Jamaica Olympic Association president Mike Fennell stands beside Sandie Richards after he officially announced at a meeting of athletes and officials at the Olympic Village in Athens that the five-time Olympian would be given the honour of carrying Jamaica's flag in the Games opening ceremony later today. (Photos: Bryan Cummings)

Five-time Olympian Sandie Richards will have the honour of bearing Jamaica's flag into the Athens Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony, Jamaica Olympic Association boss Mike Fennell announced at a team meeting at the Olympic Village yesterday.

The news was well received by all the members of the team. The meeting served to take care of various "housekeeping matters", and Fennell called for everyone to act as one team.

He also reminded the team about the monetary rewards for medal winners at the Games. The meeting ended on a spiritual note when Fennell encouraged team members to hold hands in prayer.

About 50 bags of luggage were left back in Germany when the track and field contingent arrived Wednesday, but a lot of these turned up yesterday.

Rifle shooter Dawn Kobayashi staged another practice session at the shooting range yesterday and is confident entering her event tomorrow.

"If Dawn shoots her best she will win a medal," said Dr Keith Hammond, president of the Jamaica Rifle Association in a short interview with the Observer yesterday.

Dr Hammond explained that Kobayashi shot "a perfect score" during her short training stint with the USA team and all she had to do was repeat that performance to win a medal. She will have another session at 10:00 am this morning.

The track and field contingent reached the Olympic Village very late on Wednesday night, but most of them had a workout at a nearby track yesterday. Badminton player Nigella Saunders also staged a workout yesterday morning.

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