IX Winter Olympics RP thread

[Vulshain]

Vulshainian Olympic News Coverage: Winter Olympic Games IX

Vulshainian Athletes Give Their Say

Bonjour everyone! This is Yermolai Vadimaron, reporting live from Arçon in Saugeais, where this year's Winter Olympics are taking place, for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games IX Coverage.

With all of the talks and responses by spectators, doctors, politicians, and Olympic officials, I thought it was time to hear what the athletes had to say.

When I interviewed Xeina Geraliat, who won the gold medal in Women's slopestyle Snowboarding, she told me, "Well, I know today is the last day of the Olympics, but overall, I think we did pretty good. I guess we just focused on winning and not enough on having fun. Besides, we wouldn't have signed up to take part in the Olympics if we didn't want to have fun right?"

I next interviewed Alania Reinhilde, who along with her sister were expected to win a number of medals in skiing, but despite their best efforts, didn't win a single medal. Alania had to be rushed to the emergency room after almost collapsing in the Quarterfinals of the Women's Ski cross Freestyle skiing event yesterday. "I'll admit, I might have pushed myself too far. I mean it could have been worse. When you're an Olympic athlete, you get a lot of pressure and stress dumped on you, and you have a lot of people you don't want to let down. We're not robots...well, I know there are robots who take part in the Olympics too, but even they get stressed out too. What I'm saying is that the Olympics weren't meant so you could win a piece of gold, silver, or bronze, they were meant to bring people closer together. You hear a lot on the news about crimes, wars, and conflicts because people can't get along or they disagree on who's right and other things like that. The Olympics were designed so we could have fun and learn more about other cultures and countries. It's like the old saying goes, 'You never stop learning.' And believe me, I've learned a lot about myself and my limits in this year's Winter Olympic Games."

I interviewed other athletes as well. Tekla Angelina, the young vulpine vixen skier who came in sixth in the Women's Slalom Alpine Skiing finals, had this to say, "We know that people are worried about us, and that's cool, but we have to push ourselves. I know people think that by redesigning the training programs, we'll do better. A majority of us athletes don't think that's the case. We just have to refocus our efforts and train harder."

Aleksei Yulian Vyacheslav, who won the bronze in the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboarding finals, said that redesigning the training programs might be a good idea. "The current training programs are great, but a little upgrade never hurts right? I know that people thought we would do great this year, and personally, I think we did just that. You can't win them all, and even I though I only won a bronze medal, I'm still proud of my accomplishments and who knows, maybe next year, I'll score a silver. Yeah, yeah, I know that some athletes will say that the gold is better, but my philosophy is to take one step at a time. You can't just rush yourself. Maybe that's what our problem was: we rushed ourselves this year, and that caused us to struggle. Now, I'm not saying that we screwed up. Heck, we did a great job out there. I'm just saying that there's always room for improvement."

Pretty much, all of the athletes agreed that even if they don't win any medals on the last day of this year's Winter Olympics, they actually don't care. Like Alania's sister, Rebekka, told me, "If we win a medal today, that's great! If we don't, that's okay. We need to have fun and have a great time. And there's always next year, and we still have the Summer Olympics to look forward too. I know that my sister and I and the rest of my fellow Vulshainian athletes are going to out there today and have fun!"

And I know that I have enjoyed being here and speaking with our athletes as they have endured and persisted throughout all of the events this year. I wish them great luck and to keep on reaching for their dreams.

This has been Yermolai Vadimaron, reporting live from Arçon in the Republic of Saugeais, for Vulshainian Confederate News and Media Network (VCNMN)'s Winter Olympic Games IX Coverage, and sending our athletes a huge thank you for all their hard work! And thank you for watching and cheering on these talented and skilled athletes this year!

[Qazox]

Let's see here:

Lian Xu finished 5th in women's slalom, WTG sista! Tammy Hull was 36th, you go girl! Jessica Hobbes and Georgia Hayden didn't finish, I guess no dessert for those two girls, huh?

The boys had the slalom too? Olthar Thundrasson was 32nd? What a putz! Sean Tamblin was 38th, what a loser! James Issoan and Mark Lianfretti both DNFed? What'd they do get a boo-boo and quit?

Hmm, the men's bobsleigh started as well. Justine, Holmes, Banner & Century are 1st? They better stay there, if they know what's good for them. The Steeles, Hanson & Cross are 38th? Pick it up you slackers! Tenny, Narwick, Ricard & Forge in 55th, well that's not bad for a bunch of mentally challenged cripples.

The women's bobsleigh was today too, Brandy, Olivia, Cheri and Carla are 8th? WTG girls, awesome! Natalie, Keli, Marcie and Julie are 44th with Darla, Olga, Erica and Charlene in 45th? Whoot, whoot, 3 teams in the top 45, whoot!

[Free Republics]

OOC: I wanted to RP more over the course of these Games, but here's something somewhat somewhat similar to my intended RP line, for this nation, if shorter:

2 blondes, Ambrosia Pisani and Maria Furst were in the FBC studio, preparing to recap the results from the penultimate day of the Olympics:

Ambrosia Pisani - Welcome back to FBC's coverage of the IX Winter Olympics from Arcon, Saugeais.

Maria Furst - Thanks, Ambrosia. Today, the FFR picked up another gold medal.

Ambrosia Pisani - Yes, Team FFR picked up a gold medal today in the Men's 4 by 7 Biathlon relay.

Maria Furst - I think you meant 4 by 7 and a half kilometer, Ambrosia.

Ambrosia Pisani - Whatever. Seriously, the only thing that matters is that we won a Gold Medal!!!

Maria Furst - At least you're patriotic.

Ambrosia Pisani - Yeah. I can't believe how those stupid Progressive trolls on the Internet keep complaining about our Olympic coverage.

Maria Furst - At FBC, we provide what our viewers want to see and we know that you don't really care about watching foreigners. Just look at the quarter hour ratings.

Ambrosia Pisani - Why would you want to watch foreigners? If they were any good at anything, they'd be Republicans!

Maria Furst - Anyways, our Biathletes didn't miss a single shot on the day, which was the main reason why they left with the gold.

Ambrosia Pisani - Meanwhile, in Alpine Skiing, Eovald Porgeirsson got robbed. On his first run, officials from Saugeais started the clock before he was ready. He went anyway and ended up finishing in 50.97 seconds. On his second run, he was over 3 seconds better, putting up what was far and away the best time on the day.

Maria Furst - I agree. He was robbed of his Gold Medal.

Ambrosia Pisani - What do you expect? They do everything they can to cheat us out of our medals.

Maria Furst - In Women's Bobsleigh, our 4-women team was in second place after 2 runs. The Republican Team of Valentina Colombo, Hasija Anusek, Frieda Lockhart and Harpa Skuladottir showed their skill and were virtually tied with the team from Super-Llamaland after the first 2 runs. The final 2 runs are tomorrow.

Ambrosia Pisani - I can't wait for the final day of the Olympics!!!!! We're gonna win some gold and finish strong!!!

Maria Furst - Yes, we are. Besides our Women's Bobsleigh team, we also have 4 Cross-Country Skiiers who will be going for medals on the final day of the Games. Eric Schuster and Juhasz Ompoly are entered in the men's event, while Sladana Petrovic and Hjordis Sigurporsdottir will show the superiority of Republican women.

Ambrosia Pisani - Is there anybody who doesn't know that we're better than foreigners? I mean, seriously, foreign women are like so ugly! And they're total skanks too!

Maria Furst - Taxachussan women are skanks. It must be the free birth control they get from their TaxCare.

Ambrosia laughed.

Ambrosia Pisani - Good one. But I guess all foreign women aren't skanks. Those Sanctii women are such prudes, with the exception of those crazy feminists.

Maria Furst - You'd be crazy too if you had to live in a sexually repressed theocracy!

Ambrosia Pisani - I know, but I don't understand why we need a feminist movement. Women already have rights. We don't need any more!

Maria Furst - But, women don't have rights everywhere. In Saintland, women have to cover their heads and their husbands can beat them!

Ambrosia Pisani - You've been listening to too much Feministvs Sanctvsterra. One of my friends is in the Church of Saintland and she tells me that Feministvs Sanctvsterra's claims are lies!

Maria Furst - But, Saintland does want to improve their image.

Ambrosia Pisani - Its a result of misconceptions. Besides, if I had kids, it'd be a nice place to visit!

Maria Furst - Oh, look at the time. We're out of time for today. We'll see you tomorrow to recap the final day of the Olympics.

Ambrosia Pisani - If you actually care about watching foreigners play ice hockey, you can tune into the Science Fiction Channel to watch some foreigners play.

Maria Furst - I think its Valanora and FSM, but 99.9% of our viewers don't care. I'm sorry Ambrosia wasted your time by bringing that up. See you tomorrow!

Suddenly, FBC cut to local news, followed by the network's news broadcast. The Network spent 50% of the broadcast talking about the World Cup, even giving Senator Samuel Izmailov, the notorious leader of a political party considered fascist by the majority of Republicans, a chance to speak.

Senator Izmailov - I think we ought to invade any Esportivan nation that qualifies for our World Cup. We can't led those pond scum spoil the event that is supposed to be a showcase for our nation by making it all about themselves. As I've always said, the multiverse would be a better place if we wiped Esportiva off the map.

Shortly thereafter, FBC cut back to a re-run of their primetime feed, showing the entirety of the Biathlon race and glossing over everything else, except their manufactured alpine skiing scandal and women's bobsleigh.

[Kriegiersien]

Day 15:

With place 16 it was offical. After the woman, the man failed to get any medal in Biathlon as well. Teddy Bear, Wolfgang Gartner, Julian Obst and Stan Sprintstark mixed bad shooting with slow running. The whole team consists of Soldiers, disgracing the Kriegiersien military.


Snowboarding - Men's parallel slalom
Zero made another coup for the hip artists in the Kriegiersien team. In every round it seemed as if he would be eliminated (beside the Semis, where he qualified easily), when he found himself suddenly in the Final.

There his luck run out and he fell, earning Silver.


Speed Skating - Women's Team Pursuit
Scarlett Craft, Claudia Lickstone and Daisy Djudge lost the Semifinal and Bronze Medal Match and ended fourth. A good result, adding a further 4th place, which didn't made the three happy, being focused on Gold.


Ice Hockey - Women's Final

G Muriburiland (MBL) 1–0 Lymantatia (LYM)

Lymantatia, who had lost against Kriegiersien in the group stage, got Silver.
"At least we have beaten a Medal Winner. I think it shows that our System works", commented the President of the Kriegiersien Ice Hockey Union.



Preview:

March 20
DAY 16 - Prepare for a great last day.

Kriegiersien could still end up first of the medal table if 3 of the 4 possible Gold medals are won. Shouldn't that work out, Plan B will come in handy:
Only counting the number of medals to reach the Top 10.



Bobsleigh - Men's Four-man runs 3 and 4
On place 14 Mario/Luigi/Fox/Hedgehog are 0.22 behind the leaders from Qazox, so the hope for medals is a bit dwindeled, but not completely out of reach. The sworn in team still hopes for "a great comeback".

Bobsleigh - Women's Four-man runs 3 and 4
On the other side place 5 gives Anna Bolika, Bernadette Bug, heavy Sarah Schwergewicht and Super Star Atlanta Johnson hope to reach a medal.


Asked about the new helmets, Johnson just cursed again.

In Cross-country skiing - Men's 50 km classical mass start all hope goes to James Turner, while Bjoern Minimax shall provide the Slipstream for him at the start.

The same goes for Beate Minimax, specialized as helper for Kriegiersien champion Nicole Valentin, beloved by fans and coaches, in the Women's 30 km classical Mass start.

Ice Hockey - Men's Final

On the last day we'll await the Icehockeyfinal between Valanora and the Nation of FSM as great last event. Will Valaonore defend its title and Kriegiersien have only lost against the winner of the tournament?

[Vilita and Turori]

The Report from Arçon :: Bobsleigh Ladies look for Final Day Glory

The Union of the Affiliated Lands of Vilitan Origins turn to their ladies Bobsled team on the final matchday as the Vilita & Turori Men's Hockey team has long since been eliminated from the competition.

Vilita & Turori's 4-Women bobsled team of Gimliza Onlavella, Halli Truskozo, Mreni Maka and Guzla Maka are just two-tenths of a second off the lead going into the competitions final two runs which will take place on the final day of Olympic Competition.

The Union of the Affiliated Lands of Vilitan Origins enter the final day atop the medal table but the Transalpine Republic have deservedly pulled level with 5 gold medals.

Vilita & Turori will look to add a 6th in the Ladies Bobsled to retake the top spot, and will do so using a heritage Vilitan designed and built bobsled.

The Tropicorp Engineering bobsled program is still in its infancy and did not post strong enough times in trial runs at the Mountain Challenge Course to get confidence from the Union for use in these games by its primary competitors. While the Affiliated Lands have had a few runs down the course in the new Tropicorp Sled, mostly for comparison purposes by its lower teams, the top entries have stayed with the tried and true sleds.

For Halli Truskozo, it is an increasingly interesting situation. Just a pusher and along for the ride in the 4-Woman team, Halli was intimately involved in testing the new Tropicorp sled in the build up to the games, and was one of the most vocal from within the Vilitan Camps for avoiding their use at the games in Saugeais.

So the first two runs with the Vilitans tied for 5th position and well within the reckoning for a place on the podium will certainly be vindication for her decision to stick with the Vilitan sled and not immediately jump ship to the new Tropicorp designed product. Earlier in the games, Vilita & Turori's Speed Skaters appeared to learn the hard way about trying a new thing too soon, struggling early on in the skating competition using the Tropicorp suits, before doing a complete 180 and dominating a small stretch of the games with multiple back-to-back podium appearances in speed skating after switching to their 3WD uniforms.

All in all, however, the Tropicorp team will certainly have taken away a lot of new data points from these games, and will further refine their designs to ensure that they are not only competitive in future competitions, but give the Vilitan entries an edge as well.

[Darmen]

Olympic Coverage: Day Nine to Day Fifteen

Alpine Skiing
In the Men's Super G, Willie Durant was Darmen's highest finisher in 45th place. Janko Bullock finished 60th, while Parsifal Serpico failed to finish, crashing on only the fourth turn. Overall, it was a very disapointing day for the Alpine Skiers.

In the Men's Giant Slalom, Lugubelenus Desrochers was Darmen's highest finisher. And coming in at 100th, you can tell how the day went for the Darmeni's. Maddox Ó Cinnéidigh and Branson Rudawski both failed to finish. The coaches in charge of the three skiers have all been fired, we're told.

Things didn't get much better in the Men's Slalom, as Arkaitz Ramsey finished only 66th. Jordan Elliot was 79th, and Daniel Haumann failed to finish. The coaches for thes skiers have also been fired.

Biathlon
In the Men's 15km Mass Start, Darmen was once again handicapped by poor shooting, the four skiers went a combined 62 for 80 shooting. Sean Linares finished 44th, Brandon Guarino 76th, Marvin Dominquez 78th and Neoptolemos Yong in 119th. In the 4x7.5km relay, Darmen barely missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, and only 17 seconds away from a Bronze medal.

Bobsleigh
In the Men's Two-man, Rodney Takahashi and Samuel Ahner led the way for Darmen after the first two runs, placing 24th. Roger Milton and Mark Vermillion were some way behind in 82nd, while Jacob Huston and Ronald Millar were in 88th. Only Takahashi and Ahner had any chance of making up time in the final two runs and challenging for a medal.

Takahashi and Ahner would in fact post two fast times in their final two runs, but ultimately fell short of a medal, finishing in eighth place. Huston and Millar would fall down the standings to 119th, while Milton and Vermillion were disqualified on their third run.

In the Four-man, the Darmeni team of Rodney Takahashi, Samuel Ahner, Roger Milton and Mark Vermillion is third after the first two runs, with the final two yet to take place. The second Darmeni team of Jacob Huston, Ronald Millar, Harry Mudd and Travis Gerard is in 51st place, and the third Darmeni team of Oswald Devin, Randal Arrington, Haywood Kingsley and Frits Baardwijk is in 69th.

Curling
Darmen defeated Unolia, 10-9, in the Men's Round of Sixteen, as Paul Tacey and his fellow curlers pushed one step closer to finally winning an Olympic medal. Darmen would face Electrum in the Quarterfinals, and would win, 5-4. In the semifinals, Darmen would have to face the monks of the Archregimancy. Darmen would lose, 4-6, but would still have a chance to medal in the Bronze medal match against Norgaard. Indeed they would, winning by the score of 10-7 and sending Paul Tacey into retirement on a high note.

Tacey was visibly in tears during the medal ceremony, and while suffering through the national anthem of the Archregimancy, had to be held steady by his teammates. Afterwards, he thanked his teammates, coaches and fans were several years of support through the highs and the lows of curling. "I couldn't have asked for a finer bunch to follow me and help me," he said.

Cross-Country Skiing
In the Men's 4x10km Relay Donald Ackley, Walter Rodman, Norman Lerner and Alan Montana worked together extremely well, with Ackley creating an early lead, Rodman keeping that lead and the others hanging on to finished third. The superb performance from Ackley came after a disapointing one in the Men's 15km, and his bounce back to top form was remarkable.

In the Men's Team Sprint, Donald Ackley would add another disapointing performance to a bag of mixed performances he's had at these Olympics. Ackley withdrew from the race after the third leg, sighting tightness in his ACL and wanting to be fresh for the 50km that closes out these games.

Freestyle Skiing
In the Men's Ski Cross, Zdravko Bolívar finished with the fourth fastest time in qualifying, and Noah Shain would join him in advancing past the preliminary stage. Vladimír Fortuin meanwhile, narrowly missed out on advancing. In the next round, Bolívar would finish third in his heat, while Shain would win his to advance to the Quarterfinals. In the Quarterfinals, Shain would finish last in his heat, ending Darmen's hopes for a medal.

Nordic Combined
In the Men's Individual Large Hill 10km, Ryan Guyton finished thirteenth. Rodney Evenson finished 22nd, Nicholas Knepper 24th, while Brandon Wetmore came in 26th. To have all four Darmeni's come in the Top 26, and to have some of the faster 10km times, is a good sign of things to come next Olympics.

It was also a sign of the good things to come in the relay, as the team of Ryan Guyton, Rodney Evenson, Brandon Wetmore and Nicholas Knepper would finish second and take home the Silver medal.

Short Track Speed Skating
Bobby Wages finished third in his qualifying heat for the Men's 500 meters. Howard Eberle also finished third in his heat, while William Moyers finished sixth in his.

Ski Jumping
Carl Spates, Howard Cahoon, Harry Harder and Kevin Jaquez would finish 28th in the Men's Team Large Hill, scoring 48.5 points less than eventual Silver medalists Kaldtland in qualifying.

Snowboarding
Nathan Judkins finished with the seventh fastest time in qualifying for the Men's Snowboard Cross, .67 seconds behind the leader, Nicephorus Yuriev. Allen Harkey also advanced past qualifying, finishing with the 25th fastest time after his two preliminary runs. Tony Norwood was 73rd and Joshuah Robson 105th. Both Judkins and Harkey advanced past the First Round, as both placed second in their heats.

Only Harkey would advance past the Quarterfinals, edging out Judkins by just .27 seconds. Judkins won the second run, but his time was still not fast enough to advance to the Semifinals. In the Semifinals, Harkey once again finished second, moving into the final, where he would take third and Bronze.

Speed Skating
In the Men's 10km, Tristán Parent finished tenth, a clear improvement from the 29th place he had in Orean, but still disapointing. Lindsay Schuhart finished 14th, while Dilshad Samson was 29th. Darmen's most likely chance for an assured medal failed to materialize as expected.

In the Team Persuit, Darmen finished in thirteenth place, and did not advance past qualifying.

[Benjamin Mark]

Zhang - Good Evening, I'm Jessica Zhang, Welcome to the evening news, Josh Kelly called in sick and there is no one to cover for him, In Arcon today it was a disastrous penultimate day. Megan Su is in Arcon today with the latest, Megan?

Su - Disastrous is what I would describe it sure, In Men's Slaloms Final, Christian Elliott & Tony Guerra placed 53rd & 74th respectively, Biathlon - Men's 4 x 7.5km relay final, The team of Anthony DeSilva/Jeremy Landon/Rickey Orville/George Ziehr placed 19th, Men's 4-man bobsleigh team of Angel Marley/Stanley Kendrick/Robert Cameron/Martin Lee Stephens placed 32nd, although it is expected for the next two runs today that they will place in the top 20. The women's counterpart found Callelyn Hernandez/Ashley Matsui/Charlene Sung/Chelsea Tang-Hudson and they're expected to place in the top 10 and possibly snag a bronze, possibly. Snowboarding - Women's parallel slalom qualification and final, neither of them made it to the final as Jessica Veirini placed 34th & Jasmine Viorapani placed 39th. Today's events are.

Bobsleigh - Men's Four-man runs 3 and 4
Bobsleigh - Women's Four-man runs 3 and 4
Cross-country skiing - Men's 50 km classical mass start final
Cross-country skiing - Women's 30 km classical mass start final
Ice Hockey - Men's Final

CLOSING CEREMONY

Su - Reporting live in Arcon, Megan Su, BMNS news.

[Saugeais]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we must say good bye to Arçon.....

Day 16 RP cutoff.

Results

[Qazox]

Damn it. 1 little hiccup in the 3rd run and poof! there goes not only the gold, but any medal in the 4man bobsled. With the other two teams 55th and 67th, we had it in our palm. But we choked. The women just barely cracked the top 20, and with a 40th and 52nd place too.

But we got 2 gold medals, in ski jumping of all places. And thus again the QOC heads home underperforming again.

[Saugeais]

What a picturesque sight on the final day of the Ninth Olympic Games. Abbel Mountain, off in the distance, was aglow in the light from the setting sun. Landry Park, adjacent to Arrowpoint Place, was filled with the electricity generated from thousands of spectators, holding exuberant conversations, having hearty laughs, and taking some of their last photos before the Closing Ceremonies. Meanwhile, inside the stadium, the final touches for the program were being made, as floats were being placed in the correct sequence, the volunteers going over their routines one last time, the audio being double checked to sync correctly to the video played, and the video for actually being able to play.

All the was being overseen by François Martinique, chairmen of the Arçon Olympic Committee for the Winter Games, presumably because the Opening Ceremony was panned critically, he wanted to make sure everything would come out right in the Closing. "If we can't make a good first impression, let's make a great lasting one," he said to the volunteers in a giant group meeting before the gates opened to the general public.

...

The stadium filled up fairly quickly as the anticipation for the ending of these Games began to mount. The conversations from outside the stadium continued within: discussions of what countries did well, who didn't, which athletes surprised, but the one that was on everyone's mind who was seated was, more or less, 'Will the Closing Ceremony not be rubbish?' With the stadium filled to capacity, the main lights shut off, signifying the start of the Closing Ceremonies. The presentation started off with the same exact tune as the beginning of the Opening Ceremony, but instead of a recording over the loud speakers, the Saugeais Symphony Orchestra, who entered the arena via hidden platform in the center of the arena, were playing. And not just the long form piece from the Opening, but more of a medley of Saugeain classic composers. Franck Desjardins, Julienne LeFebre, and Pierre Botan (whose composition was heard in the Opening Ceremony) were played as the parade of floats came out from one end of the stadium. On each of the 24 floats were different depictions of Saugeains, past and present at work, at home, and at play. One float had a farmer tending to his field on the outskirts of the budding city of Arçon, another had children pulling each other around on makeshift toboggans.

After the floats passed by, the scene went dark once more, as performers appeared on the other side of the arena. Wearing fancy dress, the Orchestra began to play waltz tunes, as the performers danced in front of a mock theater backdrop, highlighting the area's penchant for dance and theater. Interpretive dancers followed them, as they surrounded the Orchestra, each wearing one of the six colors of the Olympic Estoile. The speed of the dancers and the tempo of the music began to slowly increase, as the dancers began to separate into their respective groups. As the music crescendos, the dancers form the outline of the estoile, signifying the end of the musical piece.

"Ladies and gentlemen...Please welcome the president of the Republic of Saugeais, Mr. Thomas Bouvier."
"Mesdames et messieurs....Veuillez accueillir le président de la République du Saugeais, M. Thomas Bouvier."

The president entered from left side of the Presidential Box and waved to the cheering crowd. His beaming smile concluding that all was well with the Olympics over these past several days. He remained standing as the Saugeais national flag was carried out to the arena by the Saugeain National Guard. A local all-boys choir was situated behind the flag dais, who, as the National Guard got into position, began to sing the national anthem. The National Guard raised the flag at a snail's pace all the way up, finishing just as the second verse of the anthem was finished. Applause followed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the flags and athletes from the Arçon Winter Games."
"Mesdames et Messieurs, veuillez accueillir les drapeaux et les athlètes des Jeux d'hiver Arçon."

With the orchestra removed from place, the trapdoor in the center of the arena reopened, this time as a portal for the flagbearers and athletes to enter into the arena. All the national flags appeared first, followed by the large grouping of athletesfro all corners of the multiverse. Those who won medals proudly displayed there haul, and as they did in the Opening Ceremonies, several athletes brought along their camcorders and phones to record the festivities.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the victory ceremonies for the men's and women's cross country skiing mass start events."
"Mesdames et Messieurs, les cérémonies de vainqueur pour le ski de fond hommes et femmes départ groupe Libre."

After the athletes made it to their seats, it was time to award the medals from the day's cross country skiing events. The center of the arena was lowered and once again arose, this time with all three medalists from both the men's and women's events, as well as the volunteer presenters and Olympic President, Royston French.

First on the men's side, Iosef Tollefsrud from Polar Islandstates was the first to be announced, winning the bronze medal. Next with the silver medal was Klaas Thacker, and while Klaas didn't take the gold home for the host nation, he still received a rousing ovation from the crowd, being one of the 13 medal winners for Saugeais. Axel Malmstrom from Vaugania accepted his gold medal, and the Vauganian national anthem was played over the loud speaker.

After the introduction for the women's cross country skiing, the crowd began to stir loudly. Hiorra o Darkdale from Bears Armed was announced as the bronze medalist, whose large frame required the volunteer to stand on his toes to reach the medal around her neck. Mary Bishop from Electrum received the only medal from her country, a silver, which she responded with a fist-pump after being adorned with the hardware. And finally, the roar was nearly deafening for the announcement:
"Gold medalist and Olympic champion, representing Saugeais, Regina Benbow!"
"Médaillée d'or et championne olympique, représentant Saugeais, Regina Benbow.!"

Regina was ecstatic. Jumping up and down on the podium and waving feverishly at the crowd before accepting her medal. A small chant in the crowd started up, "Une plus! Une plus! (One more! One more!)", in reference to the national anthem playing one more time in front of the 80,00 spectators in Arrowpoint Place. The stadium shook with the first two verses of the anthem "My Country is Better Than Yours", a title that never felt so fitting as it did right now.

After the final medalists took there seats, a video package recapping the last two and half weeks events took place, which documented all the thrills and spills from all participating athletes. Clips of The Sarian's speed skater Mario De Bruyne breaking the 10,000 metre record, several ice dancing performers, overturned bobsleighs, and enthusiastic athletes receiving their medals were a small part of the video. Applause followed from the crowd after it was finished.

"Ladies and gentlemen...Please welcome the President of the NSOC, Vice-Admiral Royston French."
"Mesdames et messieurs....Veuillez accueillir le président du Conseil Olympique, Vice-amiral Royston French."

Royston French stepped on the dais and up to the podium, ready to give his closing speech. He celebrated the commitment of the athletes, and applauded their performances: "There is a reason why you are here, because you have proven to be the best of the best, and I saw that from all of you during these Games." He congratulated President Bouvier, François Martinique, and the city of Arçon on their successful hosting of the Winter Games: "We have all enjoyed excellent conditions and fabulous sporting venues here. Furthermore, Arçon and it's people have provided generous hospitality to everyone, promoting the idea of peace, goodwill, and respect that can be transmitted throughout the multiverse. Merci, Arçon.

And now, I declare the Ninth Olympic Winter Games closed. Wherever the Tenth Winter Olympic Games will be held, I ask the youth of the world to assemble then in the celebration of athletic competition and sportsmanship.


Following the speech, ominous departing music begins to play as the Olympic Cauldron was brought out to the center of the arena, with a small change in design. The cauldron pillars now seemed to have LED panels attached to their sides, and were now glowing red hot near the top by the flames, with blackness everywhere else. Slowly though, the color of the base and pillars began to oscillate to blue, simulating a rise in water. Climbing, climbing, the 'water' made it's way to the top of the pillars, and with it the flames began to snuff out. As the flame dies, the pillars begin to change color again, this time from blue to yellow. Brighter and brighter, the pillars become until all they emit is white light. After a few more seconds, the pillars go dark and the light streaks off across the stage and up the crowd through the use of strategic LED placement. The light travels up to the top of the stadium where, in the relative placement the light would hit on the top of the stadium, a fireworks show begins. The music picks up one last time to the last strains of the original opening music, ending in a flurry of sound and firework light, concluding the show



'Nailed it,' thought François Martinique.

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier
Still nobody knows the names of all the districts so whatever

After an eventful Olympics, with Zwangzug's delegation winning six medals, it's time for athletes and supporters to come home to Zwangzug, from Trevij to--in the words of pretty much anyone--"like whatever district they come from anyway."

"Doesn't really matter if the journalists report on them or not," the consensus held, "there's like sixty, no one has time to memorize that many." In addition, most asked for comment believed that "pretty much all" of the electoral districts were "shaped really funny, not funny distinctive, just funny stupid," and you'd have to be a "pretty sad person" to recognize any of their shapes in isolation.

"There's uh...Namiri is actually a district, right, not just the forest? And so is Keppal," said one fan who admitted her best hope was summoning up the names of football teams at random. "Slogda are good. Is that...I think we border Slogda district. We border Slogda, right? Yeah?"

"The districts have names," another spectator fervently nodded. "All seventy-one of them. I mean, sixty. There's sixty, right? Actual names with letters, somehow none of them managed to have numbers or stupid characters in them. That's probably good."

There has been some disappointment about the lack of gold medals won, with a few frustrated fans revisiting the idea of devolving into component districts because "we can't do much worse, yeah?" "At least this'd make a nice bookend to our first Olympics, if we did that. Where by 'nice' is meant 'not very nice'." Most people, however, believe only those that can already name all sixty should be able to advocate this extreme position, which has basically eliminated all of its proponents.

"You could learn them in school, I guess," someone said, "if your teachers had literally nothing better to do. I mean, why would you want to do that? It's a little awkwardly nationalistic, and besides, the geography on the worldwide stage is so much in flux, I don't know that anyone takes the subject seriously at all."

At press time, the district government of Trevij was a little annoyed that no one seemed to care about them, but they wanted to watch the replays of the Olympics so they weren't really available for comment either.

[Benjamin Mark]

Cameron - As the IX Winter Olympics, comes to a close, I have three athletes I would like to interview, Jacqueline Torres, Jennifer Valenti-Gonzales, and Kellyanne McHeidlin. Ms. Torres, I am so shocked that you didn't win a medal, how are you doing?

Torres - The Olympics was tough, I'll admit, but I'll come back even stronger, Angie. I'm a fighter, I will succeed. I won't make false promises, I am winner and I will make it.

Cameron - That sounds so nice, Ms. Valenti-Gonzales, you stumbled a few times, but you won a silver medal. Jennifer?

Valenti-Gonzales - I'll let you in on several stories, I actually broke someone else's ski pole, it was by accident, of course, It was Luna Latenights of Kriegiersien. I felt so bad afterwards that I hugged her so deeply. Another time, I got gold, but they stripped me of it because I didn't do a second run, they still let me keep the gold medal though. So we got 3 gold medals, 1 silver, and 1 bronze. I got 1 gold and 1 silver for my country! Yay! Do you believe me, Angie?

Cameron - I believe you, I really do, what about the stumbles you made.

Valenti-Gonzales - Yeah, let me tell you something, I totally embarrassed about my non-finishes though, I believe I cried just as hard as Luna Latenights or maybe a little harder. I would change it in a heartbeat. I'm happy though, I'm smiling. That's all that matters right? I'm even holding the flag in the closing ceremony.

Cameron - Ms. McHeidlin, you...

McHeidlin - Call me Kellyanne!!

Cameron - Kellyanne, you got your first gold, and actually said to Ms. Valenti-Gonzales you're better to her, the gold medalist, too.

McHeidlin - I know, I think I was tooting my horn way too much that day, I am just a person who simply won a medal, It shall hang on my medal for years to come. I am so happy I could jump for joy. That's all I have to say.

Cameron - That concludes our interview session, the closing ceremony will be held shortly afterwards. Reporting live in Arcon, Angie Cameron, BMNS News.

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

[Barunia]

J: Well, I guess that's that then.
K: Yep. Only three medals, and no gold.
J: That's still pretty good. We did better than I expected.
K: We had over fifty athletes!
J: We're not a winter sports country, ok? It's a matter of geography. We had a lot of good finishes though. Just yesterday Kiyoshi Matsakura finished 21st in the Women's snowboarding.
K: What, Women's snowboarding?!
J: Yes Klaus, women can snowboard too, you know.
K: I know that, it's not what I meant. Matsakura was in the men's competition, he was in the quarterfinals.
J: Really? The official results state he was in the women's competition. That's odd.
K: I wonder how it happened?
J: More to the point, did he actually compete in the girl's event, or did they just mix up the names. And if they did, whose run was it? Kimberley Hart had her run, she finished near the bottom of the pack.
K: Naturally.
J: You now, you just disproved your own argument Klaus, when you said that Kiyoshi made it to the quarterfinals.
K: Where he then fell over and finished over nine seconds behind.
J: Oh, stop being so negative. We've got three medals, stop whinging.

K: So, who's carrying the flag for us in the closing ceremony? Morgan's a silver medallist, Stirling only got bronze. So it should go to Sara Morgan.
J: It doesn't always work like that. It's not just based on performance but a whole lot of things. And what about Michael Tilbury, he won silver too you know.
K: I saw that event, he was a mile in front of the other guy, but he only got silver. It's not fair.
J: Klaus, it's speed skating. He might have been miles ahead of the other guy on the ice, but he was a tenth of a second slower than the fastest guy to go around the ice that day. Hence the silver.
K: So, in the sport you're not racing the guy you're next too?
J: Well, yes you are.
K: Well then, Tilbury should have a gold. This makes no sense.
J: The only thing that makes no sense, Klaus, is how someone like you can love sports so much, but be completely oblivious to how they actually work.
K: What's that mean?
J: I give up. I really do.

K: It's time for the closing ceremony. Turn the TV on.
J: Why the hell am I watching this with you? I could be anywhere else right now.
K: Hey look, Tilbury's our flag bearer. Consolation for being robbed of a gold, do you think?
J: You are skating on thin ice, Klaus.
K: Not yet I'm not. I'm thinking of taking it up though.
J: What are you talking about?
J: Skating. You said I was skating on ice.
K: ……..

<sometime later...>
K: Well, that's it for Arcon.
J: A good start for Barunia in Winter Olympics too.
K: I suppose. Hey, did you know we had our first male flagbearer? And Sara Morgan won our first individual medal by a woman?
J: Aren't these our first games though?
K: No, summer and winter. All of our medals won by women were team events. They did give us two gold though.
J: You can still remember all those facts?
K: Well yes, I can name every Barunian medal winner ever. It's not hard, there's only been ten now Arcon is finished.
J: Including every member of the field hockey team?
K: Oh, well maybe not. But I'm thinking of writing a book on the subject.
J: Along with preparing a bid for Barunia to host the next olympics, and writing songs for the BOC? When will you find the time Klaus?
K: Oh, I'll manage somehow. I've got two years until the next games.
J: Speaking of writing the song, did you actually get it done?
K: Oh, I had that done in about five minutes.
J: You simply reused the one you wrote for Orean, didn't you?
K: How did you know? Anyway, I've giving you the words, now you can go and write some new music for it and no-one will even know.
J: You know what? For once Klaus, you're probably right.
K: Well, see you later, until the next olympics.

OOC: Yes, Kiyoshi Matsakura appears to have been incorrectly added to the starting list for the Women's Parallel giant snowboard slalom. As he didn't qualify though, no harm done.

[Kriegiersien]

On the last day, all went wrong. The Bobs worsened and at the end of the day Nicole Valentin ended 4th in Women's 30 km classical, missing the presentation of the medal at the Closing Ceremony, and the chance to bring the team much further in the offical medal tally, where they ended 18th.


Closure:

Kriegiersien 6th in Medal Table, best of Balder (only one participating from there).

1	Vilitan Union (VLT)	5	5	3	13
2	Saugeais (SAU)	3	6	4	13
3	Valanora (VAL)	3	8	1	12
4	Transalpine Republic (TRA)	5	1	4	10
5	Quakmybush (QMB)	3	2	5	10
6	Kriegiersien (KGS)	2	5	3	10

Only in Snowsmash all medals were won by Kriegiersien Athletes (no others present).

Snowsmash Highscores

1. Vladimir Minimax-Putin 8361 G
2. The Ting 7041 S
3. Barbara Rhabarbara 3182 B


Flab bearer at the Closing cermony was Vladimir Minimax-Putin, winner of one Gold and one Silver in Short Track.

Even Higgs Boughson, Head of Mission, was present with over 100 athletes and officals, after a further rage before the last day.

It happened again:
Neinneinnein.