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| Flavor Flav has become a familiar figure behind the scenes for Team USA. Photograph: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images |
The United States women’s water polo team will launch their bid for an unprecedented fourth straight Olympic gold medal on Saturday with an unlikely benefactor in their corner. Flavor Flav, the 65-year-old founding member of Public Enemy, has stolen the show around town in his role as the team’s official hype man.
“This is quite an experience for me right now, you know, because the only time I’ve ever seen the Olympics was on TV,” said Flav, who spent Thursday hugging and high-fiving everyone in sight at the Team USA house in the historic Palais Brongniart. “You know what I’m saying? But I always wanted to see what it felt like being there.”
The improbable partnership was formed in May when team captain Maggie Steffens put out a call on Instagram asking for financial help. That’s when Flav – whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr – offered to back the team while leveraging his celebrity to bring attention to one of the most successful and overlooked teams on the Olympic scene.
“As a girl dad and supporter of all women’s sports - imma personally sponsor you my girl, whatever you need. And imma sponsor the whole team,” Flav wrote back.
A few weeks later, Flav signed a five-year sponsorship deal with the US women’s and men’s teams aimed to “elevate the visibility and excitement surrounding water polo in the United States”. In addition to an undisclosed financial contribution, Flav will make multiple appearances at USA Water Polo events to bring attention to a sport that has trouble drawing stateside attention even during the Olympics.
“I’ve been really empowered by other women in sports to use your voice, which can be a little scary at times,” said Steffens. “And I was calling for people to know my teammates and challenging them and empowering them to follow some of the more niche sports this Olympics, especially women’s.
“And Flavor Flav saw that and something about it sparked his interest … He has really opened the door for people to learn about our team and different communities, different people who would have never heard of water polo.”
Success has never been the US women’s team’s problem. Three years ago in Tokyo, they became the third country to win three consecutive Olympic water polo titles. Arguably the most dominant team in world sport today, the American are hotly tipped to make it four on the trot in Paris, where they open on Saturday against Greece.
Flav’s support of the US team has gone beyond financial backing. When Steffens and Co visited Paris for a test event in May at the same time Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour to La Défense Arena, Flav worked industry backchannels to nail down tickets for the entire team.
Since landing in Paris, Flav has excelled in his role. He’s been ubiquitous around town, easily recognizable in a Team USA jersey, swim cap and a custom USA Water Polo clock around his neck (waterproof, of course), even conducting a half-hour news conference at the main press center on Friday morning.
“This is an honor, and this is a pleasure and a perfect measure – and I’m gonna keep this memory as a perfect treasure,” he said.
Last month Flav jumped into the pool with the women’s team for a video that has been viewed millions of times across Instagram and TikTok, even scoring a goal past star goaltender Ashleigh Johnson. “I recently got in the pool and got to learn how difficult water polo is,” he said. “I tell everybody I was in the water for seven minutes, treading water for seven minutes, and boy that was the hardest seven minutes of my life! But the girls said I did good.”
To call it an unlikely marriage would be an understatement. When he wasn’t delivering barbed polemic on 911 Is a Joke or taking down America’s sacred cows on Fight the Power, Flav was frequently at odds with the law. The rapper spent nine weeks in prison in 2002 for multiple driving and probation offences and he was arrested in 2011 over assorted outstanding driving offences. There have also been other charges related to domestic violence and drug possession.
It’s not the obvious pairing for an Olympic partnership, where multinationals like Coca-Cola and Intel typically rule the roost. And yet … all shapes and sizes. Flav’s sincerity in fostering excellence in women’s sports, a wholesome endeavour on full view in Paris, appears genuine.
“When these girls aren’t in the water, they’re home living active lives … working two or three jobs. It takes time to get a gold medal,” he said on Friday. “Everybody wants to feel like they got their back covered, like somebody has their back. When they feel that, it makes them feel more powerful, it makes them feel more better. It gives them a lot more energy to go out and get that fourth gold medal.”
- Bryan Armen Graham in Paris
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