Double Olympic cycling champion Anna Meares will carry Australia’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games next month.
 The 32-year-old, who will defend her track sprint title at her fourth Games, edged out other candidates including Olympic race walking champion Jared Tallent and 37-year-old hockey stalwart Jamie Dwyer for the honour.
 Breaking from a tradition of naming the flagbearer in the days before the opening ceremony, Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller presented Meares with the flag at a ceremony at Melbourne’s Federation Square yesterday.
 “To be announced here in Australia, it gives me time... to come back to a stable position rather than a blubbering mess... which is lovely,” the 11-time world champion told reporters. “Don’t drop the flag! That is definitely goal number one.”
 Meares, one of Australia’s greatest Olympic cyclists, won a time trial gold in her Games debut in Athens in 2004 and took a courageous silver in the individual sprint in Beijing seven months after suffering a broken neck in a crash during competition.
 She will lead a strong Australian team into the Rio velodrome, where she will also compete in the keirin and the team sprint.
 Australia have a proud history in Olympic track cycling but came away from London with only Meares’ title as hosts Britain bagged seven of the 10 golds.
 While British cycling has been in crisis this year with the resignation of Australian technical director Shane Sutton in April over allegations of bullying, sexism and discrimination, their star-laden team could not be discounted, Meares said. “You can’t underestimate Team Great Britain and they’ve shown that at both Beijing and London,” she said.
 Australia boast a number of Olympic medallists and former world champions, and Meares held high hopes the team would emerge from Rio with a bigger haul than London.
 “There are a lot of familiar faces from London and a big contingent of first-timers, so we’ve got a good combination of experience and energy,” she added. “I’m really excited about the potential of this team right across the board.
 “It’s not going to be an easy task at all but I’ve seen the work, dedication and excitement in the improvement that everyone has made. That doesn’t give any guarantees but I think we are better placed for Rio than what we were for London.”
 Meares won a bronze in the team sprint with Kaarle McCulloch at London but in Rio will work with Stephanie Morton, who grabbed a time-trial gold at the 2012 Paralympics as the able-bodied pilot for winner Felicity Johnson.
 Meares said 25-year-old Morton would also be a threat to her individual sprint title defence along with German Kristina Vogel and the top Chinese sprinters, who include world champion Zhong Tianshi.
 “She’s a phenomenal person, great energy,” she said of Morton. “I really feel like with the big diesel engine that she is, my job is just to get her up to speed and going.”

Rutherford risks hearing loss
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford is risking permanent hearing damage to his left ear by continuing to compete, the British athlete has said, adding that the threat will not deter him from defending his title in Rio.
 The 29-year-old pulled out of last month’s British Championships after suffering whiplash at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting, which has since caused a severe ear disorder called cochlear hydrops.
 The world champion said that he had a 25 % chance of not fully recovering his hearing but hoped the condition would not affect his jumping.
 “I knew I shouldn’t have jumped in Birmingham because I felt really stiff,” Rutherford told British media. “If the room falls silent for a moment all I hear is loud white noise, so it’s been a struggle to sleep. I’ve gone from hearing in stereo to mono.
“Hopefully it (normal hearing) will come back but there’s a one in four chance it never will fully recover,
according to the doctor.”
 Rutherford will defend his European title at Amsterdam this week and the Milton Keynes-born athlete added that he would have considered taking time off to recover in any other year.
 “I hope it won’t affect my jumping but it’s certainly not fun,” he added. “It does bring you down. If it wasn’t Olympic year I would quite possibly be taking some time out to get it sorted, but I like winning medals. I’ll just have to take that risk.”
 Rutherford also revealed that he suffered from appendicitis earlier this year. “I woke up with chronic pain in my stomach and that then progressed. I just had antibiotics and luckily it went away and there’s nothing to suggest it will be a recurring problem. It was two weeks before I jumped 8.30 metres in Long Beach, so it doesn’t seem to have affected me too much,” he said.