible honour. When I was asked to be put forward, I thought that's as good as it gets. But when I found out a couple of days ago, it's mindblowing.

"To be nominated and voted for by team-mates makes it even more important, it is humbling. We have athletes who have won gold medals, achieved far more than me, so to be selected, all I can say is thank you to them."

Shuker, from Fleet in Hampshire, is the first wheelchair tennis player to carry the flag for GB since Pete Norfolk at London 2012. She said Norfolk lent her a chair in order to allow her to begin her tennis career, and she was proud to be following him.

Penny Briscoe, ParalympicsGB chef de mission for Paris 2024, said: “I am absolutely delighted to announce Terry and Lucy as our ParalympicsGB flagbearers.

"Their selection – which was voted for by their team-mates – underlines just how much both athletes epitomise the Paralympic values that we as a team are so proud of."