LeBron James named U.S. flag bearer for 2024 Olympics as gymnastics team arrives in Paris

Athletes from around the world are giving the public an inside look at "one of the most exciting parts" of the Games: the Olympic merch.

Each country provides its athletes with suitcases full of gear to sport in the Olympic Village, including training garb and elevated designs for the opening ceremony.

Evy Leibfarth, who is representing Team USA in canoeing, unboxed her Nike and Ralph Lauren hauls for her TikTok audience.

"Not me wanting to be in the Olympics just for the merch," a user said in a comment.

Sarah Douglas, a Canadian sailing athlete, shared the country's Olympic kit. Canada-based activewear company Lululemon designed the team's gear.

Danish handball player Althea Reinhardt unveiled two large suitcases of patriotic garb, including sneakers, workout clothes and a backpack.

On Oct. 13, Christina Assi, a photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Presse, was injured by a tank shell reporting on the conflict between Israel and armed groups in southern Lebanon. 

Yesterday, she carried the Olympic torch in Vincennes, France, “to pay tribute to those who have fallen” doing their jobs as journalists, she said, according to a news release from AFP. 

In the same attack, the shell, which AFP said was fired by an Israeli tank, killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured the six other journalists, including Dylan Collins, who was with Assi yesterday in Vincennes.

Assi's right leg was amputated. 

“Carrying the Olympic Flame is an emotional experience, particularly after surviving a targeted attack while I was on assignment. My story is just one among many others in a year that has claimed the lives of over a hundred journalists,” Assi said. “By bearing this torch, we honour the sacrifice of those who have fallen and draw attention to the urgent need to protect those who continue to report despite the mental and physical toll.”

NBC "TODAY" show contributor Ally Love shares some stylish fashion trends you can wear while watching the Olympic Games and supporting Team USA.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that securing the opening ceremony is "an all-hands-on-deck effort."

"It’s something we’ve been working on not just for months but for years to help our French counterparts be in a position to deter and prevent terrorist attacks in the Olympics," Sullivan said Friday at the Aspen Security Forum.

He added that the U.S. isn't trying to "bigfoot" France's preparations.

"The French are damn capable counterterrorism professionals," he said.

The moon rises behind the Eiffel Tower and the Olympic rings ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games yesterday.

PARIS — With wars raging in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Olympics President Thomas Bach today called for the world to see the upcoming games as a hope for peace.

“When our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, revived the Olympic Games 130 years ago — right here in Paris — he saw it as a way to promote peace among all nations and people of the world," Bach said at the ceremonial opening of Olympic Village.

"He was a true ambassador for peace. Today, you — the Olympic athletes — you are the peace ambassadors of our time."

Married American Olympic fencers Gerek Meinhardt and Lee Kiefer are sharing a peek of the grub fueling the world’s greatest at Paris’ Olympic Village. 

The couple shared a TikTok video taking viewers through the village's dining hall that offered four categories of cuisine: Asian, halal, French and world.  For breakfast they opted for the world category, which offered an array of fresh fruit, a salad bar, yogurt, baked goods like crepes and cookies, an array of French cheeses and croissants (of course) and a hot bar with eggs, hash browns, mushrooms, pancakes, sausages and bacon. 

The couple shared ratings for their meal, giving the Greek yogurt and the fresh mango five stars, the fried eggs three stars, the mushrooms five stars and the bacon four stars.

For lunch, they opted for a halal meal, chowing down on couscous, a turkey skewer, sweet potatoes spinach, peppers, mushrooms and chicken sausage. 

In true French fashion, the athletes’ lounge in the village also has a boulangerie (bakery) whipping up fresh baguettes and croissants daily.

Bon appétit! 

Fresh off the Tour de France, a number of riders are turning their attention to the Olympic road race on Aug. 3.

For the first time in its history, the Tour finished in Nice, as Olympic preparations are underway in Paris. For the third time, it was won by Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar, whose dominance earned him six stage wins and kept him in the yellow jersey from the fourth stage onward.

An Olympic medal would add to his already successful summer (before the Tour, Pogačar won the Giro d’Italia, a rare and revered double last achieved in 1998). The Tokyo bronze medalist is among the riders on the list of entries for the road race.

The entry list also includes three Americans — Matteo Jorgenson, Brandon McNulty and Magnus Sheffield — though only Jorgenson raced this year’s Tour. (Jorgenson finished the Tour in eighth and secured a second-place stage finish in the final week).

The world's best athletes have flocked to Paris for the Olympics, but their beds in the Olympic Village appear to be a far cry from prize-winning comfort.

Tilly Kearns, an Australian Olympic water polo player, shared a video on TikTok yesterday captioned: “First night on the Olympic cardboard bed”

“It’s actually rock solid,” she said, pressing on the mattress with a laugh. “You can flip them over, apparently there’s a softer side, but that was the soft side!” 

Harry McNulty, a member of Ireland’s national rugby sevens team, also shared a TikTok video testing out the mattress' durability.

“Supposedly the structure of this bed will collapse if there’s more than one person on it,” McNulty said, jumping on the bed. His teammate Jordan Conroy then threw his body on the bed and slumped right off. In true rugby fashion, Conroy jumped back onto the bed, and McNulty dived on top of him.

“Think it’s all good," McNulty said with a thumbs up to the camera. 

A viewer of Kearns' video wrote: “Nah that’s like pre event sabotage.” 

“I can’t fathom how pro athletes are given cardboard beds to sleep on,” a commenter wrote, while another added, “I wonder how many Memory Foam mattress toppers have been overnighted to Paris so far.”

American Olympic gymnast Suni Lee commented on Kearns' video: “omg I might cry.”

PARIS — The Seine is ready for the opening ceremony according to French officials and Parisians who have been out boating on the river in recent days.

Today the water was calm enough for Noam Soilihi, 17, to resume renting sailing boats for tourists. 

“It’s cleaner than a few days ago,” he said. “Today we can see a little bit through the water.” 

‘I think it’s perfect’, added Cyprien Arthaud, 16, a student and rower. 

Rowing coach Bojan Krdzic, 35, said Team USA and its newly announced flag bearer LeBron James will have no problems on the Seine for the Opening Ceremony.

“The speed of the river during the months of May and June was very high. So for us on the water it was very difficult to do the training,” he said, adding that it has been “very calm” since last week. 

World-renowned French chef and restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten is stopping by the "TODAY" kitchen to show us how to prepare perfectly roasted chicken with potatoes.

Japan’s top female gymnast and team captain, Shoko Miyata, has been removed from the Paris Olympic team due to allegations of underage smoking in violation of the federation’s code of conduct.

Miyata, 19, was sent home from an Olympic prep camp in Monaco, according to Japan Gymnastics Association. The legal smoking age in Japan is 20.

She was notably absent from a practice in Monaco on Wednesday, which was open to media. “Due to circumstances, she is not participating today,” training director Hikaru Tanaka said, according to Japanese publication, The Mainichi.

JGA officials said Miyata arrived in Japan on Thursday after leaving the team’s training camp in Monaco for investigation, which confirmed the violation including drinking alcohol.

Read the full story here.

PARIS — Team USA members have been sharing their enthusiasm on social media ahead of their journeys to the Paris Olympic village.

“Welcome to possibly the most chaotic travel day to Paris you have ever seen,” Team USA volleyball player Jordan Thompson says in a TikTok video.

Thompson's reel ends inside the rooms that Team USA will share for the next few weeks.

Gymnast Jordan Chiles wrote "next stop Paris" on an Instagram story, while her five-time Olympic-gold-winning teammate Simone Biles shared a group shot from France with some of her women's gymnastic teammates.

Receiving their customized Team USA merchandise has only made America's athletes only more excited. Some of them, such as women's hockey player Ashley Sessa, gave her TikTok followers a rundown of the gear she's been sent.

We can expect to see a lot more posts from America's Olympic teams when they're not competing over the next few weeks.

"We’re ready," French President Emmanuel Macron has told security personnel at the Olympic Village in Seine-Saint Denis.

During a visit to the village this morning, Macron thanked the personnel who will be on duty throughout the Games. "Over 250,000 men and women have given their time to be on duty throughout the games, so that we can hold them," the French president added.

Macron met with government ministers this morning to discuss security measures for Friday’s opening ceremony, and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told France 2 Television yesterday that there were no specific threats against the opening ceremony. Darmanin confirmed it will go ahead as planned on the Seine.

Darmanin said that 1 million security screenings have been carried out ahead of the Games, with 4,350 individuals banned after they were deemed potential security risks. They included people suspected of foreign espionage, extremists linked with the far right, far left or Islamic extremists, and those with criminal records.

"To wave the flag for, not only for us as a men’s national team, but for all the Olympians, I hold that with the utmost honor," says basketball legend LeBron James after the announcement earlier today that he will carry the Team USA flag at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony Friday.

"It’s very easy [for it] to be humbling when ... [it's]something that you never dreamed about before," the Los Angeles Lakers player said.

Reminiscing about his childhood ahead of his fourth Olympic games, the 39-year-old athlete explained that from "being a kid from the inner city in Akron, Ohio, to being able to represent our country in a whole other country, in Paris and in France, it’s just ... a loss of words, something that you never dreamed of. It’s an absolute honor."

He added: "I hope I continue to make my community proud and continue to make my family proud."

Sportsbooks and daily fantasy operators are preparing for a Summer Olympics bump.

The Games in Paris, set to start Friday, will be the first to take place since legal gambling became widespread in the U.S. The gaming industry expects an increase in wagering from the previous Summer Games in Tokyo, particularly for sports like men’s and women’s basketball, soccer and tennis.

“The Olympics and gambling, for decades, have looked at each other from afar. This year we’ll see them meld together,” said Max Bichsel, North America executive vice president at Gambling.com Group.

These Olympic Games come at an opportune time for sportsbooks, during the offseasons of high-volume betting leagues such as the NFL and the NBA. But it remains to be seen whether they move the needle for gambling operators.

Read the full story here.

On behalf of nonprofit Gold Meets Golden and partner Samsung, country music singer Blake Shelton surprised Tokyo bronze medalist Jagger Eaton with a send-off message of encouragement ahead of Paris 2024.

PARIS — Basketball legend LeBron James will serve as a flag bearer for Team USA, it was exclusively announced on NBC News' “TODAY” this morning. 

The Los Angeles Lakers star who signed a deal to remain with the franchise earlier this month will hold the Stars and Stripes in the opening ceremony in Paris on Friday.  

James will be playing in his fourth Games, having won a bronze medal in 2004 and gold in 2008 and 2012. When asked why he’s returning to Olympic play, James said he still owes it to give it his all.

"At this point in my career, I still, I have a lot to give, and Team USA has given a lot to me, so I feel like it’s an opportunity for me to give back,” he told the "TODAY" show’s Craig Melvin earlier this month.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will take on a particularly special meaning for Brittney Griner.

The WNBA star will be competing for her country for the third time in Paris — and the first time since she was detained in Russia on drug charges for almost 10 months in 2022.

“BG is locked in and ready to go,” Griner told NBC News on Friday. “I’m happy, I’m in a great place. I’m representing my country, the country that fought for me to come back. I’m gonna represent it well.”

Griner will also be competing in Paris for the first time as a parent. She and her wife had a son, Bash, on July 8. Griner isn’t thrilled to be leaving him so soon, but said since he’s growing up in a sports family, one day he’ll understand. 

“Every minute, I feel like he’s popping into my head,” Griner said. “Literally everything revolves around him. And I love it.”

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PARIS — The French capital has been transformed into an Olympic playground. Beach volleyball will be played under the Eiffel Tower and BMX freestyle, skateboarding and 3X3 basketball will take place at the Place de la Concorde.

The famous square in front of L’Hotel de Ville has been turned into a place where the public can try Olympic and Paralympic sports such as basketball and wheelchair tennis, and parents can wrestle with their children on a makeshift Olympic mat. 

Camille and Jean-Francois Grout, are Parisians who unlike some have chosen to stay in the capital, braving the crowds and the traffic during the games. 

“It’s quite amazing to have the Games in our city,” Camille, 50, told NBC News today.

Paris and the teams descending on it are still getting prepped for the Games to get underway Wednesday. When they do, you'll be able to stream every minute on Peacock.

Wednesday's events will be in men's soccer and men's rugby sevens. For the uninitiated, rugby sevens is like regular rugby union (one of the sports in which football has its roots). The difference is that instead of the usual 15-player teams playing 40-minute halves, sevens has seven-player teams playing seven-minute halves.

In soccer, Argentina will no doubt be one of the teams to watch out for Wednesday. Fresh from their Copa America win, Argentina's young squad (almost all players in Olympic soccer must be under 23) includes Manchester City's Julián Álvarez and Inter Miami's Federico Redondo. They open the Games against Morocco at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Spain plays Uzbekistan.

The USA will play France at 3:00 p.m. ET and the USMNT's overage players include Nashville's Walker Zimmerman, Cincinatti's Miles Robinson and Djordje Mihailovic of the Colorado Rapids.

Under blue skies and bright sunshine, curious Parisians gathered along the right bank of the Seine to see the French capital’s mayor plunge into the water.

After months of anticipation, a smiling Anne Hidalgo fulfilled a promise to show it was clean enough to host open swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics and the opening ceremony on the river, at the time nine days away.

Clad in a wetsuit and goggles, she plunged into the river near Paris’ imposing City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Hidalgo’s swim was part of a broader effort to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the Games, which are set to kick off Friday with a lavish open-air ceremony that includes an athletes’ parade on boats on the Seine.

Read the full story here.

They have the best seats in the house for this summer’s Paris Olympics, but they won’t be enjoying the sports.

Maj. John and Col. Dry will be the eyes in the sky for one of the most challenging and stringent security operations ever deployed at the Games.

NBC News got an exclusive invite in March week to board their military police helicopter as they swooped over the sprawling Chateau de Versailles, the former royal residence now hosting equestrian events, to La Defense business district. Then along the river Seine, the scene of the opening ceremony, to the Olympic stadium, the Stade de France, and the multicolored townhouses of the suburban Olympic Village.

Read the full story here.

In the summer of 1924, more than 600,000 spectators descended on Paris for the Olympic Games. The competitions were broadcast on the radio for the first time, allowing listeners around the world to vicariously experience the “Flying Finns” of track and field and other elite athletes. The British stars Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell triumphed on the track, inspiring the 1981 Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire” and a soaring electronic theme by Vangelis.

In the century since, Paris and its surrounding cities have been utterly transformed by political upheaval, technological revolution and demographic shifts. But when the City of Lights hosts the Games for a third time this month, spectators and television audiences will be reminded how much has remained the same, from the towering landmarks of metropolitan Paris to the pageantry of the opening ceremony.

See the photos here.