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Bird reflects on her duty as U.S. flag-bearer

Stephen Gosling / National Basketball Association / Getty

Sue Bird is one of the flagbearers for the U.S. in the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics, sharing that role with baseball’s Eddy Alvarez.

Bird is a five-time Olympian in women's basketball. She remembers 2004 when the U.S. women’s basketball team got to walk at the front of the delegation along with flag bearer Dawn Staley, now the U.S. head coach in Tokyo. Bird says one of her favorite memories was walking in and hearing the crowd in Athens roar.

There was some noise for the athletes on Friday night. Just no roars; the stadium wasn’t anywhere near filled enough for those.

Bird says “this Olympics are like no other.”

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