The Zimbabwean flag bearer during the Parade of Nations of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics will be named on July 12 when the final Team Zimbabwe squad is announced.
The announcement of the team, which will be three days before departure for London, will see the appointment of an athlete who will assume the role carried out by sprinter Brian Dzingai at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The symbolic role was inaugurated for Zimbabwe by marathon runner Abel Nkoma at the 1980 Moscow Games.
Some of the world sporting icons who will be flag bearers for their countries in London include tennis stars Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal who will perform this duty for Russia, Serbia and Spain respectively.
With seven Zimbabwean athletes having so far qualified for the quadrennial global sporting event which will run from July 27 to August 12, more athletes are expected to qualify from the five participating at the ongoing African Senior Athletics Championships in Porto-Novo, Benin.
A delegation of three athletes and eight officials will leave the country on July 15 and will be joined in London by other Olympians who will be coming in from their respective foreign bases.
Olympic gold medallist Kirsty Coventry will be the last athlete to arrive from her Texas base.
Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) president Admire Masenda and the committees chief executive officer Anna Mguni will jet into London two days before the official opening of the Games.
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Masenda declared Team Zimbabwe ready for the one-month-long expedition.
Everything is now in place for the Games. Logistical-wise we have done everything and we are more than ready, said Masenda.
All our athletes have had enough preparations for the Games except for rowing where we feel the athletes have not been exposed to great competition.
Female rower Micheen Thornycroft feels she is up for the challenge, but is not expecting to come back home with any medal.
My preparations have been good so far. This year I have competed internationally which is fair for me. Last month I was in Lucerne, Switzerland, while recently I competed in Munich, Thornycroft said.
The best that an African has made at the Olympics is number 13 so a top 12 finish would be great for me though I do not think I will achieve that.
The British Embassy in Harare on Wednesday set the tone for the Olympics when part of the Team Zimbabwe delegation was taken for biometric enrolment to facilitate easy entry into the UK for the Games.
The same exercise was held in British high commissions and consulates in countries that would be represented at the Olympics. Japanese sport giants, Mizuno Corporation will be Team Zimbabwes official kit sponsor.
