I sat next to Michael Phelps (From Bucks Free Press)

Otters share the Games with the Olympic stars

4:00pm Friday 14th September 2012 in Sport By Alan Feldberg

A TEAM of Chalfont Otters are coming back down to earth after completing their shift as Gamesmakers, where they rubbed shoulders with Olympic legends like Michael Phelps at the Aquatic Centre.

Sophie Onn said: “We did six shifts, three in the morning and three finals in the evenings.

“One day I was even sitting next to Michael Phelps in the holding room before he went out to race.

“It was amazing and so surreal, the best few minutes of my life.

“I remember it was very tense and very silent. They sat there listening to music and no one said anything.

“You could tell they were ready to face, they were so focused.”

Onn and co won their place as Young Games Makers in January, when they were chosen out of more than 1,000 hopefuls from around the country.

Meanwhile, Michael Lewin said:  “The highlight of being a gamesmaker for me was meeting Boris [Johnson].

"He stopped for a photo even though he seemed in a hurry to get somewhere. He seemed his usual funny self as you see on TV, seeing all the athletes and famous people was so surreal.”

As well as meeting Boris, the team rubbed shoulders with athletes such as Rebecca Adlington, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte as their job involved carrying the boxes that contained their kits away from poolside.