Canoeing gold medallist Jessica Fox and hockey great Eddie Ockenden will carry the flag for Australia at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony – and then back it up just hours later on the sporting field.

Team chef de mission Anna Meares revealed her choices at the Monnaie de Paris, two days before the Games start with an unprecedented parade of barges along the River Seine.

French-born Fox, 30, who is considered the greatest of all time in her sport, is chasing three gold medals in canoe and kayak slalom at her fourth Games.

Ockenden, one of hockey’s all-time greats, is the first Tasmanian to have the honour.

“Even though I’ve known a little while, it’s really hit me today … all the emotions came up,” Fox said.

“It is probably the greatest moment of my career … just visualise us, leading our team down the Seine.”

Hockey player Eddie Ockenden and canoeist Jessica Fox. Photo: Getty

Both athletes will start their Olympic campaigns only hours after their roles as flag bearers.

But Fox said the honour was so great she could not turn it down, even if she knew it might affect her preparation ahead of her first event.

The canoe and kayak slalom star said she used a Taylor Swift concert to test out the effects of a late night on her performance at the Games.

“I couldn’t say no, but we discussed it a lot,” said Fox, who is coached by her mother Myriam.

“I went to a Taylor Swift concert and used it as a simulation – I got the bus in … I had the best night of my life, got home late, did my hydration testing, did my meditation, ran through it all and then had a simulation the next day.

“I feel ready.”

Myriam, who was also an Olympic canoe medallist, said Fox was “a bit average” in the race simulation – but noted some things were bigger than competition.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to work in her favour, but what we know is that she decided it’s such an honour, such a privilege, that she was not going to say ‘no’,” she said.

“We looked at it, but in a minute she said ‘I’m going to do it’.”

Fox will defend her Olympic title in the C1 and is among the favourites in the K1 and the kayak cross, a new event at the Paris Games.

Ockenden, 37, is competing at his fifth Olympics with the Kookaburras and is a three-time Games medallist.

He has already amassed more than 400 Tests and could finish his career as the most-capped Australian in any sport.

Olympic gold has eluded him, with silver in a shootout loss in Tokyo not deterring the 37-year-old from pushing on to Paris.

In terms of how the late night might affect his form, it was much more straightforward for Ockenden.

“I have three young boys, so I haven’t slept much in seven years,” he said with a grin.

BMX star’s gear stolen

Australia’s reigning Olympic BMX champion Logan Martin has had personal items – including his wallet and backpack – stolen in a break-in of his van in Belgium.

The 30-year-old Queenslander shared a series of videos and posts showing police investigating, with the window of a black van shattered.

“Our van got broken into last night. Luckily my bikes weren’t in there, although my bike bags were in there, with some things in it,” the Tokyo 2020 park gold medallist said in the Instagram video early on Thursday (AEST).

“It’s a crazy start to the trip.”

In a second video, Martin said that some of the gear had been found behind a park bench, including gloves, a helmet, tools and massage table, through the use of bag tags.

The thieves devoured his stash of chocolate bars, leaving the wrappers with the discarded equipment.

Five Aussie water polo players infected

Three more of Australia’s women’s water polo team have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the number of those infected to five on the eve of their Olympic campaign.

Australian chef de mission Anna Meares confirmed the spread to nearly half of the 13-woman squad on Wednesday, a day after two players had initially tested positive to the virus.

The medal chances begin their campaign in Paris on Saturday against China. Meares said the ill athletes would be allowed to train later on Wednesday, if well enough.

“It is confined to the water polo team,” she said, adding all of the Australian women’s squad had been tested.

“There is training again this afternoon and if those five athletes are feeling well enough to train, they will.”

She said they would wear masks, isolate and not visit high-volume areas of the Olympic Village.

-with AAP