The Summer Olympics in Paris are underway in earnest amid Friday’s opening ceremony, and basketball LeBron James got to bear the United States flag. It was already going to be an instantly iconic moment on its own. However, no one could’ve anticipated that The King’s great honor would’ve eerily paralleled one of the foremost artistic images dating back to the American Revolutionary War.
Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting Washington Crosses the Delaware paid tribute to a pivotal sequence in the war. Eventual first U.S. president George Washington led the Continental Army across the Delaware River beginning on Christmas Day, 1776, culminating in a victory at the Battle of Trenton in New Jersey.
just saw this on the TV and fits much better. but low-hanging fruit any way you slice it pic.twitter.com/jUUeOvRZHj
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) July 26, 2024
Just to be clear, conflating these two concepts is in no way to suggest that sailing into battle and participating in a Summer Olympics ceremony are remotely comparable in terms of real-life stakes. Nevertheless, the similar framing can’t be denied.
Art But Make It Sports has a 100% hit rate as far as I’ve seen when it comes to comparing a sports-related image to artwork from any point in world history. That’s the case here once again. But it wasn’t just an encyclopedic, brilliant mind at the helm of that particular niche of X/Twitter who noticed the uncanny resemblance. More than a few folks out there made the connection in real time.
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) July 26, 2024
General Lebron James crossing the Delaware pic.twitter.com/NBhGaehd2C
— Drea Blackwell (@KSBWDrea) July 26, 2024
1776 – Washington 2024 – LeBron pic.twitter.com/iY2TKrKyLV
— BronMuse (@BronMuse) July 26, 2024
MY GOAT LOOKS LIKE WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELWARE. UNATTAINABLE LEVELS OF AURA 🐐🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zYNUG5vr7e
— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) July 26, 2024
USA Basketball is a mortal lock to win the gold medal now, right? LeBron’s heroics against South Sudan and Germany helped the Americans avoid two potentially embarrassing defeats in an exhibition setting. For a roster rife with NBA talent, there were more than a few rough edges to smooth out before the games really start to matter.
Hopefully those growing pains are behind the latest star-studded Team USA squad. In any event, I have a feeling this will be one of those images that’ll continue to make the rounds as the Summer Olympics unfold, and it’ll become truly immortalized if the U.S. is indeed atop the podium in men’s hoops.
The same goes for women’s tennis and Coco Gauff to a certain degree. She was a USA flag bearer alongside LeBron and is the No. 2 seed in the singles draw. We’ll all be cheering her on in her own quest to make history.
