BRIDGEPORT — Novi native Kate MacKenzie vividly remembers the special feeling about competing in rowing events at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece — the birthplace of athletic competition.

“We were the first team to row the Olympic course, and there are me and my pit partner, and there are the Olympic rings everywhere,” MacKenzie said. “(You think of) the accumulation of all of this work and, wow, you’re here.

“Putting on that gear, (you realize) ... ‘we’re here in Greece, in uniform, to compete at the birthplace of the Olympic games.’”

MacKenzie joins Unionville native Scot Severn, a 2008 Paralympian, to talk about their experiences and give a demonstration as part of Olympic Day at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Frank N. Anderson Recreational Complex in Bridgeport.

The Olympic Day festivities are a celebration of the first International Olympic Committee meeting for the first Modern Olympic Games, which took place in Athens in 1896.

MacKenzie, who lives in Grand Blanc and attends classes at University of Michigan-Flint to earn a doctorate in physical therapy, was a three-sport athlete at Novi High School. While attending U-M classes in Ann Arbor, she was approached about trying out for the rowing team.

“I was ... walking across campus, and this woman about jumped on me and said ‘We need rowers, you need to row,’ ” MacKenzie said. “I said, ‘I will, because I’m scared of you.’ But I wasn’t doing anything, and it was a club sport at the time so anyone could join.

“I was tall, so I just happened to have the right physicality and mentality for it.”

By the time MacKenzie graduated, her times over 2,000 meters were among the best in the United States, and she was invited to the U.S. National Team camps. She made the team, won a gold medal at the World Championships in 2002 and was named the U.S. Rower of the Year. She finished ninth in the pairs event at the 2004 Olympics.

After Olympic Day, MacKenzie will join the Saginaw Rowing Club for a 4 p.m. rowing clinic at the SRC’s facility on South Washington.

“(Saginaw Rowing Club) asked if I could go out on the water, and I’m thrilled,” MacKenzie said. “I’ve only been on the water a few times (after retirement), so it will be fun to scrape the rust off and reconnect with the sport around here.”

MacKenzie did some volunteer coaching with U-M and would like to coach in the future but is dedicated to her education.

Now, she wants to give back in her spare time. She’s a member of Athletes for Hope, a group founded by several athletes including Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong and Tony Hawk as a way for athletes to contribute to communities and charitable causes.

“I don’t like to talk about the Olympics much because I’m shy about it, and I always think I sound like I’m bragging about it,” the 36-year-old MacKenzie said. “It was a very intense time in my life, but people are interested in how we got there and the story behind the Olympics ... the teamwork, determination and personal experience.

“It was my goal for a long time and I’m proud of it. I’ve been so lucky and so blessed with what happened in my life that I want to give back. I had people inspire me and I want to inspire others.”

And she hopes to get a little more inspiration for herself from Severn, who was paralyzed after being struck by lightning in 1989 while on duty at Camp Grayling with the U.S. Army Reserves.

“The Paralympians are super tough,” MacKenzie said. “They do everything 10 times tougher. That’s overcoming adversity.” Severn, a Caro resident, started bowling three times a week after the accident. Now he competes in wheelchair rugby, along with the shot put and discus at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

Severn graduated from Saginaw Valley State in 1994 and learned how to compete in the shot put and discus with another Paralympian from North Branch.

A father of three with wife Brenda Severn, Scot Severn will have no problem talking in front a group of people in Bridgeport on Saturday.

“There were more than 80,000 people watching us in Beijing,” Severn said. “Everything was big there.”