FLINT, Mich. – Everywhere you look, you see her name and face: on telephone poles, billboards, windows, and newspapers. For the last 10 days, whenever Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa Shields enters a room, she’s greeted like a conquering hero, all the while insisting on being treated just like everyone else.

Since returning from London, things have been a whirlwind for Shields after she made history as the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing, winning the middleweight title.

When she returned home on August 13, the scene at Flint’s Bishop International Airport was pandemonium.

“When I left [for London], there might have been 10 people who saw me off from the airport,” Shields, 17, said in an exclusive interview. “After the Olympics, I came back and there were 600 people at the airport. There were a bunch of people from the city, a bunch of people who weren’t from Flint were here. It was overwhelming. It kind of freaked me out.”

After leaving the airport, she was greeted by another 200 people at the Berston Field House on the city’s north side where she trains.

Just two days later, she was honored at the State Capitol in Lansing by Michigan’s Legislature before heading back to Flint to ride in the city’s the Back to the Bricks Cruise which drew an estimated 500,000 people.

“I’ve just been doing interviews and signing autographs and pictures,” Shields said. “It’s just really crazy, but I kind of still don’t believe it. I still really haven’t sat down and said ‘yeah, I’m ranked No. 1 in the world and I’m an Olympic Gold Medalist.’ It just hasn’t hit me.”