Kendall Yount, a 16-year-old taekwondo athlete, will carry the U.S. flag at the Youth Olympics Opening Ceremony in Nanjing, China, on Saturday night.
“It is a great honor to carry the flag at the Opening Ceremony and to represent my country both in and outside of competition at the Youth Olympic Games,” Yount said in a press release. “I am humbled to have been selected by my peers and excited to represent Team USA.”
Yount was chosen in a vote by fellow members of the 92-athlete U.S. delegation.
Yount is the reigning Pan American champion, a four-time junior national champion and won this year’s U.S. Open and USA Taekwondo National Team Trials.
She is also the only American entered in taekwondo at the Youth Olympics.
The Youth Olympics Opening Ceremony starts at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday. NBC Olympics and Universal Sports’ coverage of the Games also begins Saturday (full coverage plans here). NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will have Opening Ceremony coverage at 6 p.m. ET.
The Nanjing Youth Olympics will include about 3,800 athletes in 222 events across 32 sports over 13 days of competition. Athletes are between the ages of 14 and 18.