The US women’s water polo team headed into the Paris Games with a designated ‘hype man’ — the US rapper and founding member of Public Enemy, Flavor Flav.
Back in May, the 65-year old rapper announced a five-year sponsorship deal to back the team, boosting the profile of women in the USA Water Polo organisation.
He was pool-side to watch the team beat Greece (15-6) last week in their first match at the Games. He also met up with the First Lady, Jill Biden, and legendary director Spike Lee.
Sharing video of their interaction on Instagram, he posted: “I love all the support Women’s Water Polo is getting – ya boy is so appreciative that the First Lady came to the First Game. THANK YOU @flotus Dr. Jill Biden for all the support of you and your family.”
In a press conference last Friday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer explained how he came to support the team.
“I read the story and decided I would love to step in and help these girls out,” he said.
In early May, the captain of the women’s team, Maggie Steffens, made a long post on social media asking for support.
“Many of my teammates aren’t just badass champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, physicians assistants, and more,” the 31-year old wrote.
“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.”
According to Flavor Flav, his manager saw the post and showed it to him, prompting him to contribute financially to the team.
“These girls are on a journey,” he said last week. “They’ve been on a fantastic journey. Everybody wants to feel like somebody has their back, it makes them feel more powerful and better.”
“It gives them a lot more energy to go out and get their fourth gold medal, because these girls got three gold medals right now, I want to see them get a fourth and I want to help them out. I just want to thank the girls too for even accepting my offer of sponsorship for the team.”
In the past two months, Flavor Flav has frequently posted images and videos of support on his socials, rallying attention and hype around the US women’s water polo team in their quest for their fourth consecutive gold medal.
Steffens said last week that the rapper has “totally joined our team in terms of his energy and his authenticity.”
“He has really opened the door and window to a pathway for people to learn,” she said. “Our team and different communities, different people who would have never heard of the sport of water polo.”
Ashleigh Johnson, two-time Olympic champion and the team’s goalkeeper, noted the impact the rapper has had on the team.
“For him to be with us in our team in this moment and then seeing it on social media, seeing the community in it with us, I was like, ‘This is really awesome,’” she said.
“Even us watching him get in the water, I think that it evolved our perception of him a bit. He jumped right in the water, he was sprinting next to us, picked up a ball and was like, ‘Ash, get in goal!’ And I was like, ‘I love this confidence!’”
Johnson, who is the first black woman to be selected for the U.S. Olympic water polo team, added: “I see people of colour asking questions about water polo and wanting to start playing. That’s a different community that I’ve seen talking about the sport than the whole time I’ve been on this team.”
Flavor Flav said he hopes to draw a larger crowd into the sport.
“I feel like it’s a sport that’s been forgotten about after it’s played, and I want everyone to start remembering the sport,” he said. “I want to make water polo really memorable. I don’t consider it as a sport of colour, I consider it a sport of everybody.”
The women’s team won gold at the London Games in 2012, Rio in 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Since the game had its inception in the Olympics, they have consistently been placed in the top three.
Overnight, the team lost their latest match against Spain, 13-11. They will face Italy in the early hours of Wednesday AEST, August 1.