VII Olympic Winter Games — RP thread

[Stachland]

The "Red" Badge of Courage: Our Subtropical Athletes Brave the Cold to Compete in VII Winter Olympics
by Witold Elliott

Yes, the Reds were disappointing in World Cup 58 qualifying, and ultimately equaled the World Cup 56 squad for Stachland's worst finish in international competition, but were you aware that at the same time one hundred and thirty-four of Stachland's finest athletes have traveled to Neverend, Liventia to participate in the Seventh Olympic Winter Games. Regular readers of our National Magazine for Athletics will know, of course, of diver Wells Altair and his fellow summer athletes—but few Stachlanders will have heard of our nation's fine figure skaters, such as Arvel Lorentz, Becca Fluellen, Anton Bigelow and Marina Windserley-Nash. And few will know of speed skating stars Alejandro Coronus, Martín Melceria, Violetta Berent and Eliza Dawn.

And yet, all of these individuals are perhaps among the best in the world at what they do, and they are all currently representing Stachland in Neverend. Why has there been so little coverage? That would be due primarily to the football team's ultimately futile run in World Cup qualifying and the Cup of Harmony—it was an editorial decision to focus the NMA's coverage there, rather than here.

But, with the Reds' elimination, we can now focus on our winter athletes' competition, one in which, hopefully, we will not be as disappointed. As of this most recent day of competition, Stachland currently has won—

—zero medals. Though I suppose you can't really expect anything more. There are many excellent athletes in these Winter Olympics, and some of them come from nations where the temperature will occasionally drop below fifty degrees.

[Tymason]

Leyton Sports

The Official Olympic Broadcaster of TyMason

Sucess!

John Luke(No.8 ) is shown leaving the shooting range ahead of the others.Just out of shot is Gerosibe Ibo,winner of the biathlon section of the Winter Pentathalon

Today was a great day for TyMason's Olympic Squad,as John Luke claimed TyMason's very first medal,although it was in a demonstration event.The Winter Pentathlon was,although a demonstration event,TyMason's best hope for a medal,as they struck silver in the event.Luke had been up there all day long,finishing 7th,13th and third in the Alpine Skiing,Ski Jump and Speed skating disciplines respectively.However,it was in the biathlon event where he really shined,along with Gerosibe Ibo,another member of TyMason's Olympic squad.They managed flawless shooting accuracy and managed to up the pace when skiing,leading TyMason to a 1-2 finish in the biathlon sprint,with Ibo finishing about 10 seconds ahead of Luke.Ibo was not far back either,as his biathlon helped to pull him up into 4th overall,just seven points back on third place Jessie Haymond.

"Wow.First international event and first medal!I..I just could not believe this moment!",said an exhausted Luke after the points were tallied.TyMason's other representative in the biathlon,Robert Geher,fell way back in standings after several poor performances.

In other news,TyMason's snowball fighting team lost their first match of the campaign against Krytenia 2-1.Meanwhile,the ladies' team continued their losing streak after a 2-1 loss to Shoferica.It is rumored that one of the squad may be sitting out for the next match after taking a hard snowball to the knee,damaging her kneecap.

[Zwangzug]

The Bassabook Baritone

We're plotting against you.

Back by popular demand...

More graphs analyzing the Winter Olympics. Even in the seemingly subjective enterprise of ice dancing, there are specifications that should be met in the compulsory and original dances. Does the cream rise to the top here, consistently? Do pairs that do well in one competition do well on the other? Let's see...



Hannah Hamiegger, who took statistics "just as an elective," informs us that r^2=.23, which at least is positive--people who do well in one do tend to do well on the other. Slightly.

The pair on the bottom is, Fabio Vivas and Kameron Dias of Perwita, who apparently suffer from an extreme lack of originality. On the other hand, the ones on the left are Kalum Galassi and Marie Fiveres, also of Perwita, so it's not a cultural thing.

What about the top twenty? Does skill play out there?



Er, no. r^2=-.66, so people definitely tend to be strong in one area or the other but not consistent across both.

I could never be a figure skating judge, myself. I've seen the routines of those three down there that were strong on the compulsories but weak on the original. Maybe I'm just missing the point, but they did seem about as...original...as you can get.

[Bears Armed]

*(CRASH!)*

Another alarm-clock kissed the mud (OOC = “bit the dust”) as Sarraya o SnowWhite, the BABC’s only reporter at these Games, showed her displeasure at being woken so early. Yes, admittedly she had set the damned contraption to ring at dead on second-watch herself... but that had been before she went out drinking with three members of the ‘NorthPort University Legends’ — the Bears’ entrants in the Males’ Curling event — to get an interview in while sympthising with them over their elimination from that contest. The amounts that each of that trio had sunk, you’d think that they were maybso ‘Ice Rugby’ players instead, she mused: It was fortunate indeed that she’d bee nable to negotiate such a generous expense account. Picking up up the phone from a bedside table, Sarraya called ‘room service’ for her usual breakfast order... requesting the addition of a couple of pints of freshly-squeezed orange juice to this, today, too... before stumbling across to the bathroom.
After a cold shower, various other matters of personal hygiene, and most of her breakfast, she felt a bit more like a live Ursine should do.
“Hrright,” she thought to herself, “hwhat’s on my schedule for today...
“Ayyuh, it’s the first hrreally busy day for us today: Both of the two Cross-Country Skiing races that have Bears in for me to watch the starts and finishes of this morning, and then the ‘medal’ stages for both the Pairs’ Figure Skating and the Ice-Dancing later on, as well, and then a broadcast about the day’s events to record for sending home by Raven-Mail... Urrgah! So many days with nothing that was likely to be of major interest to folks back home in the games’ timetable, but then all of this concentrated into a single day. Oh hwell...”

Sarraya reached into her shoulder-bag and pulled out a notebook. Turning to the most-recently used page, she checked to confirm to herself that it was where she’d already started compiling a list of points to mention.
"Both of the Bears’ Ice-Hockey teams, and the Females’ Curling team too, eliminated during their events group stages? Check.
"The Males’ curling team speeding easily hrright through the six games in its group stage without even a single defeat, but then falling in the Quarter-final match to a one-five defeat at the paws — Oops, better make that ‘hands’ instead, I suppose — of the human team from a country called Euskirribakondara... So much for the curlers’ pre-tournament hopes of matching the success of their predecessors in the Bears’ first-ever Winter Olympics squad and taking home both of the Gold medals (Males and females) for their sport...
“And then the Figure-Skating: Good performances from both Ursine males and Ursine females in the ‘short programme’ stages of the individual contests, but with a verrry talented range of competitors to face which had left the males entirely medal-less but with Myrra o Dusk — who had been coached by the near-legendary skater Harrlo — carrying off ‘Gold’ as the Bears’ first (so far, but hopefully not “finally” too) medal-winner here. Good performances, but again against very tough competiton, from the Bears’ duos in the Pairs’ ‘Short Programme’ and the Dancers’ ‘Compulsory Dance’ stage too... but then hrrather lower scores after that in the ‘Original Dance’... Hr’rmm, and there had been slightly lower placings for the best of the rival Vulpine entrants after that stage than before it too: Could it be that the judges couldn’t appreciate not-Human styles properly? Maybeso there’s an extra story in that possibility... Hr’rmm?”

[Todds Diplomat]

((OOC: using a work computer and don't feel like logging into my main. Puppet will do, I hope)



OP-ED: V3 Special Edition
Reporting for V3 News Services, Aleki Vilasmlestre

NEVEREND - Is it more difficult or less difficult for a non-human to win a medal in an Olympic competition?

Obviously there is something to say about certain species enjoying advantages over human species. Vulpines, for instance, are more sleeker and tend to be more agile than their human counterparts. But, as nature would have it, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Conversely, vulpines lack a significant subcutaneous layer of fat, which severely restricts how well especially Vekaiyun vulpines, who have evolved to have shorter fur, perform in colder-climate events. In addition, as has been pointed out for centuries and analyzed and over-analyzed in everything from ancient battles to architecture, vulpines are generally shorter than humans. Their thinner frames, while advantageous for tasks that require a tremendous acumen of dexterity, are no match for the brawn of a human.

So where does this factor into play as far as Olympics are concerned? How can one species be judged fairly against all others? Should different species be given handicaps over events which another species may excel at?

The answer to that question is no. The human body, for example, is capable of variations that can match up well against a Vekaiyun vulpine, for instance. It's not a race against species as much as it is a race against the individual.

But what about judging? Is the rest of the world prepared to accurately judge a non-human against a human when there is subjective scoring on the line? The answer would at least be yes, to an extent. Vekaiyu impressed judges in their showing for the Sixth Summer Games last year in Cafundeu, where they dominated and took home ten medals, including three gold, for gymnastics. At least at that point in time, Vekaiyu proved to the world that non-humans could indeed match up against their human counterpart, and perhaps even excel when compared to them. Subjective judging was not an issue.

This is why it pains me to hear that many Vekaiyuns still feel there is some inward bias against them on the basis of their species.

It'd be one thing if those conspiracy theorists were in the severe minority. But it still manages to make news now and then, especially lately, where Vekaiyu has been performing poorly. My beef with my fellow citizens is not that we're a competitive group of people, but that Vekaiyu must win, and if they do not, the problem isn't with Vekaiyu, but with the rest of the world. It's downright embarrassing to hear the species argument every time Vekaiyu participates in an international competition.

"The judges are biased." "They don't know how to score a non-human." "They are jealous of our athletes and our prestige." This Maxist thinking causes the most eye-rolling across the board, and makes us into the whiny twits some have painted us to be.

Rather, we as Vekaiyuns should be taking a different approach. We should support our athletes, but be firm when they do not perform to expectations. Their focus should not be on judging, but on performing and representing their country in a sensible and non-judgmental manner. There are hefty penalties for having an elitist mindset in a post-Maxist Vekaiyu these days. But perhaps they don't go far enough. If you ask me, any Vekaiyun athlete who complains of the judging should be barred from competing.

Vekaiyuns should be harder on themselves and not seeking to blame others. It's this way that athletes improve - when they stop looking for excuses, put their nose to the grindstone, and get ready for another fight.

Regardless, whether or not you're a vulpine or a human, all species agree, integrity is a big deal. That's something that encompasses all.

[Shofercia]

The music started to play gently. Roman made a smooth glide towards Tanya. She expanded her arms in an artistic motion, perfectly matching the music. The tempo began to slowly accelerate. Roman expanded his hand, and Tanya made a glide, gently taking it. Together, they began to accelerate with the music, Roman and Tanya sturdily pushing off with their skates. The music was definitely heating up. Roman did a one eighty degree turn, and swung Tanya around, setting her up for the jump. If only this would work.

She was off, one, two, three turns, damn only three, and she landed. They were to open up with a quadruply jump, but that didn't go as planned. At least the landing was good, and somehow managed to match the music. And they were off again gliding. As the music was becoming more promiscuous, Tanya "accidentally" slipped, and Roman caught her - swung her around, setting her up for an amazing hold. His arms held high above his head, and her legs slip at a 180 degree angle. She straightened out, with the music, and he gently set her back down.

The music was picking up tempo again, and another jump was approaching. They let go of their hands for a few split seconds, and executed a perfect triple jump, followed by a double, and another triple. Tanya looked in Roman's eyes. They were skating artistically now, earning that score, swirling and turning - Charleston style. The music became more upbeat. Dare they? The duo looked at each. Roman smiled reassuringly. The tempo was increasing, they were going in for the final jump.

This was supposed to be a simple triple jump to end the program. But they were going to make it a quadruple. They acceleration was as fast as Roman has ever gone while performing, but not as fast as Tanya. She did a 180 degree turn, and time slowed down. They were now in their own little World. Surprisingly, due to months and months of practice, they were still matching the music. They both executed a 180 degree turn, picking up momentum, as Roman picked up Tanya, and set her up, perfectly for the jump. He glided on automaton, watching her - one, two, three, four! And a perfect landing! The audience roared in approval. The Shofercian fans were going crazy! The first quadruple spin has just been executed.

But the program was still continuing, approaching the climax. The duo quickly refocused, and began the final artistic skate. The music was picking up tempo. Suddenly, the music stopped, as Tanya skated off, on inertia alone, leaving a sad Roman, a guy after a dream date, who just woke up, and remembered that it was all a dream. Everyone in the stadium was standing and applauding to a truly phenomenal performance.

Roman and Tanya smiled and bowed, kissed, and went on a real date, after the performance

May they continue to skate like they just did, *knock on wood*

[Bremenskiye Ostrova]

Anastasia Pavlovna Martychuk looked down at the half-pipe. Her snowboard was set. She was ready. She tilted forward, letting the momentum do the work, while she set herself up for the brisk turn. The acceleration began. The adrenaline rush started. She lifted her board off the ground just as she approached the edge, and did a 180 turn in the air, while grabbing her board. She was back down, acceleration. If only this could work. She was setting herself up for the 560. The thrill, the crowds, the acceleration. Anastasia was a bit overwhelmed. At least her last name wasn't Romanova.

The jump approached just as she realized that she didn't have enough speed. She went for it anyway, only managing a 360, and an almost off-balance landing. Not good. And she was also slowed down. She pressed her board hard into the snow, trying to accelerate. The effort wasn't enough, and she only managed another 180. The final jump was approaching, and she knew she didn't have the speed. Dare she?

Anastasia let her legs lead by inertia with her body titling back. It required amazing flexibility, and she had it. A jump approached. Anastasia hit it, and flipped over her head in mid air, for a smooth landing, and followed acceleration. The final jump was coming up. She did a 180, hoping that it was enough to qualify. She rode towards the finishline, and looked at the scores. It was - just barely.

Time for her second run. Again she started off smoothly. A 180, and a quick acceleration. Another 180. Perfect set up for the 560, and - SHE DID IT! Now she was going in for the flip. SHE DID IT! And she was accelerating for the final 180. Could she pull it off? Because of the speed and the inertia, that turned into a 360, and a rough landing. "Damn, that cost me four points" Anastasia thought about the landing. At least now she knew what to do. She looked at the scoreboard. SHE MADE IT!

May she continue to perform like this *knock on wood*

[Vulshain]

Vulshainian Olympic News Coverage: Winter Olympic Games VII

Vulshainian Snowboarders Wow Judges

Hello everyone, this is Yermolai Vadimaron for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games VII Coverage, live from Neverend, Liventia.

It seems that Vulshain has a strong chance to earn a medal in the Men’s halfpipe Snowboarding event as three Vulshainians qualified for the next rounds. Dragomir Djuradj Wim qualified for the finals, while Veniamin Alexey and Ermolai Carl Rurik qualified for the semifinals. Dragomir's run wowed the judges and spectators as he finished first in the Heat 2 rounds. "Yahoo! I really tore up those slopes," was what Dragomir said upon finishing first. Now, all of Vulshain is hoping that these three young athletes can manage to snag a medal, hopefully a gold medal, today for their nation.

Meanwhile, everyone is crossing their fingers that Vulshain's figure skaters can win medals in both the Pairs free skate and Ice dancing free routine, while the skiiers have practiced their tails off, in preparation for the Men's 30 km pursuit Cross-country skiing and Women's 15 km pursuit cross-country skiing events.

Can Vulshain's athletes earn several more medals, or is three their limit? Tune in to VCNMN to see what happens!

This has been Yermolai Vadimaron for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games VII Coverage, reporting live from Neverend, Liventia.

[Liventia]

Day 12 results.

[Camwood]

CURLING|FEB 23, 2012|By: Nicholas KYLESON
The Bang of Camian Curling

Curling in Camwood is an interesting scene. For being an amateur sport, it's popularity is unreal.In high school 4 out of 5 students will wear the shirt of the Curling association they fancy. Much of the Northern population will wake up early to grab a seat in that Saturday's one of many tourneys. So why is Curling in Camwood so Legit?

The primary reason for such huge popularity is the sport's accessibility. Anyone who owns a cheap five-dollar-a-month membership to a local recreation centre can go and play for an hour after work or school. It's the kind of sport where a 21 year old curler can be as good as a seventy three year old curler. Also, you often don't need more than two people a side (one thrower, one sweeper) to play a pick up game. In fact, it is not uncommon to see a school kid about twelve years of age, toss the rock and then run in front of it and sweep for himself.

Another common cause of Curling fever, is envying the curlers. Camian Curlers can create names for themselves really fast. There's a skip for Montreek called Tony Geraldo who managed to get thrown out of a tournament match after cursing at an official. The White Rock Curling Association's second, is widely known for having the fastest sweeping speed maybe in the world. Finally, skip of the Northmont club, Nick Freds, is known for calling the shot and throwing a match winning curl in the final end of the Championship game. It was simply miraculous, it managed to remove an opposing stone from play and score a total of three points to come back from a 5-3 deficit.

The format of the Camian Curling Clubs' Union or "Triple C-U" as it's often pronounced, is a loose schedule, with each association making their own schedule. There are three tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, etc. Also, there are often multiple rinks per association, and each rink must apply to move up to a higher tier. Often the CCCU will disqualify or relegate poor performing rinks. However, there is no relegation system in place as there is in association football leagues.

The openness, players, and sometimes the format of Camian Curling our a bang with Sports-Goers. It is rare to see a 100% amateur sport captivate a region such as curling does. This fan centered momentum may spark a uprising in Camian international curling, hopefully propelling them towards championship titles in the near future.

[Qazox]

The Games of the
7th Winter Olympiad
Neverend LIVENTIA

Day 12 saw Qazox' first medals of the competition, in Bobsleigh and Snowboarding

RESULTS:
Men's 2-man Bobsleigh: The Spanor twins began the day in 9th place, but were within striking distance of the podium. After turning in the fast run in both the 3rd and 4th runs, the Spanors took home the gold, Qazox' first medal of the games, and the 3rd gold in bobsleigh for Qazox overall.

G  Jake Spanor/Thomas Spanor [QZX1] (QZX)                           51.91  51.68  51.60  51.63  3:26.82
49 Sean Hardy/Oliver Salmon  [QZX3] (QZX)                           52.59  52.40  52.70  51.97  3:29.66
95 Eric Randal/Craig Vanera  [QZX2] (QZX)                           52.96  53.93  52.17  52.70  3:31.76

Women's 2-woman Bobsleigh: Alas the ladies weren't as successful as the men, though the teams of Carla Jesa/Lori D'abo and Erica Thomas/Ryanna Mandel each moved up more than 20 spots.

42  Brianna Arlo/Gina Charlton [QZX3] (QZX)                       53.70  54.60  53.99  54.49  3:36.78
54  Carla Jesa/Lori D'abo [QZX2] (QZX)                            54.85  53.94  53.89  54.48  3:37.16
57t Erica Thomas/Ryanna Mandel [QZX1] (QZX)                       55.13  53.81  54.81  53.58  3:37.33

Snowboarding: Women's Halfpipe semifinals: Bembry couldn't muster up enough oomph after her runs yesterday, but Reyes did just enough to get into the finals...

10 Joan Bembry (QZX)                               20.8   20.1   20.8--DNA Semi #1
3  Jerri Rayes (QZX)                               40.9   39.7   40.9--Finals Semi #2

Snowboarding: Women's halfpipe Final: Reyes was the 3rd to last person to go, sitting in 4th place with just one run left. Her back-to-back 900 stalefish gave her the lead, but had to wait out the last 3 riders. Gabriella Lindhardt (Thatius) was next to last and nailed a 1080 barrel roll to take home the gold.

S Jerri Rayes (QZX)                               36.7  41.3    41.3

The Spanor's celebrate after their Gold medal was clinched:

Jake (left) and Thomas Spanor celebrate their win.

Reyes after her final run:

Reyes watching the replay of her final run.

[Todd McCloud]

OP-ED: V3 Special Edition II
Reporting for V3 News Services, Aleki Vilasmlestre

NEVEREND - And just like that, Vekaiyu has gained two medals, nearly netting its medal output from last year.

And just like that, the conspiracy theories and rumors about Vekaiyu getting a bad wrap will start to dissipate. Just like they do every international competition. It happened during the Fifth Summer Olympics when Vekaiyu only seemed to win medals in timed events. It happened during the Sixth Winter Olympics when Vekaiyun coaches and fans embarrassingly accused a Kelssekian judge of scoring against them during ice skating events. It happened in the Sixth Summer Olympics when Vekaiyu was tardy on winning medals early on, only to be silenced when Vekaiyu dominated gymnastics events. And it happened this competition, the Seventh Winter Olympics, when Vekaiyu seemed to lose out early on. Things like disqualifications and Lagoviyey breaking his leg were unfortunate events, but they seemed to add to this inaccurate theory.

Will we as a nation learn from these mistakes? When will we stop blaming others for our lack of talent? It's not until we point the finger of blame to ourselves that we will grow as a nation that has glibly proclaimed it's ready for the international spectrum. These lessons aren't easy to learn, of course, but they will help us greatly in future endeavors.

We've already begun to do such things with the removal of Max Venavle, a specist and by all accounts a man who could not accept responsibility for his actions. He tried to teach us to think in such ways, think that we are blameless and perfect. This destructive way of thinking was softened when Selvala McEva took the reins in 2002, but we all witnessed her same plane of thought through her demise in South Allegheny in 2009 when she was arrested and tried by an international court. A civil war over that way of thinking - the war of Progressives vs Maxists - killed over five million people until the Progressives gained complete control. Premier Levinile has tried further to erase such toxic thinking, to a large extent, and a working congress has given us more tools to practice acceptance and owness of one's actions.

Today we have another tool, a tool which Vekaiyu can and has used in recent memory: that of learning from one's mistakes. It's time for us to grow up as a nation, to mature and move forward. It's my personal challenge for all of us to be cognizant of our actions and learn from our mistakes, so that when the Seventh Summer Games occur, we won't regress back to our juvenile state.

[Polar Islandstates]

FROM: h.borgesen@surtseybid.gov.pis
TO: w.deverenko@surtseybid.gov.pis
CC: s.poelski@dosac.gov.pis
BCC: j.hannila@surtseybid.gov.pis, m.ottosen@surtseybid.gov.pis, h.meloy@surtseybid.gov.pis, f.skoglund@surtseybid.gov.pis, j.bernth@fpibcsports.pis
RE: Neverend

Hi Wolfgang,

Poor old Henrik Hagen. Searching for his third medal of the games, in first place after the opening leg, and his teammates let him down. Slower anyway, every single one of them had at least one penalty loop, and those 150m took their toll. By the time Molkowitz's ski binding came undone on his second loop, Hagen just hung his head and went to the showers. Three minutes off the pace in the end, in an event we really could have won. Disappointing, but then that's what you get when the Liventian authorities insist on storing the skis like they have been. Handled with cotton wool, they have not been, put it that way. Not the first time we've seen the bindings coming undone, either. Just shoddy attention to detail, really. In Surtsey you just know we'd be handling the revered skis with kid gloves.

Better news for another previous medallist, though. Anna Stoljarov, going second, inspired our women's biathlon relay team to a silver. And things just get better!

Inge Ahlapuro gets a gold in the cross-country, with Mari Hogh just missing out on the bronze, and Ingeborg Markussen getting a silver in the 15km the day after. Girl power!

And the curling teams are both in action tomorrow, as well! Both in the final - that's hopefully two more gold medals, and at the very worst will be two more silvers to add to our collection of argent. And so what are the directors here showing on the eve of this momentous day for curling?

Figure skating.

Endless, half speed replays, of the same twirls, from the same people, over, and over, and over, and over again. I just don't get it. Medals schmedals, nobody cares about figure skating? I know we had some entrants, yeah, but come on... Let's be honest here, do they even care? I think all of our figure skaters were short track athletes that didn't make the cut and still wanted to come to the olympics.

Surely a debut nation having both its men's and women's curling teams in the final the next day - a thrilling and tense teamm game, need I remind you - is more worthy of replays than some couple from Shofercia beating the home favourites and a pair from Krytenia to the gold? Pathetic. It's like they're being biased towards us, simply because we had the audacity to bid against them in the process.

Actually, you'r enot showing these e-mails to anyone Liventian, are you? That may explain it if so...

Harriet

[Chetkosk]

Piste Off.
When you're stuck in a leg cast, there's only one thing to do...blog!

Well, time to cash in on the increasing traffic to Olympics-related websites in Chetkosk again. That's right, our athletes won a couple more medals.

The first medal of today was earned by Nikolai Petrankov in the Men's 30 km Pursuit in Cross-country Skiing. I've done my fair share of skiing cross-country, but I've never had the stamina for it professionally and that means I've always had respect for those who do. Petrankov was delighted to come away with nothing less than the gold after beating his closest rival by just a tenth of a second! Such small margins separate those whom we label as best in the world and shunt the rest under the umbrella of "could do better". I don't think many of you have really noticed just how incredible it is, victory hanging in the balance and then, in the blink of an eye, it's over. A tenth of a second is nothing. You take longer blinking. You take about the same time to react to almost any and all exteral stimuli, providing your reactions are good. Just thought I'd put Nikolai's success into a bit of perspective.

It could be more than simple ambition driving Nikolai, however. How many of you knew that he has a brother? How many of you knew that this brother is a twin (non-identical) and they have both made it into Team Chetkosk's roster for these olympics, in the same events. Nothing like a bit of sibling rivalry to push you on to win a medal, and that's just what Taras Petrankov did for Nikolai. I was lucky enough to acquire his email from my good pal Abram and got an answer to the question many reporters wanted to ask him.

<Are you very jealous of your brother, do you wish you were the victorious twin, or are you happy for him?>

<Of course I'm happy for him, I'm ecstatic! We train together, always at each other's backs to push each other further and further, on to greater deeds, and I think that's helped us to become some of the best in the discipline. But no, sibling rivalry does not extend from training into the final event. That glory is all his, and well done to him, though we have the name Petrankov in common so I might claim a bit of fame there I think!>

Another bronze was also added to the tally following Isaj Grishkuv's performance in the Men's Snowboarding Halfpipe. He finished second in his heat, but lost out to two athletes in the finals. That, of course, didn't stop him celebrating like crazy and standing ever so proudly upon that podium when the Grand Federation March began to play. I don't pretend to know much about snowboarding, because I don't know much about snowboarding. Besides, there are more skiers than 'boarders in Team Chetkosk and it's nice to have a little bit of banter between the two groups.

With each day in the Olympics come many who fail to reach the podium, and those wearing Chetkoski colours who did just that today include both two-person teams in the Men's and the Women's Bobsleigh. Funnily enough both first teams were off the winning pace by a little over a second. It doesn't sound like much, but in the bobsleigh there are so many tiny factors that can throw entire runs or even the whole competition for you. In this case, however, both teams had lousy runs. For the men it was their fourth, when they had a poor start, and for the women it was definitely their second when they wobbled and slid around after the penultimate bend - it killed their momentum somewhat as well as their medal chances.

Tomorrow I will be watching one event, just one, and that's the Men's Curling final. I've been really getting into this stuff you know, the tactics, the slower pace of it all compared to the hectic stuff out there on the piste. Plus we're playing against the Polarians, so you know it's going to be good. Abram summed it up quite well earlier, I think. He said "they always beat us in the football, we always beat them at rugby, it's like getting closure - best of three sports!" Not that this will stop the Chetkoskies and the Polarians from continuing to mildly feud, I've no doubt. What's the point in a rivalry if you can't stake everything on a game in a sport your country has shown little to no proficiency in in recent history and still lay claim to the right to grumble at your rivals? They're in the women's final too, so it's a bit greedy for them to want BOTH golds, surely? Why don't they concentrate on the women's gold and hand us the men's one, that's what should happen. Anyway, Nikolai's gold today pushed us above them in the tables (*punches air*), but it'd be nice to be a little further ahead. Their silver medal tally is staring at me and I don't like it. Not to mention the fact that, if we do get gold, they'd get another silver to add to that pile.

Oh, and when I said it was the only event I'd be watching, I lied. I'll be watching the Women's Large Hill Ski Jump too. That's the event I was going to be entered into if I hadn't gone and broken my leg, so I'll be watching carefully to see what the competition would have been like.

Darya

---

---

Gold - Abram Prudnikov - Biathlon, Men's 12.5 km pursuit
Gold - Danil Zablotny - Alpine skiing, Men's Super-G
Gold - Elizaveta Lvov - Alpine skiing, Women's super combined
Gold - Nikolai Petrankov - Cross-country skiing, Men's 30 km pursuit
Silver - Abram Prudnikov - Biathlon, Men's 10 km sprint
Bronze - Yan Tchaikovskaya - Biathlon, Men's 15 km mass start
Bronze - Isaj Grishkuv - Snowboarding, Men's Halfpipe

[Vulshain]

Vulshainian Olympic News Coverage: Winter Olympic Games VII

Determination Fills Vulshainian Athletes

Hello everyone, this is Yermolai Vadimaron for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games VII Coverage, live from Neverend, Liventia.

Despite the best efforts of Dragomir Djuradj Wim, Veniamin Alexey and Ermolai Carl Rurik in the Men’s halfpipe Snowboarding event, none of them were able to secure a medal. "I can't believe it!" This was Dragomir's statement when he saw that he didn't even make the top five snowboarders. However, Dragomir isn't the only one who is upset by this. Vulshain lost out in figure skating, which shocked many. "Vulshain has always enjoyed figure skating, so it is a regret and a shock that we didn't win a medal in any of the figure skating events," said Philip Rarik, one of many Vulshainians who have come here to Liventia to watch the Games. "I know that some people think there's some sort of crazy plot to keep non-humans from winning, but I don't think that's the case. We just went up against some tough competitors, so we can't win them all, no matter how much we wish we could."

Vulshain's athletes refused to comment further, saying that they needed to practice until they were sick. Health officials are concerned that this heightened determination might be dangerous as the athletes could push themselves too hard. "There's nothing wrong with being determined, but too much of anything is always a bad thing. Being exhausted is one way for the body to tell us to take a break. We are having to make our athletes rest and recover after practicing long hours," Dr. Harold Alexanderson III told VCNMN. When asked what it would take for the athletes to keep from beating themselves up, he sighed and answered, "A bunch of medals. That or getting our Olympic Committee to withdraw those athletes who are in danger of hurting themselves by practicing too much and too hard."

Still, the Vulshainian Confederate Olympic Games Committee (VLCOGC) is refusing to remove any Vulshainian athlete from any event, despite concerns of health officials.

Today, everyone is hoping that the athletes' strong and fierce determination pays off in the Women's Cross-country snowboarding event. A spokesman for the Vulshainian Confederate Olympic Games Committee (VLCOGC) did comment on something important:

Vulshain does plan on entering more events in next year's Olympic Winter Games as this might boost our nation's chances of winning more medals. Still, there is some talk by the Vulshainian Communist Party that Vulshain should drop out immediately and never ever again compete in any Olympics or international sporting event, believing that our athletes have shamed Vulshain. Vulshainian Confederate Olympic Games Committee (VLCOGC) will not withdraw any athlete from this or any future sporting event, believing that winning isn't everything. We do stress to our athletes not to give up and to do their best. We have also requested that the Vulshainian Communist Party refrain from making any more comments like this again, as according to VLCOGC's charter: No political party has any say in how VLOCG conducts itself, nor do they have any say in what happens to Vulshain's athletes.

Hopefully, our athletes can pull through this. Tune in to VCNMN to see what happens!

This has been Yermolai Vadimaron for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games VII Coverage, reporting live from Neverend, Liventia.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

(OOC: This next part is between two of my athletes)

Erik Rainard slammed his fist against the door to his locker. He sighed. "Damn it! I thought we pulled that off perfectly. What are we doing wrong!? Every Vulshainian here is giving 300% to their events, and we still haven't earned a freaking gold medal yet!"

His girlfriend, Coline Konstancja, leaned against the doorframe to the locker room. "You shouldn't beat yourself up. We gave it our best shot--"

"Well, apparently, our best wasn't good enough for the damn judges!" She looked hurt at his anger. He sighed. "Coline, I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

She didn't say anything. She just turned around and left the locker room. Erik sighed as he sat down on the bench. He took out a small red velvet box and opened it. He stared at the diamond engagement ring inside. He sighed again. "I didn't mean to yell at her. I didn't..." A tear ran down his cheek.

[Shofercia]

Truly Superb Performances Delivers Shofercia's First Ice Skating Gold Medal!

Roman Costy and Tanya Newbie shocked everyone when they opted to dance to Shofercia's National Anthem, Victory Day. Roman was dressed as a machine gunner, while Tanya, as a frontline nurse. As the music started, Roman and Tanya started off with smooth skate, quickly followed by a step sequence, and the end of which came an awe inspiring lift.

Tanya jumped up into Roman's arms, and he quickly lifted her above his head, leaning backward a bit to keep his balance. Once the signing started, Roman "dropped" Tanya back into his arms, and set her on the ground, enabling the duo to gain speed and engage in a series of awe inspiring spins. After the spins came the smooth skating, leading the duo into a triple jump, and then a double, and using the momentum to enter into another triple jump just as the chorus sounded.

Right after the chorus, the duo engaged in a series of twizzles. At the mention of [the words] Victory Day, the duo quickly, yet smoothly ended the twizzles, and fell on their knees, skating on sheer inertia. Roman symbolically "fired" his gun in the air, resulted in a few mini-fireworks, and Tanya applied a very naughty cross on Roman's back.

The duo quickly got up, and began gaining speed. As the signing started out again, Roman gently held Tanya's arm, setting her up for a quadruple jump. She was off, one, two, three, victory, four! Tanya landed, quickly catching her balance, and Roman was right next to her for support. The duo accelerated again, engaging in a sequence of jumps, first a triple, then a double, then a triple.

They began to pick up speed. They were no longer skating, they were flying. Locking their arms together, they began to rapidly turn, moving towards the center. Suddenly, just as they approached the center, Tanya's legs were off the ground, and lifting up, slowly above Roman's head as he was spinning. The chorus sang the last line, and everything suddenly stopped. As did Roman and Tanya.

Fifteen seconds passed. And then massive applause!

Yet Tanya and Roman weren't the only masterful Ice Dancers. They were certainly the overall best, but Aaron Eicherson and Lumila Tapal, Erwot Mowberb and Mihlah Moh, Whitman Mills and Darlene Milward, Dennis Leonidov Lavushev and Irina Ivanova Gretskaya, Lina Schmidt and Tadeu Gonzaga, John Sunday and Toni Knight, Olimpia Lupei and Stefan Grigorescu, and of course Liventia's very own, Matthew Holloway and Eileen Leyton, also had amazing performances, setting the Ice Dancing Competition at Neverend, Liventia as one of the best, and one where the Constitutional Monarchy of Shofercia won our very first Gold Medal in Ice Dancing!

[Bremenskiye Ostrova]

Dmitriy Vasilevich Barankin looked up at the clear sky. He sighed. For some reason, he was nervous before starting his cross country run. The adrenaline was pumping a bit too early. "Come on, start already!" he said inaudibly. His wish was granted, and he was off, skiing. Cross country was a harsh sport, where the trick wasn't to lead; it was to follow. No one could lead for 30 kilometers, and Dmitriy was glad that he wasn't starting off first. He accelerated, until his favorite speed, trying to balance the expenditure of joules between his arms and legs.

He saw a guy in a monastic robe ahead of him. Dmitriy thought about asking the guy if it's not too hot under the robe, but decided against that course of action. He noticed his fans, cheering him on. Dmitriy looked straight at the track. How long could he keep on looking? Eventually he knew that his mind was going to wander places, so Dmitriy decided to let his mind do a bit of wondering now. He remembered the warm jacuzzi, the full stocked bar, being surrounded by girls - oh those were the days. College life.

Why again did he sign up to be an Olympian? His gaze came back. The monk passed him, and Dmitriy accelerated a bit. The monk wasn't being very humble at all. He didn't stop to pray, and didn't pause to make snow angles. The guy was going for a Medal. So was Dmitriy. His mind wandered again...

Dmitriy saw the finishline. He saw that the monk was about to cross it. Dmitriy accelerated. "Damn it, gotta learn to keep my mind on track!" Dmitriy thought. He crossed the finishline, inching his foot forward. Third place.

His teammates met him with jokes. "Hey Dimochka why the third place?"
"He's gotta keep up the team's tradition!"
"Nah. He just couldn't beat a monk!"
"That monk wasn't humble at all."

The coach looked at Dmitriy sternly. "Barankin, your mind wondered again, didn't it?" the coach asked.

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier
Overshadowing "nothing personal"

NEVEREND, Liventia--Now for the fourth time in four Olympics, people from Zwangzug have won an Olympic gold medal...overshadowing a Zwangzugian medal of another color. This time around, it was bobsleigh duo Dianna Witter and Rose Delton who improved on their second-place position after two runs to climb to first overall. And meanwhile, Blythe Haust--considered relatively skilled, but the least so of our delegation to enter the women's cross-country 15-kilometer race--was taking a bronze medal there.

"I mean, as a personal thing, it's fine," she said, "but I just wish people could know that we have cross-country skiers who actually make an effort to get to the races on time."

Verity Liefsdotter and Irene Dotsch, who had been leading the bobsleigh after two rounds, were stronger on the third as well. Birgit Jakobson and Aino Iva, who would finish third, had the best time in that round with 52.89 seconds. But Hannah Kreie and Olivia Müller, who'd finished the previous day in third, didn't finish their final run.

"We knew we had a chance going in," said Witter (after some heavy transliteration). "To the last one. I took a minute to see what our time added up to, but Rose knew right away, we were in first by some distance. Then we just had to wait for the others--it was close, again, didn't realize it at the time either." Their cumulative time would be four hundredths of a second better than the Krytenian pair.

"I, um, had a good race," said Haust. "Having stretched and everything at the starting line. Where I was half an hour before the competition began, and from which I started along with the rest of the racers.

You know, Meg [Lievand-Howard] and Asilata [Zell] were there too. It could have been any of us, I'm obviously thrilled it was me, but also I'm, you know. This is kind of newsworthy."

Haust did not comment on the newsworthiness of Alexandre Wehree-Lier, Rafy Guitsu, Jasper McRidon, Kardie Ancholle, Casey Fedamott, Kiara Butry-Vorl, Dan Karonsmer, Hugh Spack, or Langford Batosbuand's 32nd, 53rd, 57th, 24th, 28th, 51st, 16th, 23rd, or 29th place finishes in other events.

[Liventia]

Day 13 results, including for the women’s winter pentathlon demonstration event, and (bonus!) an updated, full men’s winter pentathlon final table from Day 11 are now up.

[Yesopalitha]

A non-governmental blog about Yesopalitha's success at the Winter Olympics... With no names to ensure confidentiality

Yesopalitha's best continue to try their luck at the Winter Olympics, but the luck isn't with them.

Both the men's and the women's hockey teams were denied any further continuation by identical 1-0 scores. Curling also lost, and currently the best chance at another medal comes from the women's skeleton event where a Yesopalithan stands in third place after two runs.

"I think that we're being a bit overwhelmed by just how many athletes there are from all the sports," commented a player, "But we're working out butt off here, and I hope that the fans home can understand that we do try our best."

Meanwhile, many more Yesopalithan athletes have sent complaints to the government, stating that Ferkas's delegation seems very distant. The government is considering sending a letter, but will require a breaking point to do so.

Will the Flames win any other medals, at all? We shall see.

However, while this is going on in Liventia, the government home has unmasked a rather disturbing fact... They have received unanimous hints that point that some of the Yesopalithan delegation might actually be members of the Unbidden Horde.

"There are no confirmations yet," remarked an official, "But there are rumors that some of the athletes may have actually been Unbidden Horde members gone to Liventia in order to go into hiding afterwards and never return home. We will be closely monitoring the situation and seeing which athletes return or not. Or, it could just be one big rumor raised by a Horde sympathizer as a political tool. One thing is for sure - the government can't pass this over, not after the last incident where the Unbidden Horde actually attacked Freedom's Altar itself and destroyed the Headquarters of the Chosen of Zaiden, causing the government to have to build the Dark Cathedral.

"We will deal with this seriously," remarked the same official, "Rest assured that it will be taken care of."

What does taking care of entail? Only the government knows... Hopefully nothing too illegal... But we shall never know, will we?

Till next time,

Anonymous

[Ferkas]

[Whoops...the first section of this post is a condensed version of something I thought I had posted earlier last week, but I guess it never went through. Anyways, just pay attention to the "time stamps" above different sections I guess. I'll run a few parts together in order to catch up.]

Neverend, Liventia.
Evening Before Day 10.

"With all that said, I can't sign off on allowing her to continue competing. She obviously isn't healthy, her disorder is pretty far along. She needs to be sent home immediatly, and referred to the proper specialists. This isn't a healthy environment for her, the stress is compounding everything else. I'm afraid I'll have to sign an immediate release form."

Dr. Oscar Yillman, Chief MD of the Ferkian Olympic Team, looked across his desk to the only other man in the room, Mr. Simon Patrich. Mr. Patrich was the head coach for the Womens Biathlon Team and Yillman had been forced to call him in for a meeting after seeing Caroline Richards. She had been brought to him after passing out in her room earlier in the day, before dinner was served. It hadn't taken long for Dr. Yillman to figure out what was wrong, an eating disorder was preventing Ms. Richards from getting the nutrients that she needed. From what he could tell Caroline must have been suffering for some time before the games, but it was likely that the stress leading up the games had made things worse. He could tell that she had barely eaten at all since arriving in Liventia, and was rightfully worried.

"Well Doctor, that isn't really a choice right now, is it?" Patrich glared down at the doctor, being several inches taller than the other man. "We still have the relay event left, and Richards is an important part of our relay team. We need her here, she has to stay at least until tomorrow."

Yillman had to stop himself from slapping the coach. "You cannot be serious! She has to be sent home immediatly, so she can be treated in a proper facility! She can't stay here, much less be expected to compete!"

"Really Doctor, calm down. The relay is on Day 11, so she won't be here all too much longer. I highly doubt it will have any impact on her. She will stay, she can be sent home after that."

"No! I can't allow that! There is no way of telling what could happen. She is obviously depressed, who knows what she might do..."

"Yillman, shut your trap, alright?!" Patrich cut the doctor off mid sentence. "You know why the Ministry of Sport gave you this posting, right? I would suggest you tear up that discharge order. I would hate for certain information to break to the press. Your practice back in Ferkas would fall right apart, wouldn't it? I doubt your clients would want a doctor with that sort of past."

Yillman glared at the coach, then spoke in a voice so low that it was almost a hiss. "You know this is wrong."

"Frankly, I don't care." Patrich reached over, removing the paper from the doctors clipboard. "I'll be taking this. Have a pleasant evening, alright Doc?" He didn't wait for a reply, turning and leaving the room. He headed down towards the common dining area, figuring he would help himself to a beer. On the way down the hall to the common area he wadded up the paper and tossed it towards a trashcan. He didn't see, but it bounced off the rim and landed on the floor, with the Ferkian Olympic Crest visible for all to see.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Neverend, Liventia.
Neverend Ski Resort.
Day 11.

The Ferkian relay had gotten off to a great start. Ferchel had taken the team through right with the leaders, sending Curtham off in a very solid 4th position. Patrich couldn't help but smile to himself. So far the female biathletes had failed to measure up when compared to their male counterparts, but he felt confident about the relay chances. If they could nail a medal here then his job would be safe enough. He could already imagine calling back home after the ceremony, just to rub it in a bit with some of the guys back at the Association of Ferkian Biathletes. His smile grew even wider when Curtham came back in third place. She had moved up, they were in medal position! Richards left easily in third, with a sizable lead over the 4th place lady. His medal was all but a sure thing now!

At least so he thought...the first two teams had already come through...where the hell was Richards?! He saw another figuring drawing near...but the color wasn't right. Whatever Richards had done, it had cost them third, at least for the time being. But he calmed himself. If she came through close then Virchan could close the gap. That was why she was the anchor, she was the rock of the team. But Richards didn't come through close at all. He had to wait until 17 people had passed through before Richards finally came into view, barely ahead of another girl. It was pitiful! She was barely moving! He turned away, barely bothering to watch as Virchan departed for her leg, way back now in 17th place. Their medal, his medal, was gone. He made no effort to find Caroline Richards, who barely managed to unclasp her skis and move herself off the course. A waiting attendant helped her away from the course and she had to wave away the medical personnel who were concerned over the deathly whiteness of her face.

---------------------------------------------------

Neverend, Liventia.
Day 11, Evening.

"Patrich, get the hell out of here! I told you something like this would happen, now give the poor girl some space!"

Yillman rushed at the door of his temporary office, shoving at the coach when he tried to enter. "I don't want to see your face around here, you idiot!" He lowered his voice now that they were out of the room. "That poor girl is in a terrible state right now, no thanks to you. I told you flat out not to keep her here! Now look at what has happened!" He shoved the coach again, his face contorted with rage.

"Hey! Don't you shove me. Remember, you don't want to piss off the Ministry of Sport, do you?"

"I could care less right now! If Ms. Torchella hadn't returned to the room when she did then I don't want to think about what could have happened."

"Doc, shut the hell up and listen to me, alright? She is being sent home immediately, but we have to do this quietly, alright? I've contacted the transport manager, he has arranged for a transport plane to leave as soon as she is stable enough to fly. You can't go with her, the mandate requires you stay on scene. So pick someone to accompany her if she is going to need that, and get ready to go."

Yillman took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "We can have everything ready to go in about an hour. I want her to stay here at least that long so I can keep an eye on her. I'll have Dr. Ellerton accompany her, and I'll contact some friends of mine back home to get her properly admitted right away when the plane lands."

"Make sure that your friends can keep their mouths shut. The public doesn't need to know about this."

An hour later a van departed from the Ferkian section of the Olympic Village. It had been parked off in a dark alley which was checked before a side door opened. Several men came out, two pushing a stretcher. Alongside them moved two men carrying several IV stands, all of which were quickly and carefully placed into the back of the van. The stretcher was strapped in so that it wouldn't move, and two of the men climbed into the back of the van also.

Once loaded the van would move away as quickly as it could without seeming overly suspicious. It made its way out to the airport, where a small jet waited. The same loading process was carried out and the plane departed as quickly as it could to return to Ferkas. But this time someone may very well have noticed, it was impossible to secure an entire airport, especially if one didn't want anyone to know about the whole thing. Someone may very easily have seen a flash of red and gold on the doctors jacket as they moved quickly about. Either way, Caroline Richards was no longer in Liventia. She had been found the evening after the relay, passed out in her room, overdosed on diet pills and dehydrated.

[Qazox]

The Games of the
7th Winter Olympiad
Neverend LIVENTIA

Day 13 saw the beginning of the Skeleton events, the gold medal match in Curling and

RESULTS:
Women's Curling GOLD MEDAL MATCH: The Women's curling team finally advanced to a medal match, but were blown out of the water by Polar Islandstates. But desipte the loss, the women did earn Qazox' first medal in curling.

PIS 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 2 X 10
QZX 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 x  5

Skeleton (Men's 1st and 2nd runs): Kurt Carrel's only .34 second behind a medal postiition, so like the men's 2-man bobsliegh, 2 more good runs, coupled with a couple of slip-ups from those above him might be enough to get him a medal. Mike Arbodela was DQ'd for an illegal modification to his sled.

14  Kurt Carrel (QZX)                 52.89  52.75  1:45.64
114 James Moodie (QZX)                55.24  54.08  1:49.32
DSQ Mike Arbodela (QZX)                 DSQ             DSQ

Skeleton (Women's runs 1 and 2): The 3 women's skeleton team finished withing a half a second of each other, and given that all 3 are within a second off the lead, the final 2 runs could be interesting all around.

26  Tameka Lobue (QZX)                   54.04  54.46  1:48.50
37t Allyson Mcree (QZX)                  54.50  54.31  1:48.81
44  Loraine Dierks (QZX)                 54.53  54.47  1:49.00

Women's Snowboard Cross (qualifying): Jerri Reyes qualified for the Round of 64, suprisingly, and now she has a chance to win a 2nd medal. Lorrie Ariza qualified as well, while Carlene Ramerez and Joan Bembry didn't

27 Lorrie Ariza (QZX)                    1:27.17  1:27.20    1:27.17--Adv.
48 Jerri Rayes (QZX)                     1:29.33  1:37.51    1:29.33--Adv.
78 Carlene Ramerez (QZX)                 1:38.44  1:39.98    1:38.44--DNA
83 Joan Bembry (QZX)                     1:44.03  1:40.52    1:40.52--DNA

ROUND OF 64: In the round of 64, Lorrie Ariza was edged by Rachel Bailey by 0.01 seconds in Heat 6, while Jerri Reyes fell early, but did manage to edge out Henna Case for 3rd in her heat.

3 Lorrie Ariza (QZX) HEAT 6
3 Jerri Rayes (QZX) HEAT 16

Women's Curling team (Pic taken in Fromburg, before leaving for Neverend).

(clockwise) Gerri Hancock, Marge Doral, Susan Trent, Arlene Hammond.

[Polar Islandstates]

FROM: h.borgesen@surtseybid.gov.pis
TO: w.deverenko@surtseybid.gov.pis
CC: s.poelski@dosac.gov.pis
BCC: j.hannila@surtseybid.gov.pis, m.ottosen@surtseybid.gov.pis, h.meloy@surtseybid.gov.pis, f.skoglund@surtseybid.gov.pis, j.bernth@fpibcsports.pis
RE: Neverend

Hi Wolfgang,

Were you watching? Were you excited? I suppose you're after some huge great big e-mail about how I was there at the curling rinks and I was watching the finals - rejoicing and waving my flag each and every time our brave curlers scored against the Qazoxians or Chetkoskis - about how I was there, lump in my throat as they collected their medals and the Ode to Valhalla was played twice in quick succession - about how we partied long into the night and everything was fantastic - about how I love Liventia now...

Well, far from it.

I had intended to go to the curling rinks and watch, but decided first of all to do something noble and go and watch the skeleton runs. I know a skeleton run would be one of the things Surtsey would have needed to build custom for the games, and I also know Neverend did exactly that with theirs, so I thought I'd go down and see how theirs was done. You know, do a bit of research. It's what you've sent me here to do. I know, I'm passing off doing my job as something noble, how cheeky. But anyway, there I was, cheering on our skeleton athletes - who actually did quite well, as it happens. Astrid Rubin is sitting in seventh after two runs in the women's competition, albeit a good half second off the pace. And in the men's competition we've got Marian Gshalaev sitting in third, and Alexei Kollontai in eighth, and the men's competition is phenomenally close at the moment so I'll probably be back there tomorrow .

BUT ANYWAY - where was I?

Oh yeah. The skeleton.

Anyway, there I was, supporting our athletes, and Magret Lonnqvist comes down the run posting a good time that put her comfortably in the top twenty or something, and I go to congratulate her on her way to parc fermé for all of the official weighings and stuff, when some TV crews from I don't know where took that as a sign that she was done, and open for interview. Which of course she wasn't.

Consequently, she couldn't get away through the throng of interviewers, and missed the time limit on getting sorted at parc fermé. Needless to say, she was angry.

There may or may not have been a scuffle of some sort with the organisers.

She may or may not have been disqualified.

She may or may not have ended up with a bloody nose.

We may or may not have spent the rest of the night in a Liventian A&E getting her injuries seen to.

So, that was my evening. The most glorious night in Polar Islandstates' olympic history thus far, and I spent it watching a cracking and flickering static-filled television set above a doorway in hospital.

Spiffing.

Harriet

[Chetkosk]

Piste Off.
When you're stuck in a leg cast, there's only one thing to do...blog!

Well done, good effort, to the men's curling team. They were out-classed by the Polarians who are evidently accomplished curlers, what with their double gold in the sport. Still, it's nice to get another silver for Chetkosk's tally.

In other news, it was nice to see the ski jumping yesterday. It made me feel pretty sad I'm not out there, as I'm sure you can imagine, but spectating is always fun no matter how broken your leg is. Well... as long as you're pumped full of painkillers anyway. I don't think I would have got onto the podium if I was in Liventia anyway, the competition from overseas looked very tough indeed. Look out for me next time though, I'll be looking to prove myself wrong!

Don't forget to check out the Bandy tomorrow - both Chetkoski teams are now out, which is a shame as I'd have loved to have seen them go far in this. Both of the teams finished very strongly on the last matchday, but were not able to catch up to gain the qualification spot. Demonstration event or not, it's good to be displaying our prowess in this sport, and I can even follow it due to it's similarities to field hockey and football. Not that I'm any good at either of those, mind, and when you stick me in a pair of ice skates I'm likely to do even worse. Note to all readers: I'm only good at skiing-related sports, make sure I am picked last in team sports.

Anyway, what was my point? Oh yes, it's a great sport to watch and it deserves more viewing figures in my honest opinion.

Oh, and many thanks to the lady who was kind enough to point out that the title of my blog could perhaps be perceived as an attempt to imply some form of rude phrase regarding my levels of anger. Yes. Well done. It's a rather tenuous pun on the word "piste" and the word "p****d". It's supposed to be like that, and I advise that if you are worried your heart may give out at the thought of such "vulgar" an insinuation you stop reading my blog. Many thanks.

As always, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think or ask some questions you'd like me to cover in future blogs. Or send me flowers. That's what Abram did yesterday, isn't that lovely?! A long-distance call all the way form Neverend, Liventia, to a local florists here in Chetkosk. They're brightening up my room as I type.

Darya

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Gold - Abram Prudnikov - Biathlon, Men's 12.5 km pursuit
Gold - Danil Zablotny - Alpine skiing, Men's Super-G
Gold - Elizaveta Lvov - Alpine skiing, Women's super combined
Gold - Nikolai Petrankov - Cross-country skiing, Men's 30 km pursuit
Silver - Abram Prudnikov - Biathlon, Men's 10 km sprint
Silver - Pintusevich; Prokourorov; Borodin; Sharova; Neverov - Men's Curling
Bronze - Yan Tchaikovskaya - Biathlon, Men's 15 km mass start
Bronze - Isaj Grishkuv - Snowboarding, Men's Halfpipe

[Todd McCloud]

Nubile 'Missing' Since Performance
Reporting for V3 News Services, Rin Slakori

NEVEREND - Vanse Nubile has apparently been missing since his routine in the Men's 30 km pursuit event on Saturday.

"I don't know where he's gone to," his coach, Yanasmo Iglastrovyey, said earlier this morning. He filed a missing person report to Liventian authorities when the skier did not report to the Olympic Village for "over twenty-four hours."

Nubile, 23, hails from a small village in the Vekaiyun province of Caviru. Often described as a flamboyant and enigmatic personality, Nubile was known in and around his hometown for skating backwards and with his eyes closed in order to better "get in touch with nature and with the spirits around him."

"He always was a strange bird," Vekaiyun gold-medalist Sayli Siyarov said of the missing skier yesterday. "I mean that in a good way, though. I hope he's okay."

Strange circumstances have surrounded the athlete's disappearance. His equipment was not returned after his event. Things such as the blanket from his bed and complimentary soaps have gone missing from his hotel room. On his blog site, the skier posted an odd yet short message to his fans and family abroad:

What an invigorating day! I think I've finally achieved the moment. That moment. The moment when you feel like you can spread your arms and fly back in time.

I need to pursue this feeling. Too many things in my life are far too distracting and side track me to the ultimate goal of becoming one with nature. The whole competition thing really bothered me anyway. Totally distracting. Now it's time to really see how far I can go!

"I don't know what any of that means," his coach commented. "It makes no sense to me. He should've been working on his skiing drills rather than posting on the internet."

V3 News will continue to provide updates when they are received.