Wales have named swimmer Jazz Carlin as their flagbearer for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
The 27-year-old is a double Olympic medallist, having won silvers in both the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle for Team GB at Rio 2016, and comes into the Commonwealths as defending champion in the 800m freestyle event.
Carlin will now have the honour of leading out her country, who have sent along 214 athletes to compete Down Under, at the opening spectacle on Wednesday.
"I'm honoured and so excited to have the opportunity to lead the 2018 Team Wales for the opening ceremony. I always feel as though it's an honour to compete for Wales so this has definitely kick-started my experience here in Gold Coast," Carlin said.
"Training has been going really well. This will be my fourth Commonwealth Games so I'm starting to feel like one of the older ones now! I think the older you get, the more you appreciate the experience of being at the games. I have fond memories of Glasgow, which was an incredible event. Obviously like any competition, I'm aiming for a podium.
"We did a tough block of training and the last few weeks have been about going easy in the lead up to competition - I'm really excited and can't wait for it to start."
The Commonwealths' opening ceremony gets underway at the Carrara Stadium at 11am UK time (8pm local) on Wednesday.
Neil Wilkes
