"Please line up in an orderly fashion." This oft-mocked directive from Type-A recess monitors and their whistle-wielding ilk achieved a rare compliance on the women's singles podium at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Despite the inherent volatility and unpredictability of our sport, the medalists managed to finish in order of their seeding. In the gold medal match, top seed Chen Meng of China (pictured, center) took on her compatriot, #2 seed Sun Yingsha (pictured, left). A virtuoso performer, the 27-year-old Chen played the match like a waltz with an "oom-pah-pah" rhythm. "Oom" represented a win for her 20-year-old challenger Sun, while "pah" equaled one quarter of a gold medal. After two measures, Chen struck the right chord to strike gold in her Olympic debut, (9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9). "I can finally laugh now because it has been pretty intense the last few days," said the victorious Chen. "I was very nervous during the match because both Sun and myself really wanted to fulfil our personal goal of winning the gold medal. We matched each other well but I believe what gave me the edge was probably my experience." Sun Yingsha, for her part, was philosophical. "I have no regrets about my performance although I lost the final," she reflected. "I did my best and Chen is a very strong opponent. The road ahead is still long and there will be many opportunities for me to become a better player and win again." Japan's Mima Ito, the third seed, completed the 1-2-3 finish with a win in over Singapore's Yu Mengyu in the bronze medal match. With the win, Ito secured the first-ever Olympic table tennis singles medal for Japan. "This medal is very important, but my first goal was to get to the final," lamented Ito, sure to be a gold medal threat to China for many Olympiads to come. "I have mixed feelings of frustration and anger because it’s not really perfect." While Mima Ito's dreams were not perfectly realized, her queueing up behind Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha was as orderly as could be. You can put away that blasted whistle now.

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