At first glance, there will seem to be a very strong Louisiana bayou flavor when what is officially known as the Games of the 33rd Olympiad begin today.

Sounds a little formal, somewhat pretentious. Feel free to just call it The Olympics.

Or, in this case, sing along …

Jambalaya, Crawfish pie and filé 4X100 relay.

Louisiana — mostly LSU — is all over Paris for this thing.

Makes sense given the state’s long-standing French influence.

So, raise the flags, let the Games begin and …

Oh, but not so fast my friend. Hold the hot sauce and easy on the Cayenne pepper.

It’s not quite the Gumbo Olympics.

The strong Louisiana flavor is mostly purple and gold, as LSU will have 32 athletes, past and current, in Paris.

No Tiger football players, of course, as the Olympics somehow doesn’t recognize most real sports, and baseball is out, too, for this go-round.

But if you don’t think LSU is, to borrow a line from an old TV intro, “spanning the globe” in its quest for excellence in Olympic Sports, just consider this:

The 32 current and former athletes with LSU ties at The Games is quite a melting pot. They are representing 20 different countries, including the United States — but just barely for the red, white and blue.

Only seven of the various Tigers will be waving the Stars and Stripes in competition.

Of those seven, best I can tell, only three actually grew up in Louisiana before going to LSU — Kristen Nuss (beach volleyball) and Aleia Hobbs (track), both of New Orleans and Vernon Norwood (track) of Morgan City.

Natives of Texas, Alabama South Dakota and Georgia are also among the ex-Tigers competing for the USA.

I’m not sure where you would categorize the most famous of them all, Mondo Duplantis, the defending Gold medalist and pole vault world record holder at eight different heights.

Duplantis, of course, grew up in Lafayette — as Cajun as it gets — before spending a year at LSU.

But he’ll be pole-vaulting for Sweden, with which he has dual citizenship.

Not sure how many bayous you can find among the fjords and polar caps of Sweden.

But the transfer portal is warming up to The Olympics.

Duplantis is arguably the world’s greatest of all time at his specialty, so it wasn’t a matter of crossing the border to get an easier path toward Olympic qualifying.

But his Swedish-born mother met his Louisiana dad while both were on track scholarship at LSU, hence the dual citizenship.

Duplantis now lives in Sweden and spends most of his time in Europe, where the appreciation for track and field isn’t the once-every-four-years curiosity it is stateside.

His Swedish Olympic allegiance is a testament to that.

I was thinking it was 21 different countries that LSU drew from , but I was assured that Trinidad and Tobago is still just one country.

Still, even if you credit Duplantis among the state’s Tigers in the Olympics, that gives Louisiana four with LSU backgrounds in Paris. That’s the same number as Nigeria sent to prep for The Games with an LSU education.

Great Britain and Jaimaca had three. Find Moldova on the map and you’ll find another Olympian with Louisiana ties.

They’re everywhere.

Of course, the most famous Louisiana native in Paris will be limited to television commentary for Friday’s opening ceremonies.

That would be Peyton Manning, whose football expertise — real football — will be in low demand as America’s Obsession hasn’t really caught on in The Olympics.

But wouldn’t it be so much more entertaining if brother Eli could join him for an alternative broadcast?

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at

scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com