Games of the VII Olympiad - RP Thread

[Ferkas]

Glorious Success in Men's 5000m

Reper Proves Critics Wrong, Noversky Avenges 10000m Issues

Published In: National Sporting Review

The afternoon of Day 11 was lead off by one event, the Men's 5000m Run, and the only word to properly describe it is...

Victory.

Ferkas was represented by Kyle Reper, Olympic Steeplechase Gold Medalist from the V Olympics, and Christopher Noversky who had also qualified for the 10000m run. It must be assumed that both athletes entered into the race seeking one thing above all else, the illusive gold medal. Of course it would be impossible for them both to finish first. So they did the next best thing, sweeping the top two spots in an unprecedented show of athletic ability and Ferkian distance running prowess.

Reper would get the win, notching his second Olympic medal with his time of 12:58.90. Noversky followed close on his heels, snatching the silver in a time of 12:59.03. Finishing behind them was Traknar Ashin (KOR), who ran 13:00.50 to round out the podium spots.

It was a truly impressive showing, both athletes demonstrating impeccable race savvy as well as their peak physical condition. The race started off slow, the first several laps passing in around 13:25 pace. After that the pace began to pick up, gradually until the 3200 meter mark. There, with a mile left, Noversky muscled his way to the front of the pack, Reper close on his heels. The pair cranked down the pace, alternating the lead every two hundred meters in an attempt to break the field. The move worked, the strain becoming obvious on the faces of many athletes, although Reper and Noversky both maintained their composure. When the bell rang with one lap to go the runners were side by side and all bets were off. Noversky maintained the lead through the first turn and down the back stretch, with Reper snatching the lead going into the final turn.

They were neck and neck around the far bend and pulled into the final straight right next to each other. They were stride for stride down the home stretch, bringing the crowd to its feet as they stormed away from Ashin and Peterson (CPS). Reper finally pulled away over the last ten meters, not by much, but by just enough to earn his gold. Noversky came spilling across the line just a fraction of a second later to secure his place in history. The pair were quick to embrace, smiles and cheers were easily forthcoming.

After the race and award ceremony both men were understandably ecstatic. Noversky commented that "For a first Olympics, this is massive. I mean, Reper is one of my best friends, my closest training partner, and the 5000 has been one of my favorite events for so long. To get a medal, especially after that 10000 playing out the way it did, is just huge. I've never felt anything like this before, its a whole different level. Way above winning nationals. Coming down that home stretch...the crowds and the cheering...There really is truth to the idea of Olympic magic."

Reper was equally enthused, but remained far more calculating about his win, offering up some insight into the impressive strategy that the two runners had shown. "Getting two guys from the same nation into the finals here is big. So we figured, why not work together? Anyone taking the lead alone from a mile out would have been destroyed, the pack would have eaten them up. But by working in a pair we were able to feed off of each other and trade the work of leading. That made it easier for both of us. Then we had just agreed, with a lap left we were each on our own. I'll admit though, charging down that final straight side by side with a guy like Noversky, a great friend and teammate, was one hell of an experience."

When asked what it meant to be a double medalist Reper took the chance to fire back a bit at some of his detractors. "You know, so many people have been trash talking me. I got really sick of hearing everyone say how I was washed up. I finished 6th in the steeple and all I heard was 'Oh, that's nice.' I could tell from their tone though, they thought it was a second rate performance. Once you've reached the pinnacle everyone expects you to be there every time. And the first time you miss it, they all jump down your throat for it. So this...this is just one little way of sticking it to them. I will know when my time is up. And its not up yet."

Pair of Silvers Back Up Athletics Success

Relays and Throws Prove Their Worth

Published In: National Sporting Review

You can ask any Ferkian athlete, the idea of having to follow a double medal performance in a distance event is a daunting one. Such a performance would do so much to get the crowd pumped up, the media in a frenzy, and generally just drive up the expectations of everyone involved.

Then again, some people respond remarkably well to the pressure, and those are the people who tend to make Olympic teams.

Boris Mule did his part to keep the excitement up, when he took this throws in the Men's Javelin final. His first throw wasn't much to watch, an 85 and some change, but his second throw was a beauty. 89.94 meters, it arched through the sky and seemed to just float over the field before finally touching down. It was a throw that put him into the lead, a position which he held through the next couple of attempts. It wasn't until the 5th attempt of Olima Tokolo (AIS) that it would be bested, with Tokolo managing to muscle his throw out past the 90 meter mark. Nevertheless, no one else would break Mule's mark and he would stand upon the podium to receive his silver medal.

Relays always provide an exciting race to watch, especially when ones team is in contention. Such was the case with the grouping of Montmercy, Belfont, Killington, and Curtis, racing in the Women's 4x400 meter event. The team started off strong, coming into the first exchange zone in third. Belfont would struggle slightly, falling back into fifth place. Killington maintained that position, handing off to Curtis in fifth place.

Curtis wouldn't settle though, the star sprinter took off after the athletes who had started ahead of her, and she almost caught them all. She moved into fourth before leaving the first turn, took third on the back stretch, and pulled alongside second in the back turn. Rounding out of that turn she pulled into second and began closing on first. The distance was just too great though, Curtis would stop the clock at 3:23.81, although the winner had already stopped it at 3:22.86. Curtis can take some consolation though, her split was the fastest in the race by any athlete.

Canaday Dominates On the Water

Published In: National Sporting Review

Kyle Canaday, the upstate Ferkian canoe competitor, continued his charge today as he dominated in his pairing of events. First on his list for the day was the C1 200m final, an event in which he had performed strongly in the heats and has always considered "...a personal favorite, very fast paced and exciting." Canaday made sure that it was a fast paced race as he won by more than half a second over Julien Toussaint (KSK), letting up slightly in the last few meters to pump his fist in the air.

Canaday then set about recovering for his next event, the K2 200m, where he was partnered with Vunkerby, his longtime teammate and training partner. The margin was much closer here, no fist pumping as it was a race right to the line, but the result was the same. Another gold medal added to the tally, with a final time of 35.539.

Soccer Falls "Just Short"

Painful, Yet Encouraging Results

Published In: National Sporting Review

It was a difficult game to watch, filled with missed opportunities, spoiled chances, and some questionable play. No one wants to watch their team get blanked, not 3-0, and not in the bronze medal match. Not when winning is your last shot at a medal. But it has to happen to at least one team, and this year it was our turn.

The Men's squad fell to the lads from Shofercia in a 3-0 trouncing, giving up goals in the 18th, 33rd, and 60th minutes of the game. Watching the match it was easy to see the lack of experience wearing on our players. Being new to a major tournament setup our players appeared visibly more fatigued and distraught than their competitors. Analysts agree that this was likely the result of their not knowing how to properly recover between matches. That fatigue would create major issues for the team, especially for the midfield.

Playing with such a midfield heavy formation, 3-6-1, the fatigue prevented the proper transitions from offensive to defensive positioning. Often our players would find themselves left behind as the action quickly moved up and down the pitch. Of course there were some golden moments of the game, such as Hubaab al-Sanwir taking a powerful shot from 18 yards out, a shot that was barely blocked by the fingertips of the Shofercian goalie. It was Hubaab's only big break of the game though, as he would be ejected during the 82nd minute when, in a fit of rage over what he saw as a poor call, he punched an opposing player square across the jaw. After the match Hubaab defended his decision, saying that "The little twit was asking for it. Trust me, he was asking for it." Hubaab refused to clarify on just what the opposing player had done to "ask for it".

Even with the defeat and questionable actions of some athletes, the match had an overall positive feel to it, when taken in its full context. This is a team that came in with nothing. They fought their way right up to the Semi-Finals, despite having never played an international game before. Somehow a band of domestic players came together to take on some of the best in the world, and they really showed up. Crushing in the group stage, dominating in the Round of 16 and the Quarter Finals. It was a truly impressive run for the Ferkian squad, one that provides a promising foundation for later successes to be built upon.

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier
Competent delegation bemoaned

Olympic fans across the country are waking to the crushing realization that whoever was put in charge of Zwangzug's delegation to the Emberton games actually did about as good a job as could be expected.

"I mean, it would have been nice to win gold in the sprint," sighed Grigor Danlop. "But anyone could have said "oh, let's bring Becky Fith back to do that," so inasmuch as that didn't actually happen, I can't fault the organizing committee."

"When I look at the men's marathon results," he continued, "nothing that one of our runners was eighty-eighth out of ninety-six finishers, another failed to finish at all but is the first listed because he has a silly name because he's from a tiny city that probably still wants to be a city-state, and no third man posted qualifying times because they were racing in a mixed-gendered field, I roll my eyes. But then I think to myself, no, that's probably about where we really do stand in the grand scheme of things.

Which is so depressing," he blinked.

Many fans claimed to be disappointed in the display of unexceptional competence. "barring some good luck on the mountain biking we'll finish with six medals #notquiteleet #ohwell #zwz" contributed bak21 of Blatter, before conceding that six was more than the country managed last time.

"I don't really see a better alternative to this way," Danlop mulled, "given the way the Olympics are structured, and all, and it's not like we're going to be changing that. That would require, among other things, some effort. After all these years, we've finally hit on a winning combination, except I would prefer it to have featured a little more of the winning part."

"Any time you set and hold onto an Olympic record, I guess you're doing something right," said an admiring Rose Palmik, "although the "you" in that case would probably be more of [weightlifter Roshni] Joshi herself and less the organizing committee, so I'm not sure you can read that much into that." Palmik cited the lack of "abject embarrassment" as something to be proud of, "although I think by now you'd expect the bar to be set a little higher.

Actually, no. No you wouldn't. Erase that last part."

Fans have more or less resigned themselves to the potential of similar processes going ahead for the next winter games. "Alpine skiing, sure. Cross-country skiing...you know, in spite of how dull this delegation has been I would actually trust them to put together a cross-country ski team, which is saying something," Danlop noted. "Biathlon obviously no. Luge sure, why not. Hockey, why would we bother anyway. Curling--wow, is this what things have come to, that I'm seriously trying to defend the merits of sex-segregated curling teams?

I can't bring myself to do it. Okay, whatever. Although if we're doing it properly it should be different rinks facing each other. Maybe--maybe an all-men's team will prove itself to be the best? Or all-women's?"

Part of the irony, of course, is how irrelevant the Johnson case that started this whole debacle now seems. For many of the athletes themselves, self-imposed identification (and yes, that includes "nationality") is the last thing on their minds.

Of course, there is a bright side. "The good news is that it's still the Olympics. It's a sporting event like no other," grinned Palmik, "and it's great to be able to celebrate excellent achievements from athletes all over the place. If only because your own country's delegation is so dismally unexciting."

[Qazox]

THE GAMES OF
THE SEVENTH OLYMPIAD
EMBERTON, KRYTENIA

Schedule of events/Rosters

Welcome to QBC, I'm Michelle Coten and thank for tunign in to this evening edition of OlympicsToday Live! and this is the final day of the Olympic Games here in Emberton and here's today's results:

Men's Marathon:
6  Tobias Hall (QZX)             2:11:06
35 Kevin Holsten (QZX)           2:18:23
Jack Martin (QZX)                 DNF

Jack Martin was the leader at the 20 miles mark, but pulled up lame after stumbling into a water station; an MRI found that Martin tore his ACL and the injury will cost him at least 7 months.

In the Men's Super heavyweight Gold medal Bout, Alex "Thunder" Manos won Qazox' first boxing gold medal, defeating Odell Bogan (BDI) 7-4. Manos went 5-0 on his way to gold, never trailing in any bout and he finishes his amateur carrer with a record of 28-0-1. He will turn professional with a bout in November against 15-1-1 "King" Charles Davens, the #4 ranked heavyweight in the Qazox Boxing Federation.

While Qazox didn't come near their goal of 20 medals; the delegation more than doubled the previous best showing with 13 medals, including the first two individual men's golds. Was this best showing ever good enough to convince the QOC to put forth a bid to host the next Winter Olympics as many expect, or will Qazox be content to just compete?

[Todd McCloud]

Last Hurrah? Sileveri Takes Gold
Reporting for V3 News Services, Rin Slakori

EMBERTON - As the 2012 Summer Olympics draw to a close, many athletes are ready to go home by the time Day 16 rolls in. Not Isii Sileveri, however. She had a medal to defend in the Women's Flyweight gold medal match. Was the athlete ready to retain her gold medal won in Lasft? You be the judge: her competition, Sharron Joye from Shofercia, was unable to continue after Sileveri gave her a few hard knocks from her right. It was probably enough for Joye to quit the match, therefore declaring Sileveri the winner.

"Nothing was going to stop me from defending my gold," she told V3 after the bout. "Yenga [Husteriste] was getting too much credit I thought, for going over to a different class to compete. I just wanted to make sure I could hold onto mine for another year."

Sileveri won her first medal by defeating Sabine Dizina from Mytannion by a dominating score of 9-4. Since Vekaiyu opened up boxing to its arsenal in 2011, the nation has amassed five gold and two bronze medals, proving their dominance in the sport, especially in the lighter weight classes. Due to the makeup of the vulpine anatomy, it is difficult for the smaller vulpine frame to reach heavier weight classes, although attempts have been made in the past to induct Vekaiyun human athletes into those classes. Time will tell if a human athlete breaks through what has been an all-vulpine team for the past three years.

Finding difficulty in the early goings of Day 16 was the Men's Rhythmic Team, who finished fifth overall with a score of 33.500, tied with Valinor Lands. "No doubt we were looking to build on [Ankya Subanistre's] performance from yesterday," Yero Sakaneski said after the scores were all tabulated. "We've got a lot to work on next year, for sure." The team of three, which has not changed since last year, won silver in Lasft, and was hoping to better their performance this year.

Also falling short of their goal was Salvatoro Ignistru, who has not won a medal, but was definitely anticipating one. "I know I'm ready to compete for the gold this year," he told V3 News prior to coming over to Emberton. Ignistru had already established an impressive record back home, going 13-3 over the year. It was not to be today, however, as he was defeated by a series of takedowns produced by Kunalo Sentari of Vilita and Turori. Ignistru could not really establish himself through four rounds, winning just one round by one point over his competitor. Despite his difficulties, Vekaiyu has done well with wrestling this year, winning two gold medals and one bronze. Their record is slightly "cleaned up" from last years, where the nation netted one gold and four bronze.

V3 will continue to provide updates as Day 16, the final day, continues.

[Krytenia]

And now, the end is near, and so we face, the final cutoff...

I haven't taken myself seriously for the last thirty years, and I'm not starting now.

[Qazox]

THE GAMES OF
THE SEVENTH OLYMPIAD
EMBERTON, KRYTENIA

Post Script hosted by Linus Evans.

Due to scheduling issues due to the timing of the Closing ceremonies and other scheduled programming, we were unable to show some events from the final day of the Olympics. Here are those results:

Men's Mountain Biking:

52 Aaron Cuddy (QZX)               2:08:45
53 Kyle Woods (QZX)                2:08:58
   Jon Adams (QZX)                     LAP

Women's Modern Pentathlon:

23 Shannon Elkhardt (QZX)           5425
29 Doris Alberton (QZX)             5358

[Lymantatia]

Journal-LTN2, July 23 2012
Sorry, no good news today,

[Ferkas]

Basketball Seizes Final Win

Olympics Deemed A "Smashing Success"

Published In: National Sporting Review

All good things, the Olympics included, must eventually come to an end.

The final Olympic day, Day 16, started off slowly enough. A lackluster men's marathon failed to live up to the hype generated by last nights wildly successful 5000m race, but the result was accepted for what it was. Of course the overall successes of the Ferkian Athletics squad no doubt played a major role in tempering the loss and allowing the crowds to move on. The morning was salvged, from a competitive standpoint, by the silver medal earning performance of William Olther in the Light Welterweight category of the Men's Boxing competition. Olther concluded what has been a surprisingly successful run on the part of the Ferkian boxing competitors, who along with weight lifters and wrestlers showed themselves to be far more competitive than was initially predicted.

The afternoon was also highlighted by a single medal performance, but this time it was in a far more spectated and anticipated venue. These Olympics marked the first time that the Ferkian Olympic Committee sent team sports to the competition, and expectations were high. The Women's basketball team had already lived up to some of the expectations, taking silver in their competition, well at the same time Men's Soccer flamed out in the bronze medal match and the Women's Volleyball team failed to make any noteworthy performance. Drawing into the last hurrah of the Games it was up to the Men's Basketball team to make an impression. An impression which they most definitely made with their 83-73 win over Ko-oren, taking home the gold medal in exciting fashion.

It was an excellent conclusion to an Olympics which had already seen so much Ferkian success. Some highlights are listed below...


- The Ferkian delegation set a record for the number of medals that it had earned, bringing home a total of forty. Before this the nation had only earned fifteen medals total, two in the V Olympics and thirteen in the VI Olympics. Additionally the team brought home seventeen gold medals, more than the total number of metals previously earned...regardless of color!

- Ferkian team sports showed up big in their first international test. The Men's Basketball team closed off the Olympics with a gold medal, their female counterparts bringing home silver. On the pitch the Men's Football squad fought their way into the bronze medal match, going up against far more experienced competition.

- Kyle Canaday earned three gold medals in various Canoe events. With those three medals he is the "winningest" Ferkian Olympian!

- 19, the number of medals brought home by the Athletics squad. This includes Gold medals in the Men's and Women's 5000m, the Women's 4x100, the Women's 100m High Hurdles, the Men's High Jump, and the Men's 400 meter. In addition there were double medal performances in the Men's 5000m (Gold and Silver), Men's High Jump (Gold and Silver), and double medals in the race walk (Men's 50km, Women's 20km)

- 255 minutes. The amount of time that the Salve Regina, our National Anthem, played at the Olympic medal ceremonies. That is seventeen playings of a fifteen minute anthem, four hours and fifteen minutes! Some foreigners seemed less than appreciative...

[Zwangzug]

(This is mostly for our host. If you have to ask, you really do not want to know.)

After the closing ceremony, Geoff Lierian of the Bassabook Baritone smiles at a job well done.

The torch fades to glowing embers
And the city exhales but a nation remembers.
'Twas a brilliant job, with all of the duties hostal
Being taken care of, no one went postal.

Time flies, hardly seems an hour
Since another organizer was scrambling for power.
The upshot is just a little scary
But we think back (although time's speeds may vary)
To Ashton...Aeropag...Querzakhi...

Suddenly, and rather improbably, Geoff notices the expat from day four, who seems more relaxed about how it all turned out.

Oh give it up, our past is not that checkered.
At worst perhaps there's been a couple stripes.
But hey, you still set an Olympic record.
Or at least one of you did so. The hype's
Still percolating from Namirite types.

Geoff: That's an optimistic story
But only one of us is now Rushmori.
Expat: All the same, what I mean is it is not time's dragging
That could maybe explain why your attitudes are flagging.

Geoff: I'm still confused. I should have taken more out-of-date pictures...
Expat: Through all, light and dark, still you wind up at the Isserson football park.
Geoff: So what? I'm writing for a journal who needs a new edition diurnal.
I'll take my pix and be gone soon eh, loonie?

Expat: Try visiting the suburbs, see a garden.
I think you'd like it watching something grow.
Forget where you come from, don't ask for pardon,
The flowers don't care if you write or no.
That might not be your thing--but even so.

Geoff: I love the Games! There's nothing bigger
Than this brilliant show of athletic vigor.
From archers with their quiver
To the exhibition centre on the river.
But I'm glad just to watch this one--nothing more.

I never saw your ticket.
Off to gymnastics? Watch them stick it?
Something in gyms, nearby a locker?
And what's left in Rushmore now, just soccer?
I'll just let you go back to Bromham...Ousevale...Kingston?!

Geoff gives a blink of recognition. Of course. Of course. Rushmore, yes. Even the opening ceremonies, of all things! But never Emberton, not even Krytenia at all.

It can only be Timmy Rappoport, who carried the flag for Zwangzug into the Fourth Summer Olympics, back when they won all those medals--back when the price to get there had perhaps been too high--back when Zwangzug's, his handball team had never made it out of the group stage, watching Krytenia win group B instead.

He'd dropped off the screen, like so many others before him, but had somehow found his way back. He took over as a coach in Kingston, the smallest city in the Superligue, and then got to see one of his players come off the bench and help Cotdelapoms on their way to gold.

Timmy: I bore the flag once and it seemed a blunder
When all too soon we fell under reproach.
But when they gave me a new chance, small wonder
I didn't prove that difficult too poach.
I quite like life as a domestic coach.

It's over now, no need to go ballistic.
Cycling is one thing, but you're still on track.
It was a great games, yes, no woes logistic,
But when our colors fade to white and black,
Keep going forward since you can't turn back.

[Lymantatia]

Journal-LTN2, July 23 2012
In handball, Lymantatia won the women's gold medal. Today is the closing ceremony. Lymantatia was ranked 46 in the medal table.

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier
Euphoria fades, gold medal accomplishment sinks in

About a month after Nanami Watanabe won the Olympic gold medal in the women's time trial road cycling, the magnitude of this accomplishment is at last being realized among her fans in Zwangzug. Until this time, the fact had not yet sunk in, probably due to the glorious daze induced by "winning a gold medal in road cycling" celebration.

Though the last two Summer Games had seen riders from Zwangzug earn silver medals in the road race, which features pelotons and domestiques and all sorts of groupthink propaganda, none of our cyclists had won gold on the road. While this is not a timetrial in the local sense, it is considered a true test of individual merit, and having a local athlete finally win it sparked mind-numbing jubilation that has only barely subsided.

While our gold medals frequently overshadow other ones around the same time, Watanabe's feat was to an extent overshadowed by Parveen Chandoy's bronze medal in the pool that same afternoon, which was itself hot on the heels of an Olympic record for Roshni Joshi. The combination all on the same day sent fans into a very enduring rapture.

Too, the fact that both Chandoy and Joshi were Namirite drew mention (okay, so we messed them up in an earlier article, tough), while being an Ianix cyclist is nothing exciting. Watanabe, unsurprisingly, hails from the Eastern FTC, and won the last 23rd Street Race. Still, she said, this means more. After transliteration (probably why the Bassabook Baritone didn't have much to say about her triumph, come to think of it), she said, "This is amazing. I'm definitely out there pushing myself, not just against the other racers, but also there's the past and the future, everyone else. So yes, it did mean a lot to me, to be the first one from Zwangzug to win gold out here. But I've always known I could do it."

Even if the rest of us didn't know she had done it. Perhaps in the Olympic Village this was understandable--suffice it to see that Krytenian drug laws are rather lax compared to Zwangzug, and much festivity likely ensued that could have blurred fans' memories the next morning. Suddenly, the failure of Becky Fith and company to win gold on the track seems irrelevant--this is cycling as we know and love it, and are now suddenly the best at. The emphasis on gender equality has produced plenty of excellent women, and the likelihood that this system will continue into the future now seems like something to enjoy rather than be disappointed in.

"And suddenly there's cause for celebration when this dawns on us all across the state," summarized Timmy Rappoport, even though no one really seemed to know why we should care about some handball coach's opinion. "We almost feel proud to be from some "nation;" a brilliant gold comes by some twist of fate. We keep up hope since it's never too late."