Fears that the United States team might receive a hostile reception -- as with so much that was predicted to go badly here -- proved utterly unfounded. The 500-plus American athletes, led by flagbearing basketball star Dawn Staley, were greeted with one of the loudest ovations of the night.

Interestingly, one of the few teams that was as warmly greeted as the USA was Iraq, with a small contingent of athletes -- finally able to compete safe from the brutal ways of deposed dictator Sadam Hussein and his sons.

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