Chantal Petitclerc celebrates gold at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)

Canadian Paralympic great Chantal Petitclerc is one of three athletes being considered to carry the flag at the opening ceremony in Beijing, it was announced on Monday.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee said in a release that wheelchair racer Petitclerc, of Montreal, boccia player Paul Gauthier and swimmer Donovan Tildesley are candidates to be the athlete chosen to carry the flag, with the official announcement on Sept. 4.

Canada will send 143 athletes to the Paralympics, which take place from Sept. 6 to 17 in Beijing.

Tildesley, who is visually impaired, is a world-record-holding swimmer competing at the Paralympics for the final time. He has accumulated two silver and a bronze in his Olympic career.

"If I were chosen flag-bearer, it would almost be more of an honour than winning a Paralympic medal," the Vancouver native said.

Vancouver's Gauthier, an athlete with cerebral palsy, won Canada's first gold medal in boccia at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games and added bronze with partner Alison Kabush in mixed pairs.

Petitclerc is competing in her fifth and final Games. She has won 10 gold, four silver and two bronze medals. She carried the flag at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Games and into the 2006 Commonwealth Games.