Doug Emhoff Will Lead the U.S. Delegation at the Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games will feature approximately 4,400 athletes with physical disabilities competing in 539 events

Doug Emhoff. Photo: Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will lead the U.S. delegation to Japan at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games, the White House announced on Tuesday.

The opening ceremony will be held Tuesday, Aug. 24. In a statement, the White House said that Raymond Greene, the charge d'affaires ad interim at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, will also attend the ceremony with Emhoff.

The Paralympic Games will feature approximately 4,400 athletes with physical disabilities competing in 539 medal events.

As the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, the 56-year-old Emhoff has settled into the role of political spouse with seeming ease, making appearances in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere to highlight food insecurity in local communities and encourage Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Speaking to NBC's chief White House correspondent, Peter Alexander, in an interview that aired in June on Today, Emhoff said he marvels about how he got to this place in life "every minute of every day."

Speaking about his life as husband to the vice president, Emhoff told Alexander, "And sometimes she and I will look at each other and just - I'll say, 'You're the vice president of the United States,' and she'll say, 'You're the second gentleman of the United States.' "

As the first man to ever hold the title of Second Gentleman, Emhoff has made history, having previously worked as a well-known entertainment attorney in Los Angeles.

He left his firm ahead of the inauguration. In December, he announced he was joining Georgetown University Law Center to teach a course for the spring semester titled "Entertainment Law Disputes."

Emhoff's role as head of the Presidential delegation at the Paralympic Games will come one month after First Lady Dr. Jill Biden served as head of the U.S. delegation during the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Dr. Biden, 70, joined the approximately 600 Team USA Olympians — and scores of coaches, support staff and press — to kick off the games, and also attended several competitions in support of American athletes

Both the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Japan — which is host to both events — is currently under a state of emergency amid a rise in COVID-19 infections.