VII Olympic Winter Games — RP thread

[Shofercia]

Vladimir Letunov woke up, and did the warm up stretches. He checked his Skeleton Sled, carefully waxing the edges making them shine. This was the sled that he won the Gold Medal with a year ago. Vladimir looked up at the clock. After a quick breakfast, he placed his sled down on the ground. He lay on it, trying out all of the positions. Vladimir was ready to repeat last year's success. With a *knock on wood* he left the apartment, and headed towards the National Sled Centre.

His run was about to start. Vladimir took a deep breath, and pushed off. His sled began to accelerate rapidly. Vladimir knew the trick, which was to balance the sled with one's body. He became one with the sled, feeling the ice burn as the sled's razors cut through the track. Vladimir was approaching the finishline. He lunged his body forward, gaining that extra push. He looked up at the clock. Bummer! He had to do better.

His next run was about to start. Vladimir took a deep breath, and rapidly accelerated, faster than during his first try. He was now pushing his body to the limits. The ice burn felt real. A few icicles hit his goggles. A sharp turn was approaching. Vladimir tilted his body away from the turn, gaining even more momentum. Just as he was about to fly out, Vladimir applied the breaks, and turned swiftly. A split second, that's all it took to make the difference. Such was the wonderful World of Skeleton. Vladimir crossed the finishline. He jumped up, and looked at the clock: much better! Much, much better, if he could only repeat that performance tomorrow, Vladimir thought, while delivering a *knock on wood*


Roman and Tanya woke up after the party amongst fellow Shofercians, where they celebrated their Gold Medal Victory. It was strange. They woke up, and there was no practice to go to. No competition to look forwards. For the first time in five years, they had a vacation. A mailman knocked on the door.

"Are you guys Costy and Newbie?" he asked.
"We sure are!"
"A package for you from King Ilya Murometz, and here's another one from your coach, and another one from your fans."
"Thank you!"

The duo opened the first package. "Great job on the performance, it was truly awesome to hear our National Anthem twice, you guys deserve your month-long vacation! Included are the tickets to all sporting events in Neverend, Liventia, front row seats, and a credit card - owned by the Ministry of Sports. Enjoy it - you've earned it - King Ilya Murometz!"

"Wow, so, are we taking breakfast in the room?"
"Nah, I wanna travel a bit, check out Neverend. After the events we can go shopping, and then to Neverend's finest restaurant!"
"You got a deal girl! Let's do it!"
"Perhaps we should open the second and third packages first?"
"Sure, let's do it!"

They opened the second package. "Congratulations guys - you are my best athletes!" stated the Coach's message. "That was extremely gutsy, and don't think I didn't notice those triple and quadruple jumps changing places! I did! And that actually turned out better - well done! In the package are the Golden Skates, an award given only to Shofercia's Elite Figure Skaters. Enjoy them!"

"Wow, cool!"
"You wanna skate in them?"
"I wanna see the third package!"
"Open up!"
"You do it!"
"Fine!"
"Yeah, do me a favor Tanya, open our gift package!"
"Oh shush you!"

The duo opened the third package. Flowers, gift cards and an invitation to an amazing party.

"Looks like another busy day for us!" Tanya said, smiling.
"And off we go!" Roman chuckled.

[Liventia]

Day 14 results and demonstration elimination rounds now up.

[Qazox]

The Games of the
7th Winter Olympiad
Neverend LIVENTIA

Day 14

RESULTS:
Skeleton (Men's 3rd and 4th runs): Kurt Carrel struggled in his 3rd and 4th runs, and quickly dopped down the leaderboard and wasn't near a medal threat.

24  Kurt Carrel (QZX)                 52.89  52.75  53.00  53.07  3:31.71
102 James Moodie (QZX)                55.24  54.08  53.55  53.83  3:36.70
DSQ Mike Arbodela (QZX)                 DSQ             DSQ

Skeleton (Women's runs 3 and 4): None fo the 3 women from the Women's skeleton team could improve from yesterday's runs.

23 Tameka Lobue (QZX)                   54.04  54.46  54.33  54.09  3:36.92
44 Allyson Mcree (QZX)                  54.50  54.31  55.27  55.00  3:39.08
61 Loraine Dierks (QZX)                 54.53  54.47  56.50  54.94  3:40.44

[Zwangzug]

The Bassabook Baritone

Simple games for young people to play. Or whatever.

Table of Contents
Outsourcing protests: solidarity or nationalist silliness? Front page
Have the Nordics combined? What the federation might look like: International, A3
Final opinion polls for Passnet Parliamentary race: Statewide, A9
Sine: "Yes, I'm looking forward to not being the newbie. What do the cool kids call it?": Statewide, A10
We interview some guy from Zwischen back in the day who just kind of rambles a lot and is on an oxygen tank: Statewide, A11
Political correctness and the harm it implies for the basic units of society: Editorial, A15
Toira Perlsto recalls her Parmel District University days: Local, B1
More shared medals at the Olympics: Sports, C1
Hosts peruse Wiki articles, so we don't technically have to, but hot dang are there a lot of wiki articles: Scoreboard, C7
Special report on, like, black-market stuff: Business, C8
Point: the fact that I can't understand a word that comes out of our best-regarded snowboarder's mouth is a nonpositive reflection on the state of modern Zwangzugian society: Potpourri, D1
Counterpoint: she didn't win a medal anyway, and also dialects are important for cultural heritage on more local levels than a monolithic state should manage: Potpourri, D2
World Wide Web edition: I found a gross thing in my drain, and I am unsure where it has been

"You...didn't...write all these articles?"

"No. But. I'm gonna."

"No you're not, you're a sports reporter, you're going to write about the skeleton or whatever."

"And go off on tangents explaining the etymology of things?"

"No! Just...no. You're not! What has gotten into you? We have other people to write, like, all of these. Don't tell me you've started."

"I was just doing the skeleton article. And it--"

"We do not need this many words about multiple medals! Cut it."

"But we skipped yesterday--"

"Yesterday was the Sunday paper, seriously. Look, okay. This is a Sunday paper, in my hand, here. And this is a normal paper. Do you see what the difference is?"

"All of the news."

"Okay. With a normal newspaper, you can, like, swat a fly. With a Sunday paper, it's big, you can swat a...small hummingbird. You do not need to write enough words to, like, be able to concuss a zebra with that thing."

"Do you regularly kill hummingbirds with your paper?"

"Listen to me, you need to cool it here."

"Only I was planning an exposé on like pollution or whatever, but if you're murdering birds."

"Just stop. You need a break, anyway."

"Okay. But can I do the counterpoint?"

"Were you going to point/counterpoint yourself? No, no you cannot. Just step away from the keyboard."

"Er...maybe."

"No. No wonder you're padding your page counts. Seriously, let me handle this."

The newswriter finally moved over, letting the editor slide in. "Two golds for the women...fine...two bronzes for the men. What's this, the guy in second?"

"Yeah, very consistent there for a while! Lost it at the end, though..."

"No, I mean, what kind of a name is that? Victor Del Hugo III. Seriously, you'd think at least he could have been the victor of the thing..."

[Vulshain]

Vulshainian Olympic News Coverage: Winter Olympic Games VII

Alania Reinhilde Wins Silver Medal

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

Yesterday, one of Vulshain's skiiers managed to snag a medal, showing that a lot of practice and hard work truly pays. Alania Reinhilde won Vulshain a fourth medal, winning a silver in the Women’s moguls freestyle skiing event. "Yeaaauuh! I did it!" Alania was very happy, even though her sister Rebekka, didn't make it.

"Even though I didn't qualify, I'm still proud of my sister," Rebekka told VCNMN. When Alania got the silver medal, Rebekka was so happy, that afterwards, she hugged her sister.

"I think this shows that our athletes' determination and hard work has truly paid off," Velma Kayara, an official from the Vulshainian Confederate Olympic Games Committee (VLCOGC), said. "Despite the accusations from the Vulshainian Communist Party that our athletes are underperforming and have embarrassed Vulshain and her people, this clearly shows that such accusations are indeed false and untrue. Vulshain's athletes have always strived to do their best. Vulshain and her people are greatly proud of our athletes. They have worked hard to get here, and we have no intention of removing any one of them from these Olympic Games. In fact, we have no intention of ever removing any athlete who works hard and does his/her best from any sporting event."

Later today, Vulshain has another chance to score big in the Men’s moguls freestyle skiing event, where both Kayetan Adrian Achim and Augustyn Marwin Aras hope to do their best. "I might not be the best in this event, but I still plan to give it my all," Kayetan told VCNMN. "I don't really care about winning. All I care about is doing my best and having a good time. I've made a lot friends here from other nations, and I really don't like how the Communists are against these games. I mean the Olympics were made to promote friendship and teamwork between nations."

In addition, the other skiiers are practicing for their events as well. For example, Hiltrude Mathilde and Lilia Karolina are both practicing and training very hard for their event in the Women's Team Cross-country Skiing Sprint event, which is to be held in a few days. "We want to be well prepared and ready for our event," Lilia told me. "We have know each other for a long time now, and so it made sense to have us both take part in this event," Hiltrude said.

Other athletes are preparing for their events as well. On another note, when Coline Konstancja, girlfriend to the Vulshainian King's younger brother, Erik Rainard, was asked how are things between the two, she merely said, "We are keeping our distance from each other at the moment. Personal reasons actually." It seems that there is some tension between the two of them. Some are hoping that this tension doesn't spill over to the other athletes. In fact, some of the other athletes are trying to help fix their relationship. Evayan Meirain, silver medalist in the Men's Downhill Alpine skiing event, when asked about the tension, said, "We are all concerned about this. The two care about each other a great deal, and it concerns us that their relationship may be falling apart."

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.

[Cafundeu]

THE NEWS SOURCE
We bring you news

---

Some people are complaining on the streets, saying that the current Cafundelense delegation at the Winter Olympics lacks the talent and commitment of some previous Games, which would be reflected in the few number of medals won so far. But if we take a better look at the current worldwide situation in the sports and hear the opinion of the specialists, this point of view may be changed. The number of nations with capable athletes is growing at each passing year, increasing the competition in the events and, therefore, decreasing the possibility of Cafundéu to win medals. And, believe us, the Cafundelense aren't really specialists in winter sports in order to keep being on top even while the other nations improve: other nations, such as Quintessence of Dust, which is absent here in Neverend, and Kelssek, may have this capacity. But, due to the lack of proper places for the training of the winter sports and even the small interest of most people, since they live far away from the colder places, Cafundéu is unable to keep a large group of world class athletes.

Due to this, we can say that the current situation of Cafundéu in the Winter Olympics is not that bad. Five medals, a gold won in the snowboarding and a medal in ski jumping, our biggest sport and the one we used to be one of the favourite nations. Recently, a silver in bosleigh with Marcos Aurélio Viteli and Gustavo Muriel shocked the Cafundelenses, who seemed to be already used to the just average performances and couldn't believe in a medal in one of the most disputed events. A fan of the sport, who is often a target of jokes for living at the seaside and enjoying the Winter Olympics, commented: "It is always something special and nice to have a good surprise when you are not expecting one. I believe it is even a better feeling than to win a competition when you are expected to do that, because the feeling of achievement is not that big when the element of superation isn't present." Finally, in the last day there was another medal won, in a competition involving ski jumping but not restricted to it: nordic combined. Rogério Horizonte, former medallist in ski jumping, won his first medal in the new sport he embraced, commenting: "I have trained for this for such a long time, and it was excellent to reach a medal in my first venture in this new challenge."

[Yesopalitha]

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

Yesopalitha was able to secure a silver medal today by three hundredths of a second ahead of two other nations. It was the first medal in a while for the Flames.

"It was a close one," remarked the trainer of the athlete, "But he pulled through at the end, and we are happy for him."

There have been no further movement by the Dark Council's part to reach to the government of Ferkas... yet.

As for the saga concerning the Unbidden Horde, it was found that a team had put themselves into the World Cuppet II to be held in Polar Islandstates. Therefore, the Council will shift its attention from Liventia to Polar Islandstates and see where these Unbidden are coming from.

"Our apologies to the Liventian government," stated an official, "But it has been published by the organizers of the World Cuppet II that the Horde will be playing there. We shall see why they are letting such illegitimate entities play."

As for the Flames, four medals is more than they thought they would get.

Let us see if their luck continues at all.

-Anonymous

[Civil Citizenry]

"Excuse me, we've got a live show going on here. No autographs till after the show."

"Oh, sorry, I was looki-"

"We'll take a commercial break, stay with us on the Neverend Wrap-Up Show."

"I was just looking for the administration office."

"Well, it's down that way, it should be clearly marked. Actually, it wouldn't - after all, it is the administration office. Say, you look familiar."

"Just a confused autograph hunter," Clifford Beaman said with a nervous laugh.

"The only thing you're hunting is medals. I don't know who you are, but you look like an athlete. I need an interview - Margaret knows my ratings have dropped ever since I told Oswald Jerrell to go for a quadruple jump and he finished in seventeenth. You, sit over here. Dolly, makeup on him, please. Fifteen seconds? Hey, you, fifteen seconds till showtime."

"Well, I'm not really dressed, am I-"

"Welcome back to Neverend. I'm joined by a special friend of mine, tell us a little bit about yourself."

"I'm, I'm, Clifford Beaman, I'm a speed ska-"

"Clifford Beaman?! Holy shi- what a find- go on, go on."

"I'm a speed skater, I'm in four events, not for another couple days though."

"Yes, well, you must be very excited to get started, no? I mean, you're not hunting for autographs, only medals."

A pause. "I'm... yeah, I'm excited..."

"You should be excited, but if you don't mind me sharing an opinion which I was discussing before you wandered here. You've worked so hard to get this point, but let's be honest, whatever happens is really up to the forces of nature. At least, that's my opinion on the whole thing. Isn't it strange to think about, that something as grand as the Olympics isn't really in the control of the athletes? Whatever you do, it's already been predetermined. It was meant to happen that way."

"Who predetermines things, though?"

"Why, Margaret, of course. Some say she's the goddess of random numbers, but what she produces from her worn-out fingers and number-addled brain is not random. It's coherent, logical and sensible, and it forms the world we live in today."

"Do you have any proof that, uh, Margaret controls everything we do."

"The proof is in the strangeness of society. Like, look at how we've won the Seasogs trophy two years in a row. That's preposterous. Look at the Taeshanis - how have they managed to accomplish anything without a grasp of any language, certainly least English? Margaret does control random numbers, after all."

"You just said it's logic-"

"It's logical, yes, in comparison to what life would be like if there were nothing but random numbers. Computers are nothing but binary code, yet the binary code meshes together in a way that it can turn into something coherent, like a computer. It's the same thing with Margaret's thoughts. She may lord over random numbers, but whatever numbers she devises end up as what we know today as the multiverse."

Could it be that it wasn't his mom Órlaith who controlled his destiny, but some overarching goddess? But who said his destiny had to be controlled? You couldn't live your life knowing what you do has already been set out for you... then you wouldn't want to do anything. It'd take the lust and imagination out of life. But then, Clifford figured, he had lived to that point believing whatever happened in Neverend would determine the course of his final decades. But then, he further devised, what did it matter what happened in Neverend? And now he believed the Olympics were essentially worthless, and now he believed the lust and imagination of life had vanished.

[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,

Today I would like to write a little poem. I call it, Ode to Neverend...

Over sea and mountain top,
I ventur'd cross to Liventia.
To witness our olympians,
Enjoy their first adventure.
The city, it was Neverend,
In which we lay our scene.
Polarians flocked to see them,
Our very first olympic team.
Through curling pools and skiing,
And even snowball fights.
We watched and clapped enthralled,
Through countless days and nights.
Despite some dodgy flats,
Our athletes won some gold.
The facilities were patchy,
Some were new, some old.
And as I lay there, with bad back,
Ordering up room service,
I never thought the scene would be,
Repeated, although more nervous.
Yes, for you see, I'm right back here,
In Neverend A&E.
Nothing grand or impressive,
I fell over, and twisted my knee.
Collapsed in pain, I was helped to a taxi,
And made the long bumpy journey.
Its just a shame its been three hours,
Lying here on this gurney.
The field in the men's skeleton,
Has been round not once, but twice.
And still I lie here, unseen,
With nothing but a bag of ice.
So its a shame the Neverend A&E staff,
Are letting down their city.
As otherwise I wouldn't have time,
To write this little ditty.
I'd be back at the skeleton,
Cheering on Alexei.
Not sitting here with my leg in the air,
Silently wanting to cry.

Next e-mail may be from bed again...

Harriet

[Liventia]

Day 15 scores.

A reminder that tomorrow is a scheduled non-scorination day, and that the next scorination will be on Thursday, 1 March.

[Qazox]

The Games of the
7th Winter Olympiad
Neverend LIVENTIA

Day 15: 4-man bobsleigh and Short Track speed-skating begin.

RESULTS:
Bobsleigh 4-man 1st and 2nd runs: Four combined decent runs see both teams within reasonable striking distance of a medal after two runs for the 4-man bobsleigh. The team of Manor,Hobbes, Chambers and Mortensen sit just over .50 seconds behind the leaders. With a bit of luck, either or both teams could see the podium tomorrow.

14 Manor/Hobbes/Chambers/Mortensen [QZX1] (QZX)                        51.44  51.29  1:42.73
28 Manfredi/Handel/Duchene/Hardisty [QZX2] (QZX)                       52.22  51.28  1:43.50

In the men's 5000m relay for Shorttrack, the Olympic record fell in 3 consecutive rounds, first to the Stachlandi team, then to the Liventian team, and finally to the Thatian squad. But Polar Islandstates would take home the gold. In the women's 3000m relay, the old Olympic record was shattered by over 10 seconds by the Cyborg Holland ladies. Not only did they break the record, but 17 of the 23 teams in the qualifying round finished under the old record time of 4:15.807.

[Thatius]

Top to Bottom of the Short Track Skating World

How does one react to setting an Olympic Record in one round then not even winning a medal during the final? Depends on the athlete's priorities, really. Four short track speed skaters- Đorđe Stepjanović, Marko Petković, Hayden Kristianson, and Mark Siebeck- competed in the Men's 5000m relay. They made their way through all the qualifying events, starting with the preliminary heats.

In Heat 1, the team placed second behind Valanora. Alright, well now they would at least make it to the quarterfinals. No pressure, right? So in the quarterfinals, they again finish in second place, this time right behind the team from Polar Islandstates. Alright, semi-final time. Everyone knew this would be just as important as previous races- they could possibly qualify for the final. So what exactly would they place? Second again?

What Stepjanović, Petković, Kristianson, and Siebeck did next was more than unexpected. They broke the Olympic Record for fastest time, set earlier that day by Janson/Davis/Moore/Boulton of Liventia. Before them, the team from Stachland held the record, who broke the record held by Virabia. If you didn't understand this, maybe this well help a bit.

Who held/holds the record:
1.) Virabia -> Stachland -> Liventia -> Thatius

As for the official time, they finished with 6:43.570, breaking the earlier record by .027 seconds.

Mark Siebeck after the Olympic record-breaking semi-final race

So the team arrived back at the The Neverend Curling Club, ready to win this medal. They were greeted by a roar from many Thatian fans, who had grabbed last minute tickets to see the event. After they heard that they broke the Olympic Record, they had to be there to see the final.

What came was an utter disappointment. In the final race, Djordje, Marko, Hayden, and Mark finished with their worst time of the event- 6:45.300, much slower than the heats and the earlier Olympic Record. Overall they placed fifth, and therefore did not earn a medal. They were beaten out by Polar Islandstates, Stachland, and Krytenia, who had great times, but nothing near the record the Thatians broke.

The end result is nothing to be ashamed of. 5^th place in their first Winter Olympics? Hell, we'll take that any day. It could have just been the case of the nerves and pressure, to do better than their previously-set Olympic Record. Or maybe they just exerted all their efforts in the semifinal and couldn't pull it off in the final. No matter what, the Thatian relay team members are winners. They competed and set a record, and had the chance to earn gold. They can fly back home knowing they played their hearts out and nearly reached the peak. There is always next Olympics, where they can only hope to do better. It will certainly be a storyline to follow during the next Winter Olympics, wherever they may be.

[Liventia]

Blog: Is the Neverend Curling Club fit for skating?
James Anthony McGill
james.a.mcgill@sportsdesk.co.len

The Neverend Curling Club. An unassuming facility on the southeast outskirts of Neverend, from the outside it looks just like any other sports centre. A bowling arena, perhaps. At its heart, a curling facility, with 14 pristine lanes.

When it was announced that Neverend had won the right to host the Paralympics, the Curling Club was the obvious choice to host the wheelchair curling events. No problems there. What nobody expected was that the organisers and the Paralympic Association of Liventia would hold a visually-impaired figure skating competition too — and looked to the Curling Club to host it.

'Fine,' was the response, 'we'll do the figure skating after the curling.' In the space of one night, the boards and advertising hoardings separating the 14 curling lanes were cleared away, the surface was re-iced, and we had a nice, usable, figure skating rink.

Perhaps it wasn't a surprise when we were told the Curling Club was in line to host the figure skating should Neverend's Olympic bid win (which, as we know, eventually did). It was, however, amazing to hear that the bid committee and government were ready to pump money into expanding the Curling Club by building a whole new wing — and that not only would it host the figure skating, but also short and long track speed skating.

A good R£126 million later, the Curling Club's new wing, home to three different rinks, was opened to the public, boasting at the time the "fastest rink in the world" (I don't think they quite imagined how things would turn out...)

But, at the heart of it all, this is the Neverend Curling Club, not the Neverend Skating Arena. Is it really fit for skating? Why couldn't the extension be built as its own building? And the 'fastest rink in the world' claim. Yes, it's fast. Three Olympic records fell in the men's short track relay on the first day of timed skating competition, while the women's short track relay record was smashed by a whole 10 seconds.

Whatever the factors are, something's making that ice fast to race on. That perhaps only reiterates the point that this isn't a place for skating. It's a place for curling. The Neverend Curling Club.

[Yesopalitha]

The Drama Continues

On an otherwise slow day for the Yesopalitha team in the Winter Olympics, controversy has began to really swirl around the island nation. It had been stated by the Yesopalithan Olympic Committee that the racial statistics of its athletes would not be released in order to ensure confidence. Now, there have been evidence suggesting that the committee is not releasing the statistics because it does not follow the new Directive that Unbidden be allowed to compete.

"There are absolutely no Unbidden in the competition at all," spoke an official, calling anonymously, "They're hiding up a scandal here, keeping perfectly good athletes from competing. They should all be fired."

There have been no comments by the Committee on this accusation.

The exclusion of Unbidden athletes, and making sure that the athletes are all human, is a capital offense under Yesopalithan law. The Committee may even be dissolved over this incident.

With so much scandal rocking the Yesopalithan Olympic Committee and its athletes, some fans think that the entire Committee should be re-made; Others even say that Yesopalitha shouldn't compete in the Olympics at all.

"We read more about the red tape than about the athletes, man," commented a fan, "It's a disgrace to our nation, and just embarrassing."

What the Flames will have to do is still to be determined; however, things don't look like they're going to end pretty in Freedom's Altar.

There are only a few days left, and the athletes compete on...

[Civil Citizenry]

"What? Of course you can't withdraw. Uh, no, uh, absolutely not. Why are you even asking?"

"I guess I just feel like I won't be able to represent the country the way it deserves."

"And do you think that's a logical excuse?"

"Considering it's the Olympics, I think it's logic-"

"Logic doesn't apply right now! Your first event is supposed to be in two days. How do you suppose we find replacement entrants? You have to call them up, get them on a shuttle plane to Bartewick followed by a jet to Neverend, if they even allow jets, I don't even know, then you've got to make sure they're wired spending money, find rooms for them in the Olympic Village, Christ, where would you house them, all the rooms are booked, they could take your room if you're leaving now, are you?, because if you are, you'll need to find a way home, hopefully they allow freaking jets to get home, you may just need to take a regular plane, I wouldn't fly Modrair, it's a real hassle, and then you've got to prepare the new entrants, think about how emotional it must be for them to suddenly have the Olympics thrust upon them, the Olympics! for Christ's sake, how could you think of withdrawing, then you've got to get them acclimated to the rink, introduce them to the trainers, oh Lord, then you must make sure they and their equipment fit Olympic regulations..."

Clifford wandered out of the administration office. He'd had quite a run in with long-winded people - yes, they must be natively Audioslavian, he thought. Neither of them would stop speaking long enough to get a word in edgewise; yet in some form or another, they'd given him some food for thought.

He was bound to participation, and bound to its effects, regardless of the result. He had wanted to withdraw, had wanted to go home, go to college, get a day job, and settle into a calm lifestyle. He wanted to show all the gods and goddesses, immortal or otherwise, that his fate could not be controlled. Yet nothing could deter fate from getting the best of him, it seemed.

What did he want his fate to be, anyway? Assuming contesting a medal was his only option? He pondered what his mom would want. As much as he resented the power she wielded over him, he did love her and had always felt a taut tie to her affection. Well, of course his mom wanted him to win. He couldn't disappoint her - the strain on her poor, inhalant-filled body would be too great. He couldn't live knowing he had slain her - oh, not with a sword, this wasn't fencing; but emotionally, she had invested her post-competitive life in his success.

What if Margaret had sealed his fate already, and she plotted to have him fail? He could never upend fate, he could not conquer the immortals above. But then he realized the only immortal he knew, the only one he had solid proof of, was his mother. And yet her chosen fate was to have him succeed. So the only way to conquer Margaret was to medal, and the only way to conquer Órlaith was to not medal.

The way to conquer any master of fate, he decided, was to do whatever he wanted to do, not whatever his lord required him to. What he wanted was to please his mother - his loving, caring, endearing maternal guardian. So to conquer his one true master - Órlaith - he must carry out what she had planned him to do, even before he became a speed skating prodigy. He must win.

Was this confusing? Fucking right, it was. Keaton Drake couldn't have muddled this up any more than I have, he thought.

---

If anyone was pumped about the inauguration of the Olympic short track events - and everyone was pumped - they were most excited for the men's relay. ESCN-O scheduled it in its biggest primetime slot, nine o'clock Meridian Time, around when Citiz and Aelsh bureaucrats spend their "nights off" formulating lists and Mytanar children take their fourth round of shots. During the Citiz team's opening heat, fans wiled away the six minutes wondering how to pronounce the Carmadese names and devising witty puns on the name "Ferkas". The fun was lost in the final minute, when Isaac Peters made a furious dash to the finish and overtook endurance skater Yale Whittaker to qualify by just over a tenth of a second.

Two events transpired as a direct result of the Citiz' failure. One was very few people even cared about the Olympic record being broken thrice. The other was, people were too engrossed celebrating over the delegation's second gold medal - in the women's version of the event. Written off as being a mish-mosh of potential stars and despicable failures, they won every heat en route to upsetting the heavily favored Kelssekian and Krytenian representatives.

No one really paid notice when the Citiz women won their heat. After all, it was the slowest victorious heat time of all, and Ada Stancil's disastrous leg (completed in 1:38:02) actually made the two-second winning margin much closer than it appeared. It was just past six, too, when a lot of potential viewers are chowing down on dinner. Analysts' eyes and ears perked up when the relay squad solidified a spot in the semifinals... which sounds cool, until you realize a) there were only three competitors, one was disqualified and the other two advanced; and b) there is no such thing as a short track speed skating analyst.

In the semifinals, things were looking bleak as the Kelssekians and a pack of bears took the ice. Thankfully, Kelssek's Maria Schrynko clipped the awry skate of Cyborg Holland's Quinell, disqualifying the Cyborg team and putting the Kelssekians out of contention for that race. Then, as it turned out, a pack of ursine athletes are still massive, galumphing ursines; and the Citiz managed to pull ahead and auto-qualify for the final race.

The final - now at around 7:30 MT, just as peak hours were starting to hit - attracted quite a bit of attention. The Citiz were expected to crumble with more veteran teams in the pack; indeed, lead skater Eda Kirkleigh fell behind quickly. By the second leg, Taylor Renshaw had taken control of the baton, and was starting to make a charge - but was forced to slow down to avoid a skirmish up ahead. One of the Ursines tripped, forcing Innka Loreili to the ground and setting Schrynko - the very same Kelssekian - back a smidge. With the Ursines out for the count, and the Vilita & Turori combined team three-quarters of a lap behind, the medal contenders were set - but the order was not.

The heavily-favored Krytenian squad was the first to falter: Pauline Law and Charlotte Cobley got jumbled in the transfer from third leg to fourth, and Cobley slipped too far to contend, though she did fight madly to finish just three seconds behind the silver medal. The Olympic record may not have been on the minds of Love Sterling and Laure-Anne Ladommage, but they sure challenged it in their final leg, setting a blistering pace. "We were really just pushing each other to go harder," Sterling said post-race. "It was so exhilarating: one minute of the most intense experience anyone could imagine. We both wanted it so much, and that spurred us to speed up faster than our limits suggested we could."

Neither skipped a beat curving around turns, narrowly missing the dividing barrier rings, their eyes dead-set straight ahead, the emblematic red and black fastened on Sterling and Ladommage flashing the great blue Kelssekian maple leaf on her chest. With everyone on the edge of their seats, Sterling got a nose, a head, a leg ahead - and held onto the lead for the gold. Love Sterling, a name straight out of central casting, and her teammates had pulled off a stupendous upset no one thought was feasible.

A sterling finish, indeed, and one that has captivated the country. Excitement was always high for the speed-skating portion of the Neverend Olympics, but all the commotion has finally culminated in at least one gold medal. The gold vaults the Citiz delegation to eleventh on the medal table, despite having just three medals - a far cry from the fifteen of host Liventia. Nevertheless, for a warm-blooded nation that was happy to have won two bronzes in Ashton, the results thus far have been promising. What would be satisfying, though, is more of the same. Renshaw seems to be the Citiz' best chance at a medal in women's short track; on the men's side, Dean Marland and Preston Udolf have been training well and seek to contend for a spot on the podium. Elsewhere, the Citiz four-man bobsled team is slotted seventh after two runs, posting the second-best time in the second run and just .31 seconds behind the Babbagian frontrunners. The women's ice hockey team will conclude a long layoff in several days with a semifinal match versus Darmen, a medal all but guaranteed.

[Kelssek]

"...so I lost my balance a bit, and I just did too much I think, overcorrected. Next thing I know I'm sailing through the air, I see a gate coming right at me but I go right through it, sliding backwards down the slope. They said it was a pretty spectacular wipeout."

"Uh huh."

"But of course I'd missed the gates, so I was disqualified," she finished, looking dubiously at Jacob's beer gut and the athlete pass dangling from his jacket. "So what were you here in Neverend for?"

"I'm on the bandy team. We're in as a demonstration event, you see. It kinda started when my beer league hockey team rented the wrong rink at the community arena, and it was actually a lot bigger..."

Jacob turned around just in time to see her exclaiming to a man wearing a knee brace and a T-shirt that said "Gambatte Shouhei" in English and Japanese, "Oh, you're Eito!"

Jacob pursed his lips and stared at the pub's TVs. Usually he didn't like the distraction they posed.

"Yeah, I was so sorry to hear you weren't going to compete in the Olympics cause of the injury, but it must have been so cool to see your brother win right?" the attractive, lively young woman with perky tits said, not to him.

Jacob stared at his beer and involuntarily thought of his wife, children, and office job back home. He felt a sudden and terrible pang of despair.

[The Archregimancy]

THE MONASTIC TIMES

OLYMPIC SQUAD BREAK LENTEN VOW OF SILENCE TO PROTEST CROSS-COUNTRY GOLD MEDAL
Team Spokesman 'Outraged'

By Fr. Nicholas the Scribe

The Archregimancy have intentionally kept a low profile during the current Winter Olympics - not least because the second half of the Games has coincided with the beginning of Great Lent, meaning the team has been unusually busy with liturgical duties, and has been keeping a vow of silence in their interactions with the heretical and heathen media - but team spokesman Fr. Vasily the Heavily Accented broke cover last night to express his 'outrage' at the Monastic Republic's surprisingly easy triumph in the men's cross-country relay.

"Is outrage! The other teams they have not been doing the trying!" said Fr. Vasily. "I am doing the demanding that they be doing the re-running of the event with extra seconds being added to Archregimancy time, no? How dare they be doing the letting of us the win! By two seconds they are winning! Are the other teams not having any of the pride?"

Fathers Vladimir, Igor, Alexander, and Alexei were said to be desperately attempting to hand back their gold medals last night, though only the Chenkorya Committee was said to be supporting the MOC. "We've already had to sit through the Archregimancy nation anthem once" said an anonymous Polar Islandstates athlete "Frankly, after forcing us to stand through a two hour medal ceremony the least they can do is accept their gold medals and stop whining".

Vice-Admiral Royston French, chairman of the local organising committee refused to be drawn on the controversy, except to note that he was surprised at the reaction from Fr. Vasily given that the OCSWO had respectfully played the entire Archregimancy national anthem in full - without cuts, and without being sped up. "I rather thought they'd be pleased" said a clearly surprised Vice-Admiral French.


In sport, the Monastic Olympic Committee have nonetheless expressed satisfaction at the Archregimancy's failure to win any other gold medals, though the doubles luge squad had a near miss, only successfully avoiding the gold by .138 seconds. Even more worrying was the performance of Fr. Alexander Who Endureth, who finished second in the men’s 30 km pursuit cross-country event by a mere .1 of a second - as statistically insignificant a margin as can ever be found in cross country skiing. Charges that Fr. Alexander 'stopped trying on purpose' in the final moments of the event in order to desperately avoid winning gold were vigorously denied by Fr. Vasily, who called the accusations 'outrageous'. Nonetheless, one can only imagine the humiliation Fr. Alexander would have felt if he had been forced to return as a double gold medallist; a gold and a silver is surely embarrassing enough.

The MOC have been disappointed that no monastic athlete has managed to finish last in his event, though Fr. Dmitri the Deluded did place an encouraging seventh from bottom in the men's individual figureskating, and the curling team almost managed to lose every match - a performance that has seen the squad receive considerable praise back home in the Monastic Republic. Fr. Thomas the Fearless' disqualification from the skeleton event was, alas, merely on a technicality rather than a display of humility as the skeleton technical oversight committee decided his magnificent beard was a safety hazard; Fr. Vasily decried this decision as an 'outrage'.

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier--online edition

In case you haven't been following the international news, James Anthony McGill (do we just get to call him JAM?) of Liventia has been criticizing the decision of the Neverend Curling Club to hold speed skating events. Not being a fan of speed skating myself, I din't particularly care, but it's an interesting read.

He notes that "the women's short track relay record was smashed by a whole 10 seconds." Is this a lot for skating? You can tell I'm not a fan, heh. I guess on an, um, short track, every second counts. But that's just an educated guess, right. But even if it was, would that necessarily be a bad thing? We're at the Olympics to see the best performances in the world. (Are there any other performances for speed skating? Again, not a fan.) Might as well break the records.

So, JAM concludes, "It's a place for curling. The Neverend Curling Club." But seriously, is just going off of the names the only way to make these decisions? By that logic the Jóquei Clube Sangue Azul back in Lasft should not have hosted horse racing or archery, just field hockey.

Comments:

borchmeister: Um, you do know that it's a cognate of "jockey" as in horseback riding, right? Not hockey.

kerlagradmin: It's totally hockey. It's Portuguese, which is like Spanish. Which I speak. Sort of. Anyway it does mean hockey.

borchmeister: No, in fact, I checked online and you are wrong, but thanks for trying.

cubist: "this is the Neverend Curling Club, not the Neverend Skating Arena" Couldn't it just be a skating club?

wormglob: No, clubs are too friendly for quitters like international curlers. Only arenas are good enough for really competitive people like skaters.

supertreble: So this is what the educational reformers have brought us. Glad at least someone knows how to read.

etoon: For the record, if you'd bothered to watch the event and not just follow whatever you have compatriots in, you would know that the new record is 4 minutes, 5.864 seconds, set by the team from Cyborg Holland (before their semifinal disqualification).

4brijfan: robots on is lol sounds likle

etoon: ...It's the name of a sovereign state.

piqueco: Where's Will Karowick and the Olympic Tour when you need them?

borchmeister: His home in Anchett, and Kelssek.

[Shofercia]

"Hey!" stated Vasily, as he met his close friend, Vova, at the Olympics. "What are you doing here?"
"Saved up my money to come and cheer for our Olympians - what about you?"
"About the same!"
"Biathlon was disappointing - you wanna enter for next year's?"
"Yeah, except we gotta learn how to ski!"
"At least we know how to shoot" stated Vova, as the duo began to laugh.
"Well I found out what the heck curling was, and apparently we know how to sweep it up!"
"Nice pun!"
"What are you punks talking about?" stated a rather rude fan.
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" asked Vova.
"If you're up for-"

The rude fan was on the ground in a milli-second, with a broken arm, and not wanting to get up.
"Vova - how many times do I have to tell you, we're not to use our military training in street fights!"
"Yeah, you see anyone watching?"
"Good point."
"So curling-"
"Yeah, it's interesting. I still don't get how that sport works!"
"Neither did I. So what about the next day?"
"Can't believe they had an error involving Beerkin. Seriously - WTF?"
"Yeah, we'll-"
"No, we aren't going to beat up the organizers. Why do you wanna get into trouble so much?"
"I miss the action!"
"You've been out of it for how long?"
"A few weeks. BTW - what's the point of Luge?"
"You're supposed to go downhill really, really fast. Maybe you should try it - with your adrenaline rush!"
"Sounds great!"

The duo were walking and talking. They approached a bar.

"Hey - can we get a pitcher?"
"Sure thing! You guys have IDs?"
"He means our driver licenses-"
"I know, I wasn't going to beat him up, or pull out that-"
"Thing that you're not supposed to mention?"
"Yeah."

The duo chugged the first pitcher, and sat down to enjoy the second.
"Day three was awesome - go Ski!"
"I guess the name suits her!"
"Indeed. So day 4?"
"More Biathlon terror. Seriously - where did these guys learn to shoot?"
"At least our Lugers figured it out on Day 6!"
"Damn straight! Go Logger and Merkuriev!"
"And then we went medalless for a couple more days."
"The solution is clear - more beer!"
"And then came Dada's amazing win. I've never seen him snowboard so well."
"Yeah, Evgeniy's gonna be a rock star when we're back in Shofercia"
"Remember what Kelly Clark and Sammy Shot did for Biathlon?"
"That was awesome. It just took off after they're victory."
"But that wasn't just a Gold Medal - it was how they got it - didn't lose a single game!"
"Just like us, we didn't lose a single battle!"

*knock on wood*

"Although the best part of this Olympics has been figure skating. Never thought I'd say it - but it's true. Costy and Newbie got out National Anthem played twice!"
"That was wonderful for Roman and Tanya - and have you seen their quadruple jumps?"
"Yeah, truly amazing. The couple from Liventia gave them a run for their money!"
"Ya know, in Bandy, our women's team is up against Liventia, right?"
"Yarr - host nation, we meet again!"

[Liventia]

Day 16 results and demonstration results now up. Apologies for the delays and slightly truncated schedule.

[Qazox]

The Games of the
7th Winter Olympiad
Neverend LIVENTIA

Day 16: 4-man bobsleigh concluded

RESULTS:
Bobsleigh 4-man 3rd and 4th runs: The team of Manor,Hobbes, Chambers and Mortensen moved up to 9th with 2 more great runs, but they weren't quick enough to earn a medal.

9  Manor/Hobbes/Chambers/Mortensen [QZX1] (QZX)                        51.44  51.29  51.20  51.47  3:25.40
22 Manfredi/Handel/Duchene/Hardisty [QZX2] (QZX)                       52.22  51.28  51.44  51.28  3:26.22

[Stachland]

Speed Skating Teams Redeem Stachland's Winter Olympic Effort
by Witold Elliott

It seemed, for the longest time, as if there would be no medal for the Stachlandic athletes in Neverend this year. While it would only make sense—Stachland is, at best, a temperate country, and is subtropical by official standards—it would be a great disappointment for a nation that has never found itself with no podium performances in any previous event of this kind.

The men's five thousand meter relay team finally broke the drought, as Pavel Preisner, Arthur Hollinger, Ell Freimchus, and Matthew Porter earned a silver medal, set an Olympic record of 6:43.602 in the event—then managed to hold that record for nearly half an hour before it was broken by the team from Liventia, and then again, in the semifinals, by the team from Thatius.

In the finals, the four placed a close second, only losing out to the team from the infamously frigid nation of Polar Islandstates.

Then, yesterday, the women's team pursuit event proved to be fruitful for Violetta Berent, Eliza Dawn, and Ania Fleetwood, as they made their way through to the quarterfinals, qualifying eighth and defeating the team from Kagdazka and Pazhujebu on their way to a confrontation with Civil Citizenry in the quarterfinals.

In those quarterfinals, the quartet performed marvelously, and managed to rank first of all eight teams still in the competition. The semifinals for the event tomorrow should see things heating up even further on the ice rink, and with the fast times being recorded in multiple events here in Liventia, who knows what Olympic records may be still to fall...

The speed skating segment of the Olympic schedule is only just beginning, and this is one area where Stachland's athletes truly excel. Speed skating captivated the public at the Pan-Stachlandic Games Exposition nearly three decades ago, and the sport would seem poised to do the same here in Neverend, Liventia.

[Todd McCloud]

Nubile Still Missing
Reporting for V3 News Services, Rin Slakori

NEVEREND - The situation has moved from the unusual to the downright bizarre as the search for Vanse Nubile continues.

Since Saturday, the 23-year old skier from the Vekaiyun province of Caviru has not reported to Olympic Village where all athletes are staying during the course of the Olympic games. Yanasmo Iglastrovyey, Nubile's coach, still does not know where he is, but has offered a plethora of ideas.

"What if he was taken hostage?" Iglastrovyey warned. "I wouldn't be shocked if we got a ransom note over the course of the next few days. Worse, what if he was murdered? Does that still happen in this day and age? Or, what if he was drugged?"

His coach has offered a ransom of V1,500 Veskonos for his safe return.

Though it doesn't seem like Nubile would be all that interested in a return. In his dorm, police confiscated a video camera placed near his knapsack, which contained a tape with over seven hours of video footage, mostly containing a video diary of Nubile speaking about a "transformation" and "wanting to become what he's destined to become". Nestled within these video diaries was Nubile showing off pictures of a modified Vekaiyun skiing outfit, complete with flaps that bear a striking resemblance to wings.

His last diary informs watchers that he will be 'moving on' shortly after his 'final ties' to his past life are severed.

"I realized I couldn't just do this back in Vekaiyu," he confessed in his last entry. "That would be irresponsible. I was given this opportunity to make my nation proud, and I'll do my best. But after that, I'm free."

An investigation into his whereabouts has been on-going since the first report of him missing from the village. Authorities suspect the athlete may have been trying to fly.

"We're not sure what all this means," a Vekaiyun officer confessed. "But if we put two and two together, certain scenarios add up. I hope he is alright." The officer later admitted an investigation into any substances the athlete was taking has begun.

V3 News Services will continue to publish updates as soon as they are available.

[Thatius]

Jacob Jakowski - A blog about the Olympics
Day 16: Cold and no results

It's cold. Yeah, thank god I have my gloves and cap, otherwise my ears and hands would have fallen off by now. Frankly, I'm surprised that my nose has made it two weeks so far. The cold wind just keeps blowing, and makes me only think 'when will this be over?' Don't get me wrong, I love watching and reporting on these Olympic Events. In fact, I'm having the time of my life just being here in Liventia. But it's cold.

The Liventians probably just laugh at most of us Thatians, who are used to warm weather mostly year round. Unless you are from Northern Kasern or The Valley, of course. For the rest of us, including myself, we experience warm temperatures year round. I'm from Portalegre, in the southern islands, and it never gets this cold ever. The Winter Olympic athletes from Thatius don't complain, but let me tell you, all the reporters and media crew are. I guess that's what we get for being spoiled while working in places like Korcyka, Aeropolis, and Eisenstadt, where the temperatures are always in the 60-70 degree range. The only media crew from Thatius who isn't complaining is the one from Trnava, Northern Kasern. They basically sleep in their winter clothes because it's so cold up there.

But onwards to the results! Ah, there aren't that many. The Thatian Olympic Committee decided not to enter a bobsleigh team, so no Thatian bob sleighers were in competition today. Max Garrigeuz, Bryan Harmon, and Carl Fjordstrom, the main Thatian bobsleigh team, wasn't entered for an unknown reason not revealed by the committee. Speculation indicates that they were not included on the official roster because of their past party history. Yep, the tabloids report every few months about Max and Carl, who are often seen partying, while Bryan is more promiscuous and has a wild social life. Probably didn't want to include people who would give the country a bad name.

So the only event where Thatians participated in was the Men's Cross-Country skiing event- the Team Sprint. Trying to qualify for Thatius were Novak Pijetlović and Mirko Nišović, both of whom are some of the best, if not the best, men's cross-country skiers. Unfortunately they placed seventh with a time of 18:56.3.

We cannot be too disappointed with them, seeing as Thatius still remains in a really good position on the medals leader board- currently at sixth. With many more events left, we have the chance to earn more medals and climb up the board. So far, it's been a great Olympics for Thatius. Now we can only hope that we finish strong.

[Civil Citizenry]

There a ton of different ways to consider the Olympic four-man bobsled race. Citiz would organize a multi-level bureaucracy commemorating the gold medal. Zwangzugians would try to estimate the average velocity per picometer traveled, which is equivalent to a bajillionth of the entire race and therefore entirely critical. Taeshanis would cry about not winning outright, for a few seconds, anyway. And everyone would wonder how to pronounce the last-place SLANI squad of Bæg, Bæg, Čitaković, and Gurulo.

But none of that makes a difference. What really matters is the women's speed skating pursuit team taking on three doctors from Landau Institute for seventh place. Don't forget, now. That race is Da Ultra Mega Bomb, homey.

---

"Can you believe how far we've come? I mean, today's the day. We've been together since God knows when."

"Yeah, but do you really think we can do it?"

"Of course we can. You know how we got here? A little bit of talent, a lot of hard work. And we've won a lot together."

Clifford spoke up. "Guys, I- I-" He faltered.

"Calm down, bro," Wesley Blackburn said. "You know how many races we've won. We just gotta do the same thing we've always done."

"But this isn't the juniors anymore. We're not racing in some dumb Trewich regional amateur tournament. This is the real goddamn deal."

Colton Arledge jumped in again. "Look. Look at what we're doing - the same routine we've followed since we were, what, 11? We sit in a little circle and pump each other up, get ourselves in a racing mindset. Then we go out and race the way we know we can. We just take what we've imagined should happen, and execute it."

"I know, I know. And it's worked a ton, I know."

"So what're you griping about, bro? You can't think like that - like we don't have a shot. That's the wrong goddamn mindset."

"I just don't wanna let you guys down."

"If anyone falters, all of us go down. Regardless of who it is that screws up. None of us takes the blame, the fault is on all of us."

"That's true, bro. But we're gonna win, na mean?"

"Yeah. Think about all the people who want us to go out there and represent. Represent Bartewick, represent Civil Citizenry. They expect us to come through.

"We're gonna come through, bro."

---

"Dear Clifford, I am Stockwell Coolidge, president of the National Excited Under-drugged Reviewers Of The Ice Competitions (NEUROTIC) Association. I would like to let you know that my entire organization is very, very, very, very excited and pleased to see you compete in the Olympics tonight. You will do great, fantastic, magnificent, stupendous, perfect! Please, please, please, go out there and win a medal - we're all very expectant of you to bring success, joy, happiness, beauty, amazement to our lives!"

"Dear Mister Beaman, My nmae is Ed Pickford. I live on 768 Elm Street in Thugfield. Im in Ms. Sherborn's 2nd grade class. I want to say that you are really kool and i drew a piccher of you in class yesterday. Please win gold accept i dont have a gold crayon so if you win gray or brown medal ill be happy too."

"To Whom It May Concern: Mr. Beaman, please pay your rent. A check for all your winnings in the Olympics, plus your gold medal, will suffice if necessary."
Note: Clifford did respond to this email: "To Whom It May Concern: I'm seventeen years old and live with my parents. And no money is won in the Olympics. However, here is a commemorative shut-down note signed by the Citiz Internet Security Administration."

---

The pressure. The expectations. Holy Christ, how did anyone manage to cope with the weight of so much hope from the hoi poloi? There were millions of Stockwell Coolidges out there who would be cheering for him when he took the ice. No one gave half a crap about the amateur tournaments he was used to competing in. Now he had to defy the odds just to match expectations - and the expectation was that he'd guide the speed skating men's pursuit team to a gold medal.

He didn't want all this attention. He understood that if fate said he should falter in Neverend, then he would be disappointing all those people at home - and there'd be nothing he could do about it. If failure was his chosen path, that failure would resonate, and Clifford could do nothing to halt the reverberations. If he won, well, that'd be great (and fantastic, magnificent, et al). But if he didn't - and pure mathematical odds suggested he wouldn't - it wouldn't just be a loss for him, it'd be a devastation for an entire nation.

In his first days in the Olympic Village, he may have responded to this digression by postulating that it didn't matter what he tried to do tonight: various masters of his fate would pull the strings in whatever fashion they wanted, and trying to win or lose would be worthless. He was past that stage, now, though. He could defeat his enemies, his mother, his expectations, Margaret. For his mother, he had to win - he had to justify her intensive love and care. For his expectations, he had to win - he had to justify his followers' belief and trust. For Margaret... no one could say, certainly least of all he. But now he believed it was possible to master fate. The only way to master fate, he decided, was to believe that it was possible in the first place. Then the chips would fall as they may, the dice as they roll.