The Height Difference Between Olympic Flag Bearers Coco Gauff and LeBron James
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games officially kicks off on July 26, 20024 with the traditional Opening Ceremony.
The 2024 Summer Olympics are finally here, which means top athletes competing on a world stage, nations vying for the top spots on the Olympic medal leaderboard, and an Opening Ceremony for the ages!
For the ceremony's Parade of Nations on July 26, the flag bearers for Team USA are none other than men's basketball superstar LeBron James and women's tennis phenom Coco Gauff.
How tall are Coco Gauff and LeBron James?
While the two are sure to make Team USA proud on Friday night, there's still a bit of trepidation from Gauff. She's a little concerned about the disparity in height between herself and the future NBA Hall of Famer. Gauff is 5'9, while James towers over her at 6'9!
During a recent press conference in Paris, Gauff explained to PEOPLE that she's not nervous about how the optics will look while she and James proudly hold the United States flag. Still, the 20-year-old still has some concerns.
"I don't know, I feel like you just hold the flag so I don't think I can mess it up too much," Gauff says. "I am a little concerned about the height difference. Is my arm going to be up here while he's holding it? I don't know. I thought it was two separate flags when I was looking at a picture. They hold it together, so I don't really know."
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At only 20 years old, Gauff will be the first U.S. tennis player and the youngest American flag bearer in Olympic history. In a July 22 appearance on TODAY, Gauff revealed how she felt when she learned she'd be a flag bearer.
"It made me cry," she confessed. "I didn't want to cry in front of my teammates, but when I called my mom, I started crying. I think it's even more special — even now I get emotional thinking about it — that so many incredible people just think that I'm worthy of this. It means a lot, truly."
How to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
Live coverage of the Opening Ceremony starts at noon ET on Friday, July 26, on NBC and Peacock. The event will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Tune in for the unforgettable pageantry and flair that the Opening Ceremony is famous for. Paris — the Olympic host city — will be looking to raise the bar with a genuinely unforgettable presentation.
But more importantly, tune in to see how perfectly Gauff and James display the U.S. flag — despite their significant height difference!
