Security a little too good as VIP is turned away
THERE were red faces at Wimbledon yesterday, where one diligent Olympics volunteer manning the gates thwarted an apparent queue-jumper as most of London clamoured to get into Centre Court to watch Andy Murray’s final against Roger Federer yesterday.
Unfortunately for the purple-bedecked Games Maker, the woman in a hurry was none other than Federer’s wife Mirka, who uttered the immortal line: “I need to get in because my husband is on court in five minutes.”
Mrs F was promptly waved through, although she may wish she hadn’t bothered after the sound thrashing that Murray administered to the 17-time grand slam champion, just four weeks after the Swiss great had beaten him in the final of Wimbledon.
It wasn’t the only hiccup of a giddy afternoon in SW19, however.
The Centre Court’s famous £100m roof may have helped minimise those pesky rain delays, but it was less effective in keeping broadcasters dry during the final.
A leak in the upper reaches of the stands caused water from the morning downpours to rain onto unimpressed media, leaving staff to scramble for that decidedly less state of the art solution, a bucket.
Elsewhere in south London, the Duchess of Cambridge was eschewing the tennis in favour of gymnastics at the North Greenwich Arena.
Kate, who was at the Velodrome to cheer on track cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy to gold on Thursday, maintained her hot streak, as British gymnastics pair Louis Smith and Max Whitlock won silver and bronze.
LONDON 2012’s billing as the first social media Games was given further credibility by the frenzied online activity that followed Great Britain’s record-breaking successes on Saturday evening. Mentions of Jessica Ennis on Facebook in the five minutes after her heptathlon triumph topped those of any other athlete during this Olympics. US swimming star Michael Phelps, who last week became the most successful Olympian ever, polled only a third as many mentions after his races. The Sheffield starlet has also been a hit on Twitter, where her victory pushed positive tweets about London 2012 to 90 per cent for the first time.