Lin Dan

I am quite proud of our synchronicity here (although spellcheck tells me that it is, is that even a word?!)

After a morning shopping in Camden, I packed up my stuff and did another flat switch. Luckily, I managed to avoid all contact with the underground, so I just about survived the long trouser, hoodie and lots of bags combination without any air-con-less situations.

I then did the quick-change into uniform that I've become an absolute ninja at, before getting the train. Only to forget which line to use for Wembely at Waterloo, and end up on the slower one which involves about 14 stops. On a dying iPod battery, this was obviously a very tense journey.

(Please note: I am normally a very sociable Games Maker on trains, but I think the free energy drinks may have got the better of me and I was k-n-a-c-k-e-r-e-d).


Today's matches were mainly the men's singles quarter finals, and I may or may not have requested to mop for Lin Dan... (ok, I did).

Today I mopped for:
Lin Dan (China) (defending Olympic Champion, might I add) vs. S. Sasaki (Japan)  (second player to thank me for my mad-mopping-skills. Boom)

Before the match, the umpire took us moppers to one side, and explained that we would have to keep playing really close attention to when and where he asked us to mop (I told you that mopping was a technical business!), because we would be pretty much playing musical chairs for the duration of the game. I think that this prediction was pretty bang on, and both players dived to the floor pretty regularly, leaving us very busy.

FOP Team

At one point, Lin Dan dived to the front left hand side of my side of the court, only to somehow manage to get up and dive to the back right (mopping dilemma #1: where are you supposed to start?!). I watched the TV footage back last night, and you can actually see the line judges look at me and laugh! Both players were also using talcum powder to prevent their rackets from slipping too, and that meant that every time they touched the floor, they left mini snow-angels behind as well. So much mopping, so little time!

We did, however, receive a court mopper chant at one point during the match, which was probably a highlight of my life. The Chinese normally chant ''*insert player's name here* jia'', but they switched it to ''court moppers jia'' during one of the breaks (apologies if I have just spelled the Chinese word totally wrong and warped the meaning of anything!). We also got thanked by the umpire at the end of the match for being on-the-ball/shuttlecock, which equalled my second umpire compliment of the week. These mopping compliments will probably not make it onto my CV, but I was pretty chuffed anyway (also, thanks to those travelling on the train from Wembley to West Hampstead, particularly to the family from Chicago and their child with a ribbiting frog alarm clock, you made my night).

In other news, I am developing two mopping blisters. I am not sure whether laughing or crying is the best option here.

Also, upon listening to the BBC commentary of the match tonight, something along the lines of this quote was said:

''Lin Dan has changed the shuttle and now he's doing some cleaning. His wife must have him well trained''.

I'm sure that Xie Xingfang's totally awesome and all, but I am going to claim responsibility for the cleaning part.

We took a team photo and then I went out for tea courtesy of the Robsons! (Thank you so much for some warm food, and I hope that you have a great rest of the Olympics!)

Olympic spot of the day: Anthony Clark and Adrian Christy in TGI Friday's!