Forget Simone Biles and Caeleb Dressel. The American stealing the show at the Paris Olympics is Flavor Flav.
The 65-year-old performer, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., has been a fixture at the 2024 games thanks to his partnership with USA Water Polo.
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The Public Enemy rapper has embraced his new role as "official hype man" of the women's team, appearing poolside at the team's matches wearing a water polo cap and Team USA branded waterproof clock necklace.
Under the terms of the sponsorship deal announced earlier this month, Flavor Flav will make multiple appearances at USA Water Polo events each year, as well as lend his social media presence to the team to help "amplify the sport's reach and engage new audiences."
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"This is one of the biggest things that I feel that I could have ever done in life, outside of the other accomplishments that I've made to music," he said in an interview with NBC Olympics. "By sponsoring a water polo team and helping these girls out, this is bigger than me winning a Grammy."
The rapper first connected with the team in May after athlete Maggie Steffens posted on Instagram about the lengths to which she and her teammates have gone to make their Olympic dreams a reality in a sport that isn't as widely popular as some others.
"Many of my teammates aren't just badass champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, physicians assistants, and more," she said. "Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age."
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In a comment on the post, Flavor Flav committed his support to the team that has won gold for the past three Olympics.
"As a girl dad and supporter of all women's sports - imma personally sponsor you my girl,,, whatever you need," he commented. "My manager is in touch with your agent and imma use all my relationships and resources to help all y'all even more. That's a FLAVOR FLAV promise."
The amount of money that Flavor Flav has given to the team is undisclosed, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has pledged that his support will be felt through Paris and beyond.
"I'm going to be bigger than any cheerleader that they had in their life," he told the Associated Press earlier this month. "I'm going to cheer this team on, and I'm going to cheer this team into winning a gold medal."
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