Meet Mariel Zagunis: Olympic Fencer Will Carry US Flag at Opening Ceremony

America will be represented by a flood of dapper athletes walking into the Opening Ceremony, but only one will have the honor of carrying the US flag, and that's fencer Mariel Zagunis. 

She was told recently that the flag would be in her hands walking into the Olympic stadium, and she was filled with one thought—not to mess any of it up. Via the Boston Herald:

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I’m just going to focus on not tripping, not letting the flag touch the ground and doing everything right. 

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All that apprehension seems to have melted into excitement, because Zagunis was absolutely ecstatic moments before the Opening Ceremony started. She took to Twitter and told the world how it feels to be the flag bearer.

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Sparkles in my hair, glitter on my eyes and gold on my nails...getting really, REALLY excited!!

— Mariel Zagunis (@marielzagunis) July 27, 2012"

For those uninitiated, Zagunis is a highly decorated Olympian, grabbing the gold in both the 2004 Athens Games and in 2008 in Beijing for Women's Sabre. 

NBC Olympics has a great biography on Zagunis, who won her first gold at 19-years old. She wasn't even supposed to be at the 2004 iteration, but Nigeria failed to send a fencer, and she was in. 

In Beijing, Zagunis came in as a No. 6 seed, but still managed her way to the gold medal round and took down teammate, American Sada Jacobson. 

Now she is flying high as not only a member of the US team for a third time, but the woman who will lead them all, holding the American flag high. 

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