Zagunis ready to lead Team USA

With the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympic games less that 24 hours away, a woman from Oregon is getting ready to take center stage.

Mariel Zagunis won gold in the 2004 Athens Games and became the first American to win a fencing medal in over 100 years. She will now lead the U.S. Olympic team and carry the American flag during the opening ceremonies.

"I didn't get to walk in 2008," said Zagunis. "But of course I have always watched the opening and closing ceremonies, and have been so proud to watch my team."

In 2008, Zagunis won gold again in the Beijing Olympics.

Now she becomes the second consecutive Oregonian to lead the U.S. in the Summer Games' opening ceremony. In Beijing, runner Lopez Lamong of Lake Oswego carried the Stars and Stripes.

On Thursday, Olympics and NBC officials came together to find a ticket for the ceremonies for Zagunis' mom. She wasn't planning on leaving for London until the days before her daughter's competition.

On Thursday afternoon, she boarded a flight to London to watch her daughter make history.

"They are going to pick me up at the airport," said Cathy Zagunis, "and take me to their hospitality house -- and probably give me a makeover, in case NBC pans in on me and sees me crying during the opening ceremonies or whatever."

As the clock ticks down, Mariel Zagunis says she is still in a little bit of shock, and reality probably won't hit her until she enters Olympic Stadium in London on Friday night.