Opening Ceremony will be next Wednesday
UU graduate to carry Dutch flag in the Paralympic Games
Daniel Abraham Gebru and Carina de Rooij. Photo: NOC*NSF
This is De Rooij's (44) fifth Paralympic tournament. After winning bronze twice, she became a Paralympic champion with the Dutch team in Tokyo. She is considered an icon of Dutch wheelchair basketball.
In a press release from NOC*NSF, she says she is honoured to carry the Dutch flag on Champs-Élysées Avenue next Wednesday. The other flag bearer is Daniel Abraham Gebru, the two-time Paralympic cycling champion who fled Eritrea to the Netherlands as a child.
As far as DUB can tell, no Paralympic athletes are studying at UU right now. De Rooij's teammate Bo Kramer did a Pre-master's in Utrecht four years ago. DUB interviewed her ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics. Kramer ultimately chose to pursue her Master's in Nijmegen.
Amazon Sanne Voets is another UU graduate who will be participating in the Paris Paralympic Games. She studied Communications in Utrecht and is the reigning Paralympic champion in two dressage events. She will defend those titles in Paris.