Tomorrow, July 26, is the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris. And whereas all eyes will probably be watching the spectacularly adorned boats floating down the Seine River, we’ll even be holding a lookout for this 12 months’s flag bearers for Crew USA—a extremely regarded function on the Video games. This 12 months’s U.S. feminine flag bearer is tennis star Coco Gauff, who is just not solely the primary U.S. tennis participant to obtain the excellence, but additionally the youngest U.S. athlete to be chosen for the function at simply 20 years previous.
Gauff, who was chosen via a vote by her fellow Crew USA athletes, will wave the celebs and stripes for the practically 600 American opponents at this 12 months’s Video games. She’ll be joined by the male flag bearer, basketball star LeBron James, and follows within the footsteps of previous feminine athletes granted this function—together with velocity skater Brittney Bowe on the 2022 Beijing Video games and basketball participant Sue Chook on the 2020 Video games in Tokyo.
Listed here are 5 different information to know in regards to the tennis star as she preps to dominate on the Olympics and the U.S. Open tennis championship, which begins August 26.
1. That is her Olympic Video games debut.
Regardless of her many accolades, that is Gauff’s first time competing within the Olympics, in accordance with the USOPC.
2. Gauff is the youngest lady to win the U.S. Open since Serena Williams.
She received in 2023 at simply 19 years previous. At the moment, she’s ranked No. 2 on the earth in ladies’s singles tennis, per the Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation.
3. She was named one in all Time journal’s “Lady of the 12 months” in 2024.
Gauff was acknowledged by Time for being a vocal chief and activist in America’s racial justice motion in the course of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when she was simply 16.
4. She has a ardour for model and vogue.
Gauff has talked about her love of vogue and the way she needs to include extra model into her profession someday, presumably along with her personal clothes line. She’s additionally partnered with well-liked manufacturers like American Eagle, New Steadiness (her clothes sponsor), and hair model Carol’s Daughter. She not too long ago introduced her participation in American Eagle’s upcoming “Reside Your Life” back-to-school marketing campaign, and an upcoming product collaboration referred to as “Coco Gauff x American Eagle” that can launch August 15.
5. Paris is one in all her favourite cities.
It is apt that Gauff’s first Olympic Video games will probably be held in her favourite metropolis. She beforehand advised Roland Garros media staff, “I really like the Eiffel Tower and love the meals. I just like the language. Paris is the primary metropolis I visited in a foreign country. I visited after I was 10 and ever since then I beloved it.”
Coco Gauff and LeBron James will lead the U.S. groups in the course of the Opening Ceremony on July 26 at 7:30 p.m. native time in Paris, which you’ll watch dwell on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, USA Community, CNBC, and E!. For extra Olympics protection, comply with together with Nicely+Good’s Summer time of Champions sequence.