The enthusiastic reception was primarily intended for French swimmer Léon Marchand, who was present at the event and has impressively secured four gold medals and one silver at the Olympics held in his home country. In addition to his four golds, he set a new record in the men’s breaststroke event, despite initially trailing by six seconds. As reported on the Olympic website, his winning time of 1:54.06 shattered a record that had stood for 16 years, previously held by Michael Phelps, highlighting his significant achievement. Marchand, accompanied by two others, rose to acknowledge the crowd’s support, as noted by The New York Post. Meanwhile, Larry Brown Sports indicated that James was displayed on the jumbotron around the same time the audience began to cheer for Marchand, which may have led to some confusion. This moment has garnered 3.7 million views, according to The Daily Express, and social media users are thoroughly enjoying the amusing incident.
Crowd started cheering and LeBron thought it was for him, but it was for gold medal french swimmer Léon Marchand in the crowd pic.twitter.com/Z0e5lHMrQ0
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) August 6, 2024
One Twitter user remarked, “This guy genuinely believes he is the center of attention all the time.” Another user commented, “It’s just muscle memory at this point; I can understand the confusion.” Clearly, numerous users are rallying in support of James, arguing that it was only logical for him to think the applause was directed at him after seeing his image on the jumbotron. “He looked up at the large screen to see what was happening, and those fools had him displayed for a solid minute—what else could he think?” one social media user expressed. “If they were showing him on the big screen, what else was he supposed to assume?” another added. So far, James has had a remarkable performance at this year’s Paris Olympics, aiding Team USA in securing a place in the basketball semifinals on August 8. In the quarterfinal match against Brazil, James recorded 12 points, nine assists, three rebounds, and three steals, contributing to Team USA’s victory with a score of 122 to 87.
