Smith in her element at the airport welcome

WATER is her element, and Michelle Smith was certainly in it yesterday.

Water was everywhere, and all the crowds did shrink. Dublin Airport was like a scene from The Flood, by, God. But there was no Noah, no animals, no ark, just lots, of triumph.

Billed as the homecoming of all our Olympians, it was really about one athlete. So when they talked about our most successful Olympics ever, and coming 27th of all the nations in all the world, and winning three golds to Britain's one, we knew what they meant. We knew who they meant. Michelle, our belle. Our greatest Olympian ever. Our greatest athlete ever.

Exhausted after the 71/2 hour flight from Atlanta, her eyes as red as her fingernails, she thanked everybody, apart from Mr Eastwood. She showed her medals to all, and co-operated generously with everyone officials, the media, all and sundry, though there was no sun and no one was dry, least of all herself.

Waiting for Michelle up on the roof at Dublin Airport were many exasperated mammies and daddies. "The umbrella won't stay up. Look at those two umbrellas over there," pleaded one harassed mother to beseeching offspring. They wanted her to move out to the railings there was a much better view there and shelter from the deluge. The umbrellas "over there" had just turned inside out. "It's bordering on insanity over there," said mother, and she was right.

An Cailin Or (The Golden Girl) read a sign held by some of those along the railings. They were from Michelle Smith's primary school, Scoil Chronain in Rathcoole. Lunacy was on many of the mammies' and daddies' minds on the roof yesterday morning. "There are not as many lunatics here as I thought there would be," said Joan Curran from Trim in Co Meath, as she surveyed the bedraggled hundreds of waiting people. Most were young families like her own.

With her was Helen (4), Aoife (5), and James (9), cheering "for the whole [Olympic] team". They had left Trim at 6.30 a.m. Sorcha Fitzpatrick (13), from Griffith Avenue in Dublin had her family up at 6 a.m. "I could have killed her," remarked her mother, Mary, holding Aidan (4), in her arms. Sorcha is a serious Michelle Smith fan. They had to be there and, despite the awful weather, had no regrets about being there. Mary Dennehy (5), from Baldoyle, Co Dublin, kept her father, Dave, under pressure. "Is that her plane?" No. "Why are all the red cars flashing?" Just in case, just in case. "Is that her plane over there so?" No, its the one over there.

First off that Delta plane was Eric Hayward from Dublin, a track and field fan. He was so tired his face looked not so much lived in as forcibly entered. It was his seventh Olympics, "every one since Munich". They had had an early start on Monday, then the flight home on Monday evening was an hour late in leaving. Every one had been very quiet on the plane. Just as they arrived they were told it was 50 degrees in Dublin and everyone shuddered. But no one said anything about the rain. He couldn't get over all the Irish who had made it to Atlanta, particularly for the final of the women's 5,000 metres. Particularly along the finish line.

Then the President, Mrs Robinson, emerged to welcome the athletes. Shielded by umbrellas, with winking puddles for her guard of honour, she strode to the plane. Words of gratitude and welcome were spoken by the chairwoman of Fingal County Council, Ms Anne Devitt, the Minister of State for Sport, Mr Bernard Allen, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Mr Pat Hickey, and the lady of the morning herself.

"An unbelievable couple of weeks for me," she said, "a dream come true." All punctuated by the swash of gallons, as water caught in a canopy covering the dignitaries was overturned by gusts at regular intervals. Then it was to the open deck buses for the motorcade into Dublin.