Michael Phelps' Opening Ceremony jacket will be electroluminescent

The jacket Michael Phelps will wear as Team USA’s flag bearer on Friday will be, as the kids say, lit.

Literally.

Ralph Lauren unveiled the U.S. Olympic team’s Opening Ceremony garb last week, and lost in the shock of their shirts looking a whole lot like the Russian flag was the awe of some ostentatious outwear the clothing company is billing as “the first-ever illuminated Olympic flag bearer jacket.”

With Phelps selected as the nation’s flag bearer on Wednesday, the most decorated Olympian in history will be even more decorated with an electroluminescent USA on the back of his blue jacket.

Because America, that’s why.

Fourth-Place Medal tracked down an exclusive photo of Phelps entering Maracana Stadium on Friday.

(All credit to colleague Dan Devine that for that sweet, sweet Chris Jericho pic and joke.)

Anyhow, Ralph Lauren’s light-up jacket wasn’t solely made for the purpose of out-peacocking other countries. (Although, we did see your leather and fur Santa Claus suits from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin, and we just raised you a literally lit jacket). The company has pledged to donate a dollar for every social media post — and all its likes — featuring the hashtag #LiketoLight from July 29 to August 6, up to $100,000, to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s community outreach program.

And we all know how much Phelps likes to light, so I’m sure that social media campaign will go swimmingly. (Get it? Swimmingly. Now that’s how you end a blog post about Michael Phelps’ jacket.)

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Ben Rohrbach

is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach