After the Matildas unraveled the Aboriginal flag for their pre-match photograph this week, all eyes will be on Canberran Patty Mills during the opening ceremony in Tokyo tonight.
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The Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam basketballer will be the first Indigenous Australian to carry the flag into Olympic Stadium on Friday night. And he could become the first to carry the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal flags in an official capacity in the ceremony.
The IOC relaxed its protest rules ahead of Tokyo earlier this month, allowing athletes to "express their views" before and after competing but can not do so during events, victory ceremonies or at the village.
Furthermore, it specified any protest can not be "targeted, directly or indirectly, against people, countries, organisations and/or their dignity".
Seemingly this would allow Mills to carry the flags into the opening ceremony, alongside swimmer Cate Campbell who will be carrying the Australian flag and a chair, to minimise her standing before she competes 36 hours later.
Similarly, Olyroos players kneeled before the kickoff of their 2-0 win over Argentina on Thursday night. However, the Matildas did not kneel, but instead unfolded an Aboriginal flag for their pre-match team photo on Wednesday night.
The side has two Indigenous athletes in their Tokyo squad, Noongar goalkeeper Lydia Williams and Anaiwan and Biripi striker Kyah Simon.
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The Matildas captain, Sam Kerr, said post match herself and the team were proud of their decision to unravel the flag.
"It's something we spoke about a lot as a team. We let the Indigenous girls drive it," she said.
"We felt that we didn't want to just do something to go with the grain, we wanted to do something that was relevant to our country and show unity within our group and let everyone feel that they're represented."
Mills has not confirmed if he will carry the Indigenous flags during the ceremony, but - after the flagbearer announcement - he tweeted a photo of himself draped in the Australian flag with the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal flags behind him with the words "for my people".
The Olympic opening ceremony, following the theme of "united by emotion" kicks off tonight at 9pm AEST and it will be broadcast on Channel Seven for Australians to watch.
"The first thing that needs to be said is that entering the village a couple of days ago and being able to see how much indigenous artwork has been combined throughout the Australian headquarters and the designs on the flags at the bottom of the stairs," Mills said.
"It is definitely one of the things that gave me chills to see how much it was incorporated throughout our entire team, how very unifying as the Olympic Games is.
"For us to walk in and feel that impact, I can only assume the greater Australia team have that same feeling as well. It's Cathy [Freeman] and seeing how she represented herself and her people and what she was able to do throughout her career.
"As a proud indigenous man I have a lot of things that are symbolic, that have a lot of meaning to me and how that makes me feel as a competitor and where I get all my motivation from to be able to achieve certain things.
"It's identity, it's being able to showcase who you are throughout the world. It's one of those things that makes you proud of who you are.
"We have definitely come a long way for Australian sport and it's special."
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
