How are Team USA flag bearers selected for Olympic Games? Everything about the selection process explained

Basketball legend LeBron James and tennis star Coco Gauff have been chosen as the USA flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. James, a three-time medalist at the Games, is likely to participate in his last Olympics in Paris, while this will be Gauff’s first Olympics having been forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.

However, for those wondering how the USA flag bearers get picked for the quadrennial games, it’s the athletes representing the nation at the Summer Olympics that get the chance to decide the flag bearers who most embody the Games’ morals and goals.

The athletes are given the opportunity to nominate a colleague or fellow athlete as the flag bearer for the Olympic Games. They do it by submitting videos of themselves, nominating a teammate where they have to explain why they think their nominee should be selected.

Before heading to the Olympics, the USA athletes then vote for the representatives who they want to be the flag bearer for the Games. The CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee then approves the decision, leading to the confirmation of the two athletes as flag bearers for the Olympic Games. At times, the CEO also lets the athlete who nominated the chosen flag bearer be the one to tell their teammate the news.

For the 2024 Paris Olympics, the CEO Saah Hirshland allowed Steph Curry and Christopher Eubanks to be the ones to announce that LeBron James and Coco Gauff would be the flag bearers for the 2024 Summer Olympics for the USA. Curry nominated LeBron James, and Eubanks nominated Gauff.

Some prominent names who served as team USA flag bearers at Summer Olympics

Flag bearer Michael Phelps of the United States leads the U.S. Olympic Team during the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maracana Stadium on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Michael Phelps (Swimming), Sue Bird, and Dawn Staley (both basketball), are among a few big names who were the USA flag bearers during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Phelps got the honor to carry the Olympic flag in his final Olympics in 2016, while Bird and Staley were given the prestigious role in the 2020 Tokyo and 2004 Athens Olympics.

Meanwhile, Simone Biles (gymnastics) and Mia Hamm (women’s soccer) received the distinction of carrying the USA flag during the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in the 2016 and 2004 editions.