Sarah Ulmer to lead NZ in Olympics closing ceremony

12.30pm

ATHENS - Cycling gold medallist Sarah Ulmer has been given the honour of carrying the New Zealand flag in the Olympic games closing ceremony tomorrow.

Ulmer, 28, broke the 3000m pursuit world record twice in Athens on her way to claiming gold at the velodrome.

Chef de mission Dave Currie choose her to lead New Zealand into Olympic Stadium for the Games curtain call.

He told the team at their final Games function in the athletes' village tonight.

Ulmer, rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell and triathlete Hamish Carter were leading contenders for the job.

All of them struck gold in Athens, the historic home of the Olympics.

Currie told NZPA it was a tough choice.

He would have been happy with any of the four gold medallists.

"All of them were heart stopping moments that we will enjoy for a long time," he said.

Closing ceremonies are informal events where athletes get to let loose in the main stadium after the pressures of competition.

Athens should be particularly celebratory, after the Greeks produced a triumphant Games to dumbfound those who doubted they could handle the massive event.

Greece will bid farewell to billions of television viewers worldwide, and to 10,500 athletes from a record 202 countries who starred in the sporting spectacular.

Olympic Stadium is to be turned into a giant wheatfield for the ceremony, with 250,000 balloons let loose in a night sky that will play backdrop to a massive fireworks display.

With the 2008 games heading to Beijing, the Olympic Stadium crowd have been told to expect a "fusion of Chinese heritage and youth culture".

Among the Chinese performers will be 28 young monks from the Shaolin temple in central China, a famous kung fu training centre.

- NZPA