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An unlikely partnership was formed when skipper
Maggie Steffens put out a call for financial support in May and
Flav leapt into action, offering to sponsor the team while also
using his celebrity status to shine the spotlight on them.
The 65-year-old founding member of American rap group Public
Enemy went viral when he trained with the squad in the pool and
he arrived on Friday wearing a USA water polo cap and jersey,
immediately stealing the show.
"I've got three stars in my cap, I want a fourth star on my cap.
My goal is to try to push these girls, man, to getting that
fourth gold medal," Flav said.
"I'm having a lot of fun doing this and I just want to thank the
girls too for even accepting my offer of sponsorship for the
team.
"I'm going to try to be to as many games as I can. I might not
be able to be at every single game, but you'll see me at a lot
of the games, definitely."
Flav did not get into the specifics of the sponsorship deal but
revealed there was a bonus for the players and their families,
with a cruise trip lined up after the Games.
"Another thing that I'm doing for the team - and I'm proud to do
for the team - is after this water polo thing is over, I'm
putting them all on a Virgin cruise with them and their
families," he said.
"And also I got a special gift for them at the end of the water
polo."
Water polo is his main focus but Flav also wants to take in some
basketball action with NBA and WNBA greats in action in Paris
but his "favourite athlete" is artistic gymnast and seven-times
Olympic medallist Simone Biles.
"This girl, man, is so devastating. She's going on her ninth
medal right now. That's crazy," Flav added.
"I want to see her get it, I want to see her achieve that. I'm a
very big fan of hers."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Toby Davis) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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