BASKETBALL: Rosita Boland samples Aussie exuberance and brightness within the ranks of their supporters.
So many people, so many venues, so many shirts. But there's still no mistaking the Aussie supporters.
They've comes the furthest distance in terms of miles, so they're doing things brighter and louder than everyone else to make their national statement at every event they go to.
At the basketball in UCD yesterday, for the Australian-Slovenia semi-final of the men's competition, it was surprising the players didn't require shades, so bright was the yellow of the Aussie supporters shirts.
"Come Sit By Me" read the backs of their shirts, which really should also have carried a health warning of some form, since to sit that close to so lurid a shade of sunshine-yellow was to risk possible sunburn.
Appropriately, several of the Aussie supporters came from Queensland, the sunshine state.
So what makes the Aussie supporters special? A crowd of them are gathered on the steps outside the basketball venue after the semi-final match, which Australia won. "We're loud and we're vocal," says Joan Heslehurt, who is out here with her husband Bevin and daughter Samantha to support their son, Benton, playing five-a-side soccer.
"And we have Skippy," adds Carolyn Robinson, from Brisbane. Skippy is the Australian team's mascot; an inflatable kangaroo which has been along to spectate for all the five-a-side matches. Skippy has become so coveted and famous within the Games that he now needs to be protected against theft.
Any offers to trade him for bumper lots of pins have thus far proved unsuccessful.
Carolyn is in Ireland with her husband Sam, simply to support the 78-strong Aussie team. Their son Hayden plays Special Olympics soccer and basketball back in Brisbane, but is not on the team for Ireland.
There are "at least three other families" who don't have team members in Ireland but are along to support the Australian team.
"We try to share it out so there's someone at all the competitions," she explains.
"They especially need support when there's been a loss," Sam says. "We have to try and make them feel special again."
Margaret and John Dears from Brisbane, who travelled out to support their daughter Kelly, have had to do a lot of extra supporting in the last two days.
Kelly, who had been playing in the women's basketball, twisted her ankle during a match and couldn't play the last games of the competition with the rest of her team. "She was pretty devastated," Margaret admits, "so we're very glad we're here."
The shirts aren't just for show. They'll be arriving back in Australia at Brisbane Airport wearing them, hoping to make a big impact. Like other national teams, the Australians know that anything which draws attention to Special Olympics in their country is important. "People just aren't aware of Special Olympics in Australia the way they should be," says Bevin Heslehurt.
"We had to raise most of the funding ourselves and there is never any media coverage of the Games. Four days before we left, there was a little bit of attention, but in terms of fund-raising, that was too late for us."
Heslehurt filmed the opening ceremony and hopes that television networks in Australia will show clips of it when they get back and thus raise awareness of the Games in that vast and diverse country.