SATURDAY 08/23

-It was a beautiful, sunny day, which I got to experience for about 35 seconds during my walk from the air conditioned media bus into the air conditioned IBC.

-Our task for the morning was printing names onto the BOCOG-issued Certificates of Thanks for all the researchers. At first we had only an exact number of certificates so there was no room for error, and if I sound too excited about that then you’re starting to get a sense of just how adrenaline-deprived we were for the last few days.

-Saw Mary Carillo and Brian Williams, completing my NBC Talent Sightings checklist.

-My tour of the IBC with Tong got called off—apparently her employers were busy.

-The first researchers were beginning to leave, which was sad. Things were finally coming to an end.

-Went to the Water Cube after work and met Victor. We watched the last round of the men’s 10m platform diving (guys, that’s really high. Like, three stories high) and the medal ceremony. The winner was a dark horse, an Australian, and seeing how genuinely happy he was to win that medal was truly heartwarming. Really, I’ve seen less joy in a child’s eyes on Christmas morning. All the other athletes I’d watched take the podium seemed happy alright, but this Matthew Mitcham was just beaming.