Olympians talk about the opening ceremony

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The USOC provided some quotes from Olympians who participated in Friday night’s opening ceremony. Here are a few of them.

John Dane III (sailing):
“Right when we got in the tunnel, we began the chant of “USA, USA” and there was an amazing energy and excitement. It helped me appreciate what each of those athletes had sacrificed to reach that moment. When the chant started we all quit worrying about everything and got a rush of adrenaline. Then we started waving at the crowd. It was unbelievable how people clapped and cheered the entire time.”

Danielle Scott-Arruda (volleyball), who was attending her fourth opening ceremony:

“There’s no comparison to the other opening ceremonies. Each is unique and special to me.”

Heather Bown (volleyball):

“Before we left the tunnel our entire delegation chanted “USA, USA.” It was the first time we have done that in the past two Olympics I have been to and it felt amazing. It gave me the feeling that we are all in this together.”

Graham Biehl (sailing) on the team uniform:

“It is really cool to see the entire U.S. team look this sharp. And I was telling my teammates earlier that I’m excited that Olympic Committee went with an outfit that looks this nice.”

Lopez Lomong (athletics), the opening ceremony U.S. team flag bearer:

“My mom is definitely watching back in Africa, but she doesn’t know that I’m carrying the flag. I’m sure she’ll be looking for me and I hope she sees me.”

Monica Abbott (softball)

“Meeting with former President Bush was awesome. He did such a great service for our country. It was so great to see him out here supporting us. He’s a big promoter of Olympic sports. He definitely wants to see softball in 2016. He said he’s very supportive of our sport and he’s going to try to make it to a game.”

LeBron James (basketball)

“It really doesn’t get any better then this -- representing this country. All these Olympic athletes are here and we are competing but we are representing more. This Olympics is more than just basketball, soccer and track and field, we’re all representing each other. When I am out there playing basketball I am representing a gymnast and the swimmers, not just my teammates. This is the biggest stage.”

-- Greg Johnson