LeBron James selected as Team USA male flagbearer for Paris Olympics

Global icon and four-time NBA champion LeBron James has been picked by his fellow U.S. Olympians to serve as the male flagbearer at the opening ceremony for the Paris Games.

The 3-time Olympic medallist got word of the honour Monday (Jul. 22) in London.

James becomes the third basketball player — and the first men’s player — to carry the U.S. flag at the start of an Olympics.

The U.S.A is expected to have nearly 600 athletes in the Games.

The July 26 opening ceremony will be like none other in Olympic history: Thousands of athletes fromover 80 national olympic committees will be part of a flotilla sailing along the River Seine at sunset toward the Eiffel Tower.

The female U.S. flagbearer will be revealed in the coming days. The International Olympic Committee decided in 2020 that national delegations would have two flagbearers — one male, one female — at the opening ceremony at an Olympics, a move to promote parity.

How will the ceremony unfold?

It’s a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route, with about 320,000 guests set to watch from the river bank and about 1 billion more, Olympic officials estimate, watching on televisions around the world.

Not all Olympic athletes take part in the opening ceremony; many skip it for logistical reasons, such as having to compete the following day. James and the four-time defending gold medalist U.S. men don’t open Olympic play until Sunday, when they face Serbia at Lille, France.

James and the U.S. Olympians will be waiting longer than almost any other nation for their trip on the Seine. By IOC custom, Greece — which will have NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo as one of its two flagbearers — will lead the procession, followed by the Refugee Olympic Team and then about 200 more national delegations. The U.S. is scheduled to go next-to-last in the procession, because Los Angeles will play host to the next Summer Games in 2028.

France, as the host, will be the final nation in the opening ceremony procession. Its men’s basketball team, featuring reigning NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama, opens Olympic play on Saturday and isn’t expected to be present for the opening ceremony.