James and Gauff's careers, despite being decades apart, have somehow converged in this moment. Leading Team USA into the opening ceremonies together highlights Gauff's early achievements alongside James's enduring success. 

Both were teenage prodigies who rose to global fame, recognised widely by just their first names. It's poetic that Coco has been alive for nearly the same amount of time that LeBron has been in the NBA.

At the Olympics, such scenarios are common. Team USA could find itself in a similar situation if Diana Taurasi, 42, or rower Meghan Musnicki, 41, were chosen to be flag bearers alongside 16-year-old track star Quincy Wilson. However, the way Gauff and James's timelines align is particularly amusing.

On January 13, 2001, the night Coco Gauff's parents, Corey and Candi, got married, LeBron James scored 33 points in a loss to Virginia's Oak Hill Academy. A year later, when Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary faced Oak Hill again, LeBron encountered Carmelo Anthony for the first time.

When Gauff was born on March 13, 2004, LeBron was a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The night after Gauff was born, James scored 26 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers. By the time LeBron made his Olympic debut that summer, Gauff wasn't even crawling yet.

While LeBron James was 19 when he made his NBA debut, Coco Gauff was just 14 when she made her ITF debut. By the time she defeated Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019 as a 15-year-old, James was 35 and coming off a tough season. Injury problems had kept him out of 27 games, and his Los Angeles Lakers finished with a 37-45 record. It seemed that James's age might finally be catching up with him.

However, LeBron went on to make All-NBA teams every season since and won another title in 2020. In the midst of that Covid-19-affected season, James scored 15 points and had 13 assists in a loss to the Boston Celtics. On the same day, Gauff defeated Venus Williams again, this time at the Australian Open. Gauff reached the finals of the French Open in 2022 and won the US Open last year, while James was preparing for his 21st season.

Neither are showing any signs of slowing down. Two different generations of athletes coming together to represent their country. The Olympic spirit and the American dream merging for a moment neither athlete will ever forget. It just took one of them a lot longer to get there.