Tennis star Coco Gauff will be the female flag bearer for the United States at this week’s Olympic opening ceremony in Paris, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced Wednesday.
In Friday’s opening events, in which hundreds of U.S. athletes will appear on a boat as part of a procession down the River Seine through the heart of Paris, the 20-year-old Gauff will join basketball great LeBron James in carrying the American flag. Both Gauff and James were chosen by a vote of their fellow competitors on Team USA.
Gauff will be the youngest ever U.S. flag bearer at an Olympic opening ceremony. (The gymnast Simone Biles carried the U.S. flag at the 2016 closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro when she was 19 years old.) Gauff will also be the first tennis player to hold the honor.
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