Athletics will provide the most flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Friday night.

Sixty-one flag bearers will be recruited from Athletics, the highest number of any sport.

Three delegations will not have their flags carried by athletes who are competing at the Games, namely Djibouti, Ethiopia and the Marshall Islands.

Former long-distance runner Salah Houssein Ahmed will carry the flag for Djibouti, Olympic gold medal winner Miruts Yifter, who is now a coach, will carry the flag for Ethiopia while Waylon Muller, an official, will be the flag bearer for the Marshall Islands.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)