Preparations for the opening ceremonies began with my training in the morning. I got the first bus to the Royal National Park with the Colombian team. This 40-km loop is anything but flat! I got a good descending lesson from Freddy Gonzalez.

Later, we began to get ready for the ceremony. Hair curlers and panty hose were flying, as we’d all left about 15 minutes to get dressed. We then inspected all the other countries’ uniforms and took pictures with some of our favorites.

Arriving by bus at the Superdome, next to Olympic Stadium, we took seats by country, and I got my crash course in pin swapping. The Irish pin must be a hot commodity, as I was regularly asked for one of my shamrock editions. When I asked an Italian to swap, he handed me a pin that turned out to be their boxing pin, most unattractive. I am still figuring out how to pawn it off on someone else, like the Indonesian who tried to swap me a McDonald’s pin (unsuccessfully).

You just have to imagine a hall the size of Madison Square Garden filled with athletes, resplendent in their regalia, doing the wave. What a blast! Then each country did individual chants. The Nigerians were the most colorful, with singing and dancing, but the best were the New Zealanders, who performed the Haka, a Maori war dance. The Aussies, not to be outdone at home, entered into a chorus of "Waltzing Matilda" and threw bananas at each other.

We then made our way to Olympic Stadium. Going into the stadium has to be one of the all-time rushes of a lifetime. Ireland got the third-loudest welcome, after Australia and the combined North and South Korea. Apparently 33 percent of Australians have Irish heritage. It certainly showed, as there were Irish flags everywhere!

I was delighted that they chose female Australian athletes to bring in the flame. The actual lighting brought goose bumps. Let the games begin!