Games of the V Olympiad - RP thread

[Liventia]

Rowing medallists accuse local volunteers of speaking "too much French"

Nautical Sports Complex, Outineau, KELSSEK-- The Independent Athletes of Liventia's thirteen medallists in rowing have launched a startling accusation against local Outineau volunteers following their medal wins yesterday and today, accusing them of overly using French in conversation.

The 13 rowers, made up of gold medallists Vivian Bell and Marian Francis (women's coxless pairs); Colin Thomas and Colin Gray (men's lightweight double sculls); and the bronze-winning women's coxed eights team - none but one of whom speak French fluently despite it being one of Liventia's two official languages, say that all their queries and questions, posed in English, were all met with replies in French.

Thomas accused one volunteer of "refusing to speak to us in English despite using English to converse with a fellow volunteer" when asked about the medal ceremonies. "I clearly overheard him speaking in English prior to asking him about our medal ceremony, but to my surprised he responded in French.

"When I told him I had heard him speaking in English and that I understood limited French, he just shook his head and said something like 'awn glay, ate vu foe'. Now, I've no idea what that means, but I can gather that he was either drunk, had short-term memory, or just plain refusing to use English," Thomas said.

Francis said that after her medal ceremony, when being ushered off the podium, she had asked to be allowed to use the podium to dedicate her win to her late father, but her minder "spoke no English" and "actively tried to stop me from approaching other volunteers".

"I know Outineau and Kelssek are a French-speaking nation like us in Liventia but surely there have to be people who speak some English in this city, I mean, do they expect the whole Games to be run in French?" she asked, apparently unaware that French is an official Games language.

The coxswain of the eights team, Carolyn Williams, who is the only effectively bilingual athlete out of the thirteen, said one volunteer told her they had been instructed to communicate to athletes only in French, citing political pressure. Williams derided the situation as "political correctness gone wrong", and said athletes should have been provided minders who spoke their language.

The independent athletes chef-de-mission/flag-bearer, judo bronze medallist Joshua Taylor, says he has written to the organising committee - in French - to protest the rowers' treatment.

[Ariddia]

Golden Girls turn bronze
The Press Association

It’s been an interesting morning of close calls for all Ariddian athletes in action in Outineau today.

Yesterday afternoon, there was nothing but disappointment for Ariddians, as potential sprinting star Priscillia Sissoko – sixth fastest qualifier – stumbled near the start of her second round race in the 100m. Though it was only a brief trip up, she lost almost half a second on her prior time, along with thirty-eight places – finishing well out of the top thirty-two. It was a sharp blow ; most had expected her to reach at least the semi-finals.

But today, as they say, was another day. It began with swimming, the first event of the morning, and Kim Claude Chi-gon beginning his final event of these Games – the 50 metre freestyle. Starting in heat six, with other low-ranked competitors, the Kelssekian representing Ariddia surprised spectators by delivering a performance utterly unlike his previous. Pulling well ahead of his opponents, he completed the swim in 22.51 seconds – a personal best. Kelssekian spectators applauded, and he waved with what seemed like a look of surprise. He had won his heat ; the question now was whether his time was fast enough for him to qualify.

As the next five heats proceeded, faster and faster swimmers recorded times which pushed Kim’s down perilously close to the sixteenth place mark. He watched, anxious and hopeful, until the results of the final and fastest heat flashed up, followed by the overall results. He was fifteenth – clear of elimination by five hundreths of a second. The delighted amateur swimmer gave a whoop of joy, and was congratulated by fellow Kelssekian qualifier Jason Conroy. (Kim made the most of it to ask for Conroy’s autograph, and Conroy kindly reciprocated.)

Claude Kim –who might have felt he was in Outineau mainly to make up the numbers– had just qualified for an Olympic semi-final, following the best performance of his life.

But even a memorable swimming result would always be eclipsed by gymnastics. Today saw the final participation of the Golden Girls in artistic events. First came Li Sha, in the floor exercise. Fujisawan gymnast Marumi Toyotomi dominated the competition with a breathtaking display of grace and skill, taking a deserved gold medal with a score of 16. It was a close contest for second between two gymnasts clearly ahead of their opponents, and Quodite Annie Hsüeh was awarded silver with a score of 15.600. Li Sha danced, spun and saltoed her way to a bronze medal, with a result of 15.525. It was an improvement on her qualifying rank. She had turned an outside chance into a place on the podium – and the first medal for any female Ariddian gymnast at these Games. Her expression during the medal ceremony seemed to be one of relief as well as pride.

In the vault, Ariddia’s Maysa Alshamrani had qualified in first place, generating high hopes of a gold medal. Having finished last in the final of the individual all-around, with her confidence momentarily shaken, she would inevitably be looking to shine in her one remaining artistic event.

As it was, Akbarabad’s Afia Arafat outshone all other gymnasts, leaving no doubt as to where the gold would be going. In a tightly contested event, Alshamrani was able to win bronze, with a creditable score of 15.900. The two gymnasts were seen engaging in a long, clearly friendly conversation before and after the medal ceremony, but Alshamrani merely smiled when asked what they had talked about.

The two Golden Girls’ bronze medals bring Ariddia’s medal tally up to four so far – all of them won in gymnastics.

[Bergnovinaia]

The Bergnovinaian Sports Network's Broadcast About the Olympics.


OOC: I apologize about all the ITA stuff at the end of the broadcast.

[Sargossa]

Suits Under Threat



The morning of day eleven started much like any other for Sargossa's Olympic delegation. But, while the athletes and their coaches got on with it, the numerous suits that made up the nation's collective sporting hierarchy were in for a short, sharp shock. For Rubén Soriano, Sargossa's Minster of Sport, had arrived in Kelssek for an unscheduled visit and he wasn't overly impressed. Although nothing will happen until after the games the Minister's impromptu arrival has sparked rumours that the government are planning sweeping changes of the nation's sporting leadership in the wake of what has been a so far disappointing effort in Outineau.

Diego Bustos, the fancifully titled Director of Elite Aquatics, is already practically out the door after another limp morning, the lowlight of which was the men's 4x100 medley relay finishing last in the heats. Carlos Vazquez, the head of Sargossa's Athletics Authority, is another under threat, despite the athletics having barely started, after not a single Sargossan made it beyond the quarter finals of the 100m. Only the powerful football authorities remain totally invulnerable despite Sargossa's 4 - 2 loss to Carpathia and Ruthenia in Group 7.

On the other hand, whoever it is that is actually in charge of equestrian events back in the Archipelago can be hugely proud. Seen as glorified hangers-on prior to the games, the team had already racked up one medal and in the Grand Prix Test Cristina Del Puerta, Isabella Ortigoza and Néstor Peña all qualified in performances that bagged another medal, a bronze in the team standings. And that wasn't the only medal of the day as Adrían Bueno and Máximo Ruiz attempted to defend their badminton crown. But they were up against tough opposition in the form of Raihan and Rehnan Ahmed of Akbarabad and our boys narrowly lost out in a hard fought opening set before the Ahmads wrapped it up 21-10 in the second.

In the two other meetings between Sargossa and Akbarabad that morning the Rushmoris fared much better. The team of Maria Vega and Alda Montero continue to ooze class in the women's beach volleyball and made it three wins from three in Group 5 with a comfortable victory over Biva Mallik and Sufia Islam. And in the men's basketball Sargossa beat Akbarabad 83-73 to record their first win in Group 4.

But most of the attention back in Sargossa was firmly centred on the Stade Moen as the nation's number one tennis star Cristian Obolo, hugely popular back home, advanced into the quarterfinals of the men's singles. He was forced into a tiebreak in the first set against Dagan Kevin Clarkson but came through to win 6-4 in the second. Soon after that he teamed up with Ivan Bolanos to face the Krytenian duo of Remi and Havel in the third round of the doubles. After Obolo disposed of Adam Remi in the singles revenge looked on the cards after a sound 6-1 win for the Krytenians in the first set but they faded badly and lost the second 6-3 before Obolo and Bolanos won the decider 6-2 to move into the last eight.

The morning's two medals saw the Sargossan total rise to eight, ranked seventeenth overall.

[Qazox]

<<<QBC.com/The Games of the Vth Summer Olympiad>>>

Qazoxian Day Eleven Results:

Women's Tennis
Erica Hanson- Lost to Ute Fierchen (Taeshan) 5-7, 5-7. Twice Hanson had leads of 5-4 but could not hold off Taeshan's Ute Fierchen as she ends her good run at the Olympics, but albeit a couple of rounds too soon for her, I believe.

Women's Beach Volleyball
Brianne Mocke/Dorothy Mocke- Defeated Helen Morgan/Alexis Dodgson (Combined Team) 21-14, 16-21, 15-10. The Mocke twins finally ended their slide defeating a tough Morgan/Dodgson team. after dropping the 2nd set by 5, the Mockes started the 3rd set on a 8-1 run and held off a furious comeback attempt to win their 1st match and retain a slim chance of making the medal round.

Karen St. John/Marsha Brooke- Defeated Nargis Akhtar/Taskina Ali (Akbarabad) 13-21, 21-16, 15-11. Finally St. John & Brooke were completly helathy, as the earlier injury turned out to be just a strain and not a tear as previously feared. The Akbarabadian team did have a 11-3 lead in the 2nd set before a 18-5 run to end the set allowed Qazox' best women's team to finally get a win they have deserved.

[Delaclava]

It was one of the toughest matches of his life. But after 4 hours and 48 minutes, Darren Giles had beaten Ben Kennedy of the Islands of Qutar. It should have been an easy match, but it turned into a 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 struggle. Giles had felt fatigued, sore, and tired the whole match. He was stiff, and he felt like he didn't have control of his body, but he had gotten through to the quarterfinals.

He stepped up to the mic at the press conference and spoke. "Okay, everyone, it's going to be quick. As you saw, long and tough match. I'm happy to win it, and I need to rest up for the quarterfinals. I'll take a few questions and that's it. Kara?"

"Darren, you've seemed a bit slower, a bit tired in your recent matches. Is this any reason for concern?"

Giles smiled and said, "I'm 37 years old and not getting any younger. I'm sure that's part of it, and this Outineau air's a bit different. Nothing to worry about as long as I can still hold my own. Mike?"

"Brian Ho of United Beretania, who beat you in the semifinals of Aeropag, was knocked off by Shimpei Arai of Fujisawan Territories. Your reaction?"

"I'm obviously relieved to some extent. It'll be good not to face Brian, he's an excellent player and would have been a bother. But anyone who's knocked him off is a cause for worry. Arai should offer a tough challenge, no doubt. To be honest, I don't know much about him, but I'll sure find out before my match with him. Danny?"

"Rocco Davis, your fellow countryman, defeated Affidz Osman of Jesselton 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. If you beat Arai and he beats Louis Knoff of Bergnovinaia, you two will face each other. How do you feel about that?

"I'm glad that Rocco's gotten this far, and I'd be thrilled to see him beat Louis, especially after Rocco's early exit in Aeropag. If we face each other, it'll be interesting, to be sure. I definitely won't give an inch. But I'm looking forward to it. He's the Delaclava number 2 but he's got his youth going for him and can add a bit of experience. It'll be tough. Bud?"

"And what if you face Knoff?"

"You're surely aware of Bergnovinaia trying to impose a rivalry on us. Personally, I'm not interested. They've talked a lot off the court about how we supposedly cheated, how we're their biggest rivals, and so on. I don't care. Louis is just another opponent that I will study, plan for, and hope to defeat. And to be honest, we've beaten them everywhere where it matters, which is on the court."

He paused. "That'll be it, everyone. See you all tomorrow."

He walked down the stairs offstage when he suddenly stumbled and fell down the few steps. Everyone suddenly went quiet, but Giles stood up again, smiled, and said, "I'm all right. Five hours at my age will do that to you."

Everyone laughed as he exited. He made a beeline for the bathroom once he was out of sight from the media, and splashed water on his face. As he looked into the mirror, thoughts raced through his head.

Why does this keep happening? It's been happening quite a bit lately, and I'm never like this. I stumble, trip, feel tired all the time. Why is it like this? And then, Gather yourself. You're in the tougher half of the draw. You've got Shimpei Arai to face. Get it together, maybe see a doctor once this is all over.

Giles sighed and returned to the Olympic village. He tried to put the matter out of his mind, but for the first time in his career since his knee injury, the cool, calm and collected Giles was actually worried.

[Sorthern Northland]

The Sports Pink
Sorthern Northland's Olympic paper

Hockey: Arson claims denied

A number of athletes were last night forced to spend an hour or so standing in the Outineau drizzle last night following a small fire in one of the dorms at The Olympic Village. A bed in the section of the village containing Akbarabadi athletes is understood to have been set alight.

Suspicion was immediately cast upon the members of Sorthern Northland's women's hockey team after a number of sightings placed them entering the building containing Akbarabadi athletes carrying “A can of petrol, firebombs, matches and a disposable barbecues”.

Later reports placed members of the team, made up solely of students from Meánscoil na Talamhglas in Corcaigh, standing outside the building watching fire-fighters fighting the blaze and shouting thing such as “burn baby burn!”.

When asked whether the team had only involvement in the incident midfielder Dearbhail Ní Bhrosnacháin, who has already been accused of misdeeds such as hear pulling at these Games, strenuously denied any involvement saying “We didn't start the fire” before going on to list a number of historical figures and events.

She then went on to add, “Mind you, for all those things they said about the Arriddians, Kelssekians and Quintessentials, they totally deserved this. The things they said were mean and very uncalled for”.

Athletics: Foul mouthed tirade defended

Seán Ó Faoláin, Sorthern Northland's notoriously inept Olympics chef-de-mission has today moved to defend sprinter Zara Greenwood following a series of complaints from parents over her reaction to being forced to pull out of the 100 m sprint competition in the second round.

Greenwood collapsed to the in agony having pulled her hamstring during the start of the race. Cameras later showed Greenwood engaging in a heated conversation with a child, understood to be local to Outineau, in which she is understood to have called him a “slani little Bostopian” amongst other things.

A number of parents are understood to made complaints claiming Greenwood to be a poor role model for children. Greenwood later said she had no regret over the situation claiming she was in Outineau “to win a slani medal and not be a slani role model for slani children”.

Ó Faoláin is understood to be against taking action against the sprinter claiming, “She's a very passionate girl, she's worked very hard to make it to these games and to be forced out of her race through injury.. it's very difficult for her. She's got very tired and emotional about it but I'm sure she means no harm. It's all fine.”

Despite the injury Greenwood in still expected to compete in the women’s 4×100 m relay event.

[Quintessence of Dust]

The cover story of this week's Cleethorpes Clarion, a Liberal rag from Quintessence of Dust's west.

MARXIST DICTATORSHIP PREPARING CLONE ARMY FOR WORLD CONQUEST?


ARE ARIDDIAN SCIENTISTS GROWING A CLONE ARMY READY TO WAGE WAR ON THE FREE WORLD? IS YOUR GOVERNMENT PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO THEIR EFFORTS TO RAISE THE FORCES OF ZOMBIE COMMUNISM? ARE YOU EASILY MANIPULATED BY BLOCK CAPS AND OVERUSE OF BOLD FUNCTION? IS THE OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS COMPETITION A TRAINING GROUND FOR CASTROIST DEATH CLONE SHOCKTROOPS?

THE CLEETHORPES CLARION has obtained information that the proto-leftist federal government in Highmark City may be willingly suppressing - including irrefutable proof of CLONING by Ariddia, known the world over for their uncompromising support of MAOIST TERROR INSURGENCIES through their propaganda arm "PINA" - which we think should stand for PEOPLE INSTIGATING NEOTROTSKYITE ATROCITIES.

Nations around the world have always wondered at the success of the Ariddian gymnastics program, which claimed more medals today in Outanabout in the Stalinistic Commonpoverty of Kelssek, and today we can reveal the HORRIFYING TRUTH: Ariddian scientists have created CLONES of their successful gymnasts, allowing them to enter essentially the same competitors in Olympics DECADES after their first iteration.

These two press releases from the Agence de presse ariddienne years apart CLEARLY SHOW the indisputable likeness of "Sandrine Berthier" and "Sophie Towers" - the latter obviously one of two clones, along with "sister" Emily, submitted for the Fifth Summer Olympics. According to our IN-DEPTH SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS, the similarities are not mere coincidence: THEY COULD ONLY POSSIBLY BE THE SAME PERSON.

"These two Olympic teams competed eight years apart, and yet 'Berthier' is clearly the same person as 'Towers'," said our SCIENCE EXPERT, Thorsten Brandt. "There is only one possible explanation: CLONING."



The shocking images reveal the truth PINA isn't telling you

Yet even more terrifying is the prospect that OUR OWN GOVERNMENT IS LYING TO US. Asked to comment, Yukami Hatakeyama, attache for gymnastics to the SOCIALIST RUN Department of Sport, indulged in BASE APOLOGETICS, saying only, "Uh, isn't it just a clumsy Google rip of the same gymnast twice? Isn't it more likely neither Berthier nor Towers look remotely like that, and it's just the PA being lazy, and going with someone photogenic?" Hatakeyama's obfuscation leaves only possibility: the government YOU ELECTED to spend YOUR TAX SOVEREIGNS is COLLABORATING.

Last night, details emerged that members of the Quintessential Department of Sport - funded by OUR TAX SOVEREIGNS - had spoken with members of the COA ("Communistic Olympians of Ariddia"). Spokesman Han Chung, well known apologist for the DECADENT SOCIAL "DEMOCRATIC" EAST, said they were investigating whether any prospective Ariddian Winter Olympians lacking funding might be able to train in Quintessence of Dust as a token of cultural friendship. BUT FAR MORE LIKELY IS THAT CLONE DECEPTICONS HAVE ALREADY INFILTRATED ERICA ORNAN'S MARXIST CONGRESS AND ARE NOW INFLUENCING PUBLIC POLICY.

Here at THE CLEETHORPES CLARION, we believe domination of world gymnastics to be ONLY STEP ONE in the Ariddian plan. Once they prepared a FULL ARMY of clones, we are sure they will begin a WAR OF TERRITORIAL CONQUEST, laying waste to FREE COUNTRIES and enslaving all beneath the yoke of their KHMER ROUGE POLICIES such as DEATH FOR ALL, HEALTHCARE FOR ALL, PROPERTY FOR NONE and HUNGER FOR NONE.

THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO STAND! We at THE CLEETHORPES CLARION urge you to write your Congressperson, asking them what they are going to do about the SOCIALIST THREAT TO HUMANITY.

[Kelssek]

Day 11 B

This scorination was made possible by the kind contributions of the power plugs in Air Canada economy class.

Also the QOD relay team was accidentally left out of the original Men's 4x100 medley relay swimming event, and there was a basketball group standings table that hadn't been updated. Fixed now.

[Ferkas]

Distance, Finally!
But You Still Shouldn't Be To Excited

Republic Sport Magazine

The second half of day 11 competition has finally come to a close and it saw a relativly large number of Ferkain competitors.

In the qualification rounds of the Mens Shot Put Franklin Mermal tied for 53rd place with a throw of 19.26 meters. His first two throws were both faults, both times he stepped over the board in the front. On his third and final throw he managed to get a legal mark, but not nearly good enough to advance.

The premier event of the day, for Ferkas at least, was the Womens 10,000 Meter Run. Erica Fersl was the first Ferkian finisher with a time of 31:09.90, in 29th place. She was considered by the NOC to have a "remote but not impossible chance of advancement". The next Ferkian finisher was Veronica Robertson in 44th place with a time of 31:42.45, which was a personal best for her. Danielle Pkol also competed in the event but failed to finish. After the race we caught up with the three ladies and asked them a few questions.

RSM - Erica, let me ask you the first question. You were not exactly a favorite coming into the event, but you were still considered a contender. Do you feal like you managed to live up to that today?

Erica Fersl - You know, I might not have advanced, but I tried my best. You have to remember, this is a championship race. I knew going in that I could not afford a slow opening pace, many of the ladies here have a much faster finishing kick than me. My only chance was to take it out fast in the begining. Unfortunatly I was boxed in during the opening laps and pretty much unable to do anything when the pace slowed, which pretty much made it a kickers race.

RSM - So do you think you may have advanced if the race had started quicker?

Erica Fersl - I definitly think that my chances would have been better.

RSM - Veronica Robertson, this next question is for you. Before the race today your PR(Personal Record) was a 31:55.82, which you bettered today in a championship style race. What have you done differently in your training leading up to this?

Veronica Robertson - Well, I bumped my mileage up a good bit. Earlier in my career I was averaging about 40 miles a week, but even leading up to the trials I was increasing that. One week I peaked out at about 95 miles. I think that has helped to make me a much stronger runner. Also the quality of the competition here really helped bring out my competitive side.

RSM - One final question, this one is for Danielle Pkol. Danielle, what exactly happened? You appeared to be doing very, very well in the early laps, started to fade a bit, then on the backstrech of lap 13 you staggered out into lane 5 and collapsed. To be honest you had most of us worried. What happened?

Danielle Pkol - I don't want to talk about it. Okay, I don't want to talk about it. Just leave me alone. Damn it, LEAVE ME ALONE!

[Kelssek]

Host disciplined after disparaging Cafundelese French ability

A Télévision de SRK presenter has made an on-air apology after a flood of complaints over comments he made on the air disparaging the French-language capabilities of Cafundelese Olympic athletes and officials.

Bernard Cochon was presenting the French-language network's coverage of the Olympic Games and commented that his attempts to converse with the Cafundelese was hampered because they spoke a "dialect" that was "nearly incomprehensible", prompting over two hundred complaints to the network, many of which took offence at Mr. Cochon's cultural insensitivity.

An executive producer of the network's sports programming department said today that Cochon had been instructed by the network to make the apology on the air and said that Cochon will be counselled to be more careful with future remarks.

"He should be aware that to the Cafundelese, we are the ones with an accent."

He went on to note that the official language of Cafundeu is Portugese, not French, and that this could have been the source of the confusion.

----

Parents upset as French immersion trip goes wrong

Parents of students attending a Latrobe-area secondary school have complained to the district school board over a botched French immersion overseas trip which was cut short after the discovery that Cafundéu was not in fact a French-speaking nation.

The principal of Hawthorn Hills Secondary, meanwhile, blamed the travel agency for sloppy preparation and a lack of research and said that the school would seek refunds on behalf of parents. Phone calls to Experience Education Travel were not returned; however it is suspected that the accent in the name Cafundéu, news coverage during the Olympics, as well as a vandalised Wikipedia page, may have been responsible for the confusion.

The students, for their part, seemed to take it in their stride and most were more disappointed at the trip being cut short, regardless of the original purpose. One 13-year old student commented that the Cafundelese sounded like "angry Spanish people" and that it would have been interesting to stay longer.

Some parents also questioned the need to travel such a distance for French-language immersion course. "Why the hell couldn't they have just gone to Langlois or Saint-Rémy?"

[Akbarabad]

AOF chief blasts hosts Kelssek for lax security and demands exemplary punishment for the Sorthern arsonists.

(Akbarabad Press, AP): Akbarabad Olympic Federation head Mohammed Ghazi has gone on record blaming the hosts for the shocking lapse in security which saw saw some of our athletes quarters burned down. " It is the responsibility of the host nation to ensure the safety of all visiting athletes and the Kelssekian authorities have failed spectacularly in this regard" he claimed, before going on to add "Now the only thing left for them to do is to make proper restitution and make sure that such a thing does not happen ever again."

The AOF chief's demands include greatly beefed up security for Akbarabadi athletes, a lifetime ban for the Sorthern Northland's women's hockey team for their act of arson and disqualification of Sorthern badminton player P'yŏng Yong-Ik and his replacement with Raihan Ahmed for the Men's Final. There can be no excuses for not complying these requests and only in their being granted unconditionally, will we see in the Kelssekian authorities a willingness to repair relations between our countries.

He continued and went on to add, "No matter what objections some delegations may have had with press reports from our country, there is absolutely no excuse for attempting to attack our athletes in such a cowardly way. Neither the AOF nor our athletes control the actions of the press and have done absolutely nothing to deserve such hostility. Asking for a minimum amount of security and respect is not too much and we will all sleep a lot better with those drunken hooligans under lock and key. "

[Kelssek]

OFFICIAL STATEMENT
Re: requests from Akbarabad Olympic Federation

The Comité d'organisation des Jeux olympiques d'Outineau has considered the applications made by the Akbarabad Olympic Federation to exclude certain athletes from competition following incidents which allegedly took place at the Olympic Village.

There is no basis for any athlete to be disqualified or banned from the Olympic Games on mere allegations of improper conduct, and absolutely no basis for disqualifying an athlete for the conduct of their compatriots. Moreover, as the incident cited is currently the subject of a police investigation, it would be improper for COJOO to take any actions or make any statements which prejudice the investigation or presume guilt. COJOO therefore cannot accept the requests.

The Akbarabad Olympic Federation is advised to apply to the Integrated Security Unit or to engage private security contractors should they feel additional security for members of their delegation is necessary. As a measure of good faith, COJOO has already replaced the damaged bed and instructed Olympic Village housekeeping services to thoroughly ventilate and clean the room in which the fire took place.

Furthermore, we consider attempts to solicit external pressure from political authorities upon Games organisers and the Olympic Council completely unacceptable. We advise the Akbarabad Olympic Federation to be mindful of involving external parties and political objectives in an event which should be a celebration of sport.

[Akbarabad]

AOF finds Kelssek's refusal to discipline Sorthern Northland inexplicable.

(Akbarabad Press, AP): In an official statement, the Akbarabad Olympic Federation has found the Kelssekian refusal to punish the Sorthern athletes to be "both inexplicable and without foundation". The AOF furthermore requests permission to bring in a platoon of National Security Forces (NSF) troops from Akbarabad for additional security for our delegation.

Meanwhile, in other quarters suspicion has already been voiced regarding the connivance of the Kelssekian authorities with the Sorthern arsonists. Noted expert Fahim Hamza is among those who think that the Kelssekian security forces actively assisted the arsonists and allowed them get away scott free, despite numerous witnesses to the crime. This would also explain their reluctance to sanction the Sorthern team now. It has just been our bad luck that the Games are being held in such a wretched hive. We can probably expect no semblance of justice here. How much more proof do they need ? We practically had a near confession of guilt in a Sorthern newspaper and numerous witnesses tying the Sorthern Northland's women's hockey team location during the time of the arson but that is apparently not enough. It's enough to break anyone's faith in the Olympic spirit.

[Kelssek]

Day 12 A (2 posts)

[Akbarabad]

AP editor makes full apology to the Kelssek authorities for any offence caused.

(Akbarabad Press, AP): The editor of the Akbarabad Press has decided to make a full and unconditional apology to the Kelssek authorities and the organizers of the Games. In his apology the editor admitted that some of the past accusations printed were both inflammatory and lacking in sufficient evidence. These allegations have all been withdrawn and articles pursing those matters will no longer be published.

The editor went on to praise the Kelssek authorities for their handling of the games and acknowledged the difficulties inherent in such an enterprise. He ended with a plea to resolve all future misunderstandings and differences amicably and to our mutual satisfaction.

[Zwangzug]

The Spenson Star
Melissa Rockard obtains footnote

After a thrilling morning on the cycling track, the national women's pursuit racing team came away with a gold medal. For Eloise Simmons and Susanne Deridoy, it was the ultimate vindication of a recent changeover to the track. And for Melissa Rockard, it was the second gold medal in as many Summer Olympics--enough to earn her her very own footnote in the all-time record book.

Adding to the magnitude of the achievement, Rockard was Zwangzug's first Olympian even to have the chance to defend a gold: with changes in medal events, changes in people in charge, and simple post-golden burnout keeping most champions from returning. Nobody else will have a chance this time around, but who's to tell what the future could hold?

Well, maybe not Rockard herself. "That's...really cool. About the defending thing. I mean, it's not...oh, forget it, I just won a gold medal and I'm going to celebrate, bye."

Zwangzug's day had begun less than auspiciously, with Scotty Tressman-Wexler finishing dead last in the men's individual pursuit preliminaries. Osamu Tsukino, surprisingly, approached respectability with a fourteenth place finish; more than a full second past the cutoff for qualification, but still enough to have him beaming afterwards.

More astonishing was the men's sprint team, who did make the cutoff, in eighth place. Ahead lay Quintessence of Dust...who had set the Olympic record in the qualification.

What happened next remains a point of contention. "All I was hoping is that the others could keep it close, I wanted to finish strong," claims Ryan Mailer, while Barney Yusensto has none of that. "We were all sort of panicking, I just took off early and coasted on nervous energy. I mean, it worked, but how the heck we did that I'll never know." In the end, Mailer was able to hold off the man for all seasons, Tom Gruenwald, to qualify for the bronze medal race.

Where they reverted to type, finishing with what would have been merely the sixteenth-best time in the qualifications. "That does sting," admits Kenji Akiyama, "knowing we were there and couldn't do that. On the other hand, I'm able to be disappointed by losing the bronze-medal race, you know? We've come a long way."

The women, however, were able to improve when it mattered. They qualified in the middle of the (qualifying) pack, fourth overall, and recorded the best "first round" time to make the gold medal race. Ahead...lay Quintessence of Dust, who had set the Olympic record in the qualification.

Simmons and Deridoy both put in frenetic if still somewhat raw times, but Rockard would need to close it out. In the end, it seemed anticlimactic, particularly to anyone who'd watched the Aeropag race; Rockard was unsurprisingly in relative control, and eased past Sienna Wilson by more than a full second.

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure how this was going to go," said Simmons, "back when we started, I mean. But Melissa really was confident, and it's been great to learn from her."

Overshadowed in all this was the fact that Artur Herald won a silver medal in weightlifting. Alas, there are no particular honors for finishing seventh one Olympics, then coming back and improving to a silver. Perhaps that's as it should be; wouldn't want anything going to some kind of "national head", after all.

But just once in a while, as Rockard seems to have discovered, it's all right to celebrate.

[Bergnovinaia]

The Bergnovinaian Chronicle--Online Edition

July 31st, 2010

Bergnovinaian Tennis Hopes Still High--Other Sports Too

In tennis this morning, Bergnovinaian tennis thrived...at least in men's doubles and women's singles. Although Louis Knoff lost in the men's singles quarter final to Rocco Davis of Delaclava (which wasn't a suprise), Louis Knoff paried up with his brother Howard to defeat the Cosumarian team in doubles 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Although Louis was disappointed with his loss in the men's singles draw, he believes that he and Howard "are the best team at this Olympics, and have a good shot of going all the way." The win for the Knoff brother's ensures that they will at least be battling out for a bronze medal, if not a gold or silver.

In women's singles, Nicole Williams downed Holli S. Neufeld of Sibirsky quite easily, 6-2, 6-3. The win also ensures that Williams will at least have a shot at a bronze medal, if not more. However, Williams will face off against Teresa Smith from the home nation of Kelssek in the semi-final. Many tennis analysts, however, predict that Nicole will win her match since she has defeated many prominent members of the International Tennis Association community, including both players from Bergnovinaia. Gretchen, who she defeated, actually won the Bergnovinaian Open, which will likely place her in the top five players in the world.

Elsewhere in notable Bergnovinaian Sports achievements at these Olympic games, in the women's 3m springboard preliminaries, both Caroline North and Sarah Spotts qualified for the next round.

In the heats for Swimming—Men’s 1500 m Freestyle, both Peter Lone and Michale Porter qualified for the next round, Peter qualifying with the second best time.

In association football, Bergnovinaia lost once again, so the hopes of the men's team qualifying doesn't look good. However, a different team sport, women's basketball, is going fantastically well with Bergnovinaia qualifying in first palce in their group going into the next round. Bergnovinaia defeated Iglesian Archipelago 76-76 (92-86 OT). Also, the Bergnovinaian Men's waterpolo team is playing excellent, having not yet even lost a game. They defeated Combined Team 11-8.

[Carpathia and Ruthenia]

CARPATHIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

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First Medals in Athletics

Sveva Pék visibly
disappointed

Athletics managed to provide us some much needed medals, just not the colour we were hoping for. It seems that CONCR tempted fate by annoucing thier alchemical intent to turn silver medals into gold and bronze medals into silver, so far we haven't been able to hold on to the medals we won for years ago and now in the athletics instead of upgrading the medal colour we've managed to do the opposite.

Fair credit is due to the athletes, Sveva Pék olympic gold medalist in the 10,000 m four years ago only managed to get silver this time around even though she beat her lifetime best time by a staggering 10 seconds. Femke van der Vaart of San Adriano had clearly thrown down the gauntlet to the Carpathian athlete by running a sub 30 minute time in the heats, and the final started at a blistering pace with Pék initally holding her own against van der Vaart, but with 3 laps remaining the pace took it's toll on Pék who kept dropping further back with van der Vaart showing no sign of slowing. Sveva Pék was clearly disappointed with herself, and in the post-run interview was on the verge of tears. She along with some harsher critics may have been dissapointed with her performance, but I say that it took a lot of guts. Femke van der Vaart is a talent in women's distance running that hasn't been seen since Jocelyne Lagacé at the Ashford games, and Pék who's never run a sub thirty race showed such heart in the race even when she was falling behind. Unfortunatly rising talent Simonetta Alderisi missed out on the bronze to Allyson Swatt of Cassadaigua who outsprinted the young Carpathian on the home straight.

Elsewhere off the track and on the field Baldo Alagona was so close to retaining his title in the Men's Shot Put. It all came down to the last two throws of the competition, with Alagona throwing at the time the winning throw of 21.39 m celebrating what he thought would be his winning throw. He celebrated too early and clearly invoked the anger of the gods who gave his rival Tom Qwarant of Taeshan the inspiration to throw 21.47 m to knock him into silver place. Cursing up at the heavens is one thing Alagona will regret for the rest of his life, as not moments later did officials rule on a Quintessence of Dust appeal over a foul call on Aðalsteinn Vilhjálmsson's second throw, overturning the foul and giving the Quintessence of Dust athlete the silver and Alagona the bronze. His coach rushed over at this point to calm the althete down, if not to spare him from further divine retribution but certainly from the Olympic officials encroaching on him.

In other athletics news dissapointment for Palmiro Mondo who was just three one-hundredths of a second away from a place in the Men's 100 m final, good news for Carpathia and Ruthenia in the Men's 1,500 m with both Emánuel Benini and Cecilio Accardo qualifying from thier heats. Rosangela Murtas is currently lying in 5^th place in the Women's Heptathlon only 63 points off the silver medal pace, her better events are still to come so look for a medal from her.

In the Men's football Carpathia and Ruthenia secured a two-nil win against Celaa to top group seven with a game in hand over Celaa and Valanora. Carpathia and Ruthenia will be looking to make it to the next stage four years on from thier failure to do so. In Women's Basketball the defending champions are looking strong with a 84-71 win over Mantwenic. In the pool Giorgio Motta manages to qualify for the Men’s 1,500 m Freestyle semi-finals, dissapointment in the Women's 50m Freestyle with bronze medal winner Noemi Muraro missing qualification and only managing to place 35^th in the heats. Better news in the Women’s 4×100 m Medley Relay with the Carpathia and Ruthenia team qualifying well for the final.

[Quintessence of Dust]

Two notes: I'm assuming "the Stormcloude Bears" is ok in reference to Paddar/Marrar; if it's not, that's a genuine mistake, not an IC slight. And Renard is patently not the number one seed in men's tennis; I simply referred to him as such because he was given the only first round bye.

The New Cleethorpes Enquirer
Increasingly erratic skiff duo promise "much more silver"

As Quintessence of Dust's Olympic competitors in Outineau, Kelssek, experienced a second successive day combining triumph and disappointment, returning vast numbers of silver medals but few elusive golds, two team members appeared to be looking forward to the prospect of bringing home more silver. "Avast ye doubloons, tharr be pieces of eight for all, me hearties," announced Jiang Li Mai in a grog-fuelled address to the steadily growing band of sabre-wielding monkeys she has enlisted to help her and crewmate Li Hua Lei in their bid to hold off firm favourites Paddar and Marrar of Bears Armed, who have won the skiff gold medal at the past two Olympic Games.

Mai and Lei won their race yesterday, giving them a five point lead over the Stormcloude Bears after 12 races; both pairs now have three victories to their name, but only one has modified their boat to include fore and aft buckshot cannons. Equally, while the Stormcloudes must be looking for an historic third gold, Mai's multiple public references to obscure Spanish silver coinage have been taken by some as an indication that she would be happy to place second.

Her partner, Lei, yesterday posted to the Olympic team blog. In a 500 word entry, she repeated only the phrase "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!", leading to accusations from the tabloid Clarion that she is in fact a giant anthropomorphic parrot. The same magazine also published revelations that Mai has been emptying Outineau's downtown bars of "buxom and open-minded lasses" by the drove.

Sailing teammate and Aeropag medalist Tom Rasmussen tonight expressed concerns over some of Mai's tactics. "We all know the Olympics are very competitive, and it's good that we see every race in the regatta being taken seriously," he said, speaking exclusively with The New Cleethorpes' Enquirer online magazine, SPAZ-Hole.

"However, Jiang Li is sailing some really aggressive tacks, and I think fitting her boat out with a giant skull-shaped metal figurehead to the prow of her skiff is a bad sign in this regard." At the same time, he acknowledged the pair's obvious sailing prowess. "Sometimes they are sailing way, way off course - in search of buried treasure or merchant bounty - and still coming back in time to finish first or second. Also, because of all the cannonballs they insist on carrying, they're really shipping a lot more dead weight than most crews."

Fellow Aeropag medalist Mike Welch, however, was dismissive of suggestions that Mai and Lei had uncovered details of a secret hidden trove during the Day 12 race. "They say it's an ancient map, but you can clearly tell they've just dyed a hotel napkin with instant coffee and scrawled 'Here be dragons' all over it," he said. "I think 'X' actually marks the spot of the Outineau Mutual Co-operative Savings & Loans."

Nonetheless, the silver rush stands in stark contrast to Akbarabad, who have now surged past Quintessence of Dust, Kelssek and Cafundéu to lead the medals table midway through Day 12, largely thanks to a domination of the wrestling events not seen since the days of Wentland. They swept the women's Greco-Roman events, taking four golds in four weight classes, and also added two more golds through gymnast Afia Arafat and badminton stars Raihan and Rehnan Ahmed.

Meanwhile, two individuals achieved particularly notable success. Yet another Akbarabad competitor, Rumana Parveen, took a second team bronze in the team foil. Akbarabad's women fencers have now done something not even Dorian and Sonya or Roumberre managed, in winning medals in all three team swords; and for Parveen, it gives her more medals in fencing than any Olympian in history (5). Her single game medal haul is the largest in one sport since Natália Franco's six swimming medals for Cafundéu at the Third Summer Olympics.

And Franco's teammate, equestrian Antônio Carlos Bamerindus, took a fourth gold medal in the team dressage, to become the first Olympian to win ten gold medals - and the first to win four in the same event - surpassing Kelssekian swimmer Phillipe Destry (9) and Ariddian artistic/rhythmic gymnast Denis Vaillant (8). Placed sixth, one fault behind the joint leaders, and with two teammates in the top 10, the jumping event offers Bamerindus a chance to further enlarge his overall tally. And I'm sure his horse'll get a carrot, or something.

If the experience of Days 11 and 12 could be summed up in a phrase, it would probably be "good, but not good enough", as encapsulated by unlikely track star, Eric Tomlin, a cementing and gluing machine operator who runs the 100 m in his spare time for Wow! Health & Fitness. Finishing a surprise first after the first round, he twice broke the national record as he progressed to the semifinals - where he became the first Quodite in history to run under 10 seconds. Sadly, his time was not good enough to make the final, where Matthew Daniltsin continued Delaclava's strong track showing from Aeropag with a gold medal run of 9.84.

For some, though, silver still represented a major individual triumph. Aðalsteinn Vilhjálmsson looked like finishing way out of contention in the men's shot put, beating the 21 metre mark only once in a generally lacklustre final, but had his second put reinstated on appeal by a judges' ruling to bump returning champion Baldo Alagona down a place on the podium. The review judge ruled that Aðalsteinn's foot had only crossed the circle after the put had been completed; he was drawing an enormous phallus in the sand with his toe, he later claimed.

Gold continued to elude Quintessence of Dust's gymnasts, who have put together a respectable, though hardly dominant, showing against the highly rated Ariddian, Yaforite, Beretanian, Fujisawan and Veikayu teams. While Taija Pettinen's Olympics ended in ultimate disappointment, seventh in the vault and uneven bars, Gang Chen brought cheer to many back home by winning a medal in the favourite Quodite gymnastic event, the men's rings. He seized the lead with a 15.800 routine, but held it for just a few minutes as he watched former all-around champion Simon Sepulveda take gold with 16.050.

The day before, his brother, Zhen Chen, had also taken an individual silver, with a technically demanding pommel horse routine. He and Yaforite Gregor Ylurov led the field by a distance on their A scores, but Ylurov obtained a better execution grade and ultimately clinched the title. Annie Hsüeh took the first ever medal in women's gymnastics for Quintessence of Dust with a floor exercise routine set to noted sockgaze act Centaurus A's "Farben". She closely beat out Ariddia's Li Sha, who recorded a higher B score for an easier rated routine, but both were some distance behind Fujisawan Marumi Toyotomi.

And, surprisingly given the strength of the competition, Quintessence of Dust guaranteed themselves two further silvers - either of which could turn gold - in the tennis, which following Jia Li Lo's gold medal performance and Qiang Hsiung's silver from the badminton singles competitions will make for a handsome return on the Department of Sport's investment in racket sports. Two sets semifinals will pit Quodites against one another in two similar battles of old and young, with the winners progressing to the gold medal match finals. In the women's doubles, young pretenders Kyllikki Putkonen and Kaari Kolkalla take on the seasoned "Ströms" in a Finnish-Swedish, Greschmeier-Kynythin, old-young battle that bloggers are dubbing "Ragnarok II".

The men's singles competition, meanwhile, has reached a fascinating stage, with both semifinals featuring NOC matchups. Delaclav Darren Giles will play Rocco Davis, with the winner facing the champion of Frederic Renard and Godfried Rasmussen, the former literally twice the age of the latter. Renard, who entered the tournament as an exceedingly nominal #1 seed (probably due to his status as the nation's flagbearer, given his lack of competitive success since the cancellation of the NIFT tour) has enjoyed an unprecedented streak this time around, inhibited only by his increasingly rusty knees, and the deluge of female underwear that descends on him, blizzardlike, every time he tries to take a towel break.

Rasmussen, the young Greschmeier talent with an enormous first serve and not much else, has dropped just one set - and only three service games - in the space of five matches, and now faces his former mentor in a bid to win a final berth. Whoever triumphs - and it will depend, surely, on Rasmussen's first service accuracy above all else - will face Delaclava, a country that once partnered Quintessence of Dust in a NIFT event. The two nations have had little interaction since, but both are aware of Giles's formidable record in the Scott Cup, a mutual Sarzonia-Delaclava tie. If Renard does falter, he will have a second bite at the kumquat thanks to his doubles game with Tom O'Leary, as they face the Bergnovinaian Knoff brothers (?) in the semifinals.

Finally, no mention of the silver slew that has had the Cafundelense cult in a lather would be complete without mention of that most glorious of Quodite Olympic traditions - the absolute, unmitigated, choke. This was nowhere more apparent than with the totals at the end of the day's team sprint events in the velodrome: 2 Olympic records, 0 gold medals, 6 angry fists waved in the general direction of the Zwangzug delegation.

Former Tour de Ad'ihan and Olympic competitor Julius Sundberg, Tom Gruenwald - the first man to win medals at both Summer and Winter Olympics - and newcomer Kyle Butler beat Lovisa's Olympic record for the men's team sprint by 0.062 seconds in a heat featuring all four of the strongest cycling nations - Somewhereistonia, Sorthern Northland, Delaclava and Krytenia. Yet they were singularly unable to repeat the performance, losing well over a second in the first round, and being eliminated by Zwangzug. Delaclava's Aeropag medalists eventually took gold, although no one approached the new record mark of 42.969.

So returning cyclists Sophie Poulsen and Lola Bevan, and new team member Sienna Wilson, should have been well prepared for such an outcome after setting their own new Olympic record in the women's event just a few hours later. They beat the Sorthern team in qualifying by over three tenths of a second, and that team's Olympic record by a similar margin to the men, improving it by 0.066 seconds. They were not tested by New Rockport in the placing round, and found themselves facing, once more, Zwangzug - and finished second, once more, to Zwangzug. Melissa Rockard led her team's defence of their Aeropag gold, and Poulsen and company were left with egg - albeit silver-coloured - all over their faces.

Also, they had pretty sweaty groins by this stage.

Also in today's New Cleethorpes Enquirer:

• Department of Energy estimates 27% of national computing power devoted to Olympic wiki pages
• Use of phrase "an historic" in national newspaper prompts riots, 27 feared dead
• Repeated playing of Midnight Oil song in Olympic village "piling it on a bit", rules Olympic chief Gobbleson

[Delaclava]

"This...is Sports Now."

(intro music plays)

"Good morning, world! I'm your host today, Tim Landon. We have an interview with Matthew Daniltsin, but first let's recap some Olympics!"

(video montage plays)

"Doug Hackley finishes 5th in the heats of the 1500 meter freestyle and advances. On a day where Catherine DeSouza struggles, Gabriela Santos Sandoval manages to advance by placing 13th in the women's 50 meter freestyle. In some organizational errors, two Delaclav teams were entered into the women's 4x100 medley relay, the medley team and the 4x100 freestyle team which won the gold medal. The freestylers finished fourth and the medley finished seventh. An amazing feat considering that both teams have DeSouza, Santos Sandoval, and Naomi Lester. The freestyle team is expected to be removed from the competition, but still some good practice.

"Delaclava's first gold medal of the day, second of the Olympics: Matthew Daniltsin, the only Delaclav left in the men's 100 meter dash, finishes third in the semifinals. In the finals, has a slow start, but he overtakes Mac Dhomhnuill, overtakes Osella! He wins the gold medal and can be considered the fastest man in the world! Daniltsin still had the energy to get seventh in the 1500 meter heats, while Dominic Vargas got sixth and defending silver medalist Aaron Holt 19th. Meanwhile, the lightest human man ever to compete in the shot put final, 160-pound decathlete Brad Olsen, fails to medal, and Andres Mueller also failed to podium. After one day of the women's heptathlon, Gail Debussy is 3rd, Nina Notok is 10th, Tatiana Delacarna 13th.

"Fueled by three goals from Simon De Braden, the men's football team defeated An Blascaod Mor 3-0 to get their third straight win and virtually ensure advancing to the next round. Meanwhile, in women's basketball, Nellie McCormick led the charge with 35 points and 15 assists to crush Vekaiyu 90-63.

"Men's track cycling: Scott Hamul finished first in the individual pursuit prelims, and Dante Dervish grabs sixth out of eight. Medal prospects look very strong in this event. Meanwhile, in the team sprint, Hamul teamed with Daniel Cancellara and Ales Taav. 3rd in the heats, defeated Akbarabad in the quarterfinals and raced fast enough to qualify for the gold final, and defeated Krytenia for the second time today! Taav's second medal of the Olympics, and Taav and Cancellara each have two golds and a bronze all time.

"In gymnastics, we see the third gold of the day! Masu Toni struggled in the rings and finished eighth, but in the same men's rings event Simon Sepulveda overcame a poor all-around run to get the gold medal! That's his second gold, becoming only the third Delaclava to get two gold medals.

"In the climax of the day, in men's tennis, Darren Giles defeated Shimpei Arai 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Rocco Davis beat Louis Knoff 6-4, 6-2. That pits Giles and Davis against each other in the semifinals, ensuring Delaclava at least a silver medal. The loser of the Giles-Davis match will face the loser of another NOC match, Quintessence of Dust's Frederic Renard against Godfried Rasmussen. The winners will face off for the gold."

"And coming after the break, we'll have our interview with new gold medalist Matthew Daniltsin! Don't go away!"

(theme music plays)

[Bears Armed]

"I say, Thorron..."

"Hwat do you say, Borross?"

"Just why did the Bears Armed Olympic Committee send almost exactly the same set of entrants to these Games as they'd sent to Aeropag four years ago, anyway: Failure of imagination? I mean, sure these boars and sows did verrry well there -- top of the Medal-winners Table, and all that -- but didn't anybody in authority stop to think about whether some of them might have got a bit slower or less strong or less fit during the intervening period? After all, they haven't all kept in practice right through those years, hrright?"

"Hwell, a rather large bird (of the black-feathered persuasion, of course) tells me that the Committee couldn't agree amongst themselves about how the country's 'team' for these Games was to be selected, so they travelled north up into the 'Long March' to set that problem before the Oracular Owls there... and their interpretation of the verse into which the oracle-temple's staff translated the Owls' actions was that they should send as many of our former contestants as possible."

"Oh. Hokay. Can't argue with the bally Owls, I supopose."


_______________________________________________________________________________________

OOC: I actually wrote the 'Oracular Owls' into this nation's details, and marked their temple onto its maps, over two years ago -- which was, of course, lonnng before I heard of the football-forecasting cephalopod who was in the news earlier this year -- and had already decided to use them to explain this large-scale repetition in the Bears' roster for these games before the [RL] World Cup started...

[Sargossa]

Track Troubles & Field Failures



To be honest, at this stage we've lost all interest in the pool. Which is a shame as had we actually been paying attention we may well have seen Eduardo Barrón qualify for the final of the men's 50m freestyle in first place and Rita Alvarado putting up a decent fight in the final of the women's 800m freestyle, finishing 6th. But we weren't. So we didn't.

Instead we were all watching the athletics. Which was also a shame as the very best Sargossa has to offer have been found lacking. By quite some distance. There was failure in the men's shot put as Ignacio Carmona's best effort of 19.90 left him stranded in 22nd place. There was more failure in the hammer throw with Alejandro Huitrón, who cleared 84 metres in the Island Games in Jucaro prior to the tournament, only managing 30th position with a throw of 74.50. And the women's 10000m would be another Sargossan free zone to complete a thoroughly poor athletics effort on day eleven.

After an interminable number of sailing events and a bit of wrestling we were back on the track on the morning of day twelve for the galling sight of the final stages of two track and one field event that featured not one, single, lonesome Sargossan. There was better news in the opening heats of the men's 1500m as Jorge Urbina's time of 3:34.87 saw him into the next round in eighth place. But it was the performances of Maria Vigil in the opening events of the women's heptathlon that captured the public's interest. Despite an early struggle in the hurdles she came back strongly with a more than decent 8th place finish in the high jump, an excellent second place in the shot put and another strong 6th place effort, this time in the 200m to sit second in the standings with three events to go.

The rest of the morning left little to shout about with defeat in the football, to Valanora, defeat in the basketball, to Sibirsky, and disappointment in the tennis as Cristian Obolo crashed out of the singles in straight sets to highly fancied Quodite Frederic Renard. But the Sargossan number one remains in the hunt for a medal as he and Ivan Bolanos advanced into the last four of the doubles event.

[Cafundeu]

DIÁRIO ESPORTIVO
Esportes o jornal todo, com exceção apenas pra publicidade!

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Lots of things are happening in Outineau, and with this our usual report will be replaced by an overview of comments from Cafundéu or situations involving Cafundelenses recently. Surely we'll talk about the medals, since we've reached more success in recent events, but I'm sure all the readers will appreciate something different this time.


Cafundelenses surprised by arson accusations

After the confusion caused by a fire in a section of the Olympic Village with Akbarabadi athletes, some athletes from Cafundéu were surprised by accusations on the members of Sorthern Northland's women field hockey team. Actually, the athletes we are talking about are the players of our country's women indoor volleyball, the most popular team from Cafundéu in these Games. This surprise comes due to the fact that they were together with the Sortherners at the moment the fire started. Ana Júlia, starter of the Cafundelense team, commented: "We heard them leaving their rooms, laughing and drinking, and thought they were going to a party... you know how things can get dull here, so we asked to join them. When the fire started, we thought it was some special effect, or some traditional way of commemorating..." Gabriela, another team member, said: "I really enjoyed that night, but didn't realize what happened until the next day when I read the papers... hmm, now I'm not sure if I enjoyed that night, because I do not even remember that!" Finally, Carol Borges told the reporters: "We honestly thought that was some disco party, they were even singing disco music! And, you know, one of them was so pretty that I simply couldn't resist her..." At the end of her last phrase, suddenly all the other girls of the Cafundelense team looked at her with surprised faces, and she stopped talking embarassed by the situation, ending the interview.


Tourism trying to take advantage of language confusion

With the belief of many countries that Cafundéu is a french-speaking nation, the popularity of tourism destinations in Cafundéu unexpectedly grew. "I don't know why we become a better destination just because we are believed to speak French... what's wrong with Portuguese? Well, anyway, this is good for business, and we got some good amount of money from these new people arriving... there was a bunch of students we had just received... they spent a lot, you know. Too bad that they realized the mistake, but we are fixing this," said hotel owner Zeca Deischampos. The "fixing" commented by here involves forcing the hotel employees to try to speak French... even though they've never took classes. Due to this, they end saying the words "oui", "merci" and "petit" at least five times per phrase, and also make strange movements with their mouths. One visitor commented: "Ah, so they are trying to speak French. I could never guess that... I thought they were with some throat problem or losing their breath, that was horrible."

Silver Medal Cult considering moving to other countries

The Silver Medal Cult, so popular in Cafundéu last Olympics, during the period which the Cafundelenses were winning far more silver medals than any other country in an impressive rate, is not having so many success this time. Cafundéu has more gold medals than silvers, and the amount of bronze medals is very low, frustrating the leaders of the cult. "It seems the Cafundelenses stopped learning how to perform well in such a competition. The secret is not to overperform in comparison to the others, but show that you can manage the talent you have inside... and there's no better way for you to show such balance than to aim for the silver." This makes the Cafundelense Silver Medal Cult thinking about going to other countries: "We are thinking of Quintessence of Dust, they are currently the best nation of these Olympics considering our official standings... we are even thinking of ways of making our cult popular there, we are going to have an official mascot." Other option is Bears Armed, since bronze medals are also proofs of ability in talent control.


Anonymous journalist shocked by reports from all around the world

A Cafundelense journalist who refused to reveal his identity in order to protect himself commented on the activity of other media sources: "Some newspapers here seem more sensationalist than those television programs that show shootings in the middle of the city and focus the camera when someone is hit... if newspapers were sentient beings, surely these publications would be fighting each other like gladiators, it's a bloody style of writing!" He also commented on the last Cleethorpes Clarion article, accusing Ariddia of creating a clone army to disseminate communism all around the world. According to him, that's absurd because: "how can a newspaper against those leftists claim that a nation that is communist in their view has such technology? It is simply absurd to say that they have a technology we do not have, as we ought to have much more resources than these communists... their comments are traitorous, they are simply praising the technology of Ariddia! How can other people not see this?"


Equestrian domination continues; more medals coming in other sports... and a negative surprise

As expected by most, the Cafundelense are still the favourites in Equestrian, and confirming this status by giving no chances to athletes of other nations in the sport. In the Dressage event, the advantage of the Cafundéu team over the opponents was solid, giving another gold medal for our delegation. In the other events, few still have the courage to bet against the Cafundelenses. "I bet my house and my two kids on another gold medal for Cafundéu," said one man. Alice Menezes, who already won an individual gold, said that she was excited with the good performance of Cafundéu in Outineau, but also confessed that her favourite sport is another one involving horses, and one that can surprise the fans of the Olympic sport: "I am the current national champion of Barrel Racing... I know that this will never be held in the Olympic Games, but it is my dream to be able to show my skills in Barrel Racing to everyone in the world." On other medal news, Cafundéu won a gold in Team Fencing after some previous disappointments, and two interesting gold medals in individual Gymnastics events: the men's vault with Miguel Darcellos and the men's floor with Leonardo Nascimento. These were extremely good news, since Gymnastics is a major sport in Cafundéu, but one which never got an outstanding success in Olympic games. With the gold medals in the team event for the women and in many individual events for the men, the country may finally become a powerhouse in the sport. And we must also comment on one last gold medal which Cafundéu won recently... and imagine you, it was in Weightlifting again! That was won by Murilo Feroz, a name I believe I have heard before, but can't remember... maybe he won something on the past too, or perhaps he participated in a television reality show?

And to finish this report in a depressing manner, we have the negative surprise of the day: a loss in Volleyball. Beach volleyball to be precise. After laughing at the Landau Institute double of Professors, which lost in the second matchday, the third matchday reserved a loss for Alessandra Ventos and Daniela Paulista against Krytenian opposition. The match was extremely tough, and they simply couldn't repeat the previous results. While Carolina Caffé and Mariana Araújo had another perfect victory, the highlight of the day ended being exactly the two Professors from the Institute, who after their loss had a devastating victory... if at least Alessandra and Daniela do the same next time...

[Kelssek]

Day 12 B