While all the focus football-wise is on the Football Ferns, New Zealand will also be represented by two match officials at the Olympic Women's Football Tournament, in the form of referee Anna-Marie Keighley (above, left) and referee's assistant Sarah Jones (above, right). Before they departed, I had a quick chat with the nation's foremost women's footballing whistle-blower. JR:     Anna-Marie Keighley, how have your preparations gone for Rio 2016? AMK:     "Pretty good. I've been working, in as many games as possible, on developing tactical and game awareness, particularly at the men's level in New Zealand, which has a higher level of these attributes in play. And I've been doing lots of physical training - trying to keep fit as much as possible". JR:     How has the NZ footballing public's perception of Sarah Jones and yourself changed post Canada 2015, having officiated in a FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final? AMK:     "I'm not really sure. I guess from NZ Football's perspective, there's been a little bit of promotion around the fact that we were successful, and went all the way through to the semi-finals last year, so there's been a bit of recognition there. "As a result, I guess there are more people who know about officials and know about us. We get

people asking us 'Are you going to the Olympics?' So there must be some awareness around us, and around the officials going to Rio" JR:     What are your expectations for and ambitions from the tournament? AMK:     "Obviously, for the tournament, we hope to stay as long as possible, which means going through to the final stages. To get one of the play-off or final matches would be fantastic. That's always anybody's goal, either as a player or official - to get right through to the end of the tournament. That's our hope as well, but our prime objective is to do the best that we possibly can. "Football-wise, we've got a lot of the best teams in the world in attendance. I'm sure the football will be fantastic, and played at a very high level. It will be awesome to be involved in that". JR:     What does it mean to you to be an Olympian? AMK:     "It's funny to think, as an official, of being an Olympian. I've had a couple of people say that, 'Oh, I don't really feel like a true Olympian, because I'm going as an official rather than as a participant / player', but going to the Olympics has been my goal forever, basically. To be going is amazing, and just to rub shoulders alongside some of the greats of world sport is pretty amazing. "It's very cool to have reached a goal, to have aspired to it and to have made it there. Hopefully we can do our best and do really well".