Games of the XIII Olympiad RP Thread

[Todd McCloud]

Eskola® Press Release: Medals Won for Award-Winning Flavor

Eskola® wishes to extend our most sincere congratulations to two silver medalists from Vekaiyu - Ikrisia Sulevire and Ilo Yeskuviye - two swimmers who ventured all the way to Republica in order to show off the Vekaiyun affinity for water and love of premium soda. We caught up with both athletes shortly after their routines, and just after the woman's underwater hockey group stages wrapped up. Vekaiyu, having won all their matches in Group C, nabbed the top seed and will face Vangaziland in a bid to reach the semifinal match.

We know V3 News and other media outlets will likely ask a litany of questions relating to performance, practice, if they had a solid breakfast or if they had received enough sleep the night before, but we at Eskola® decided to take a different approach. After all, both athletes are Eskola® spokespeople and both, quite frankly, make it their go-to drink, reaching for that fizzy goodness that quenches even the most discriminating of thirsts.

Ikrisia Sulevire, the twenty-one year old swimmer from the province of Ves in Vekaiyu, has managed to capture greatness not just domestically, but abroad as she amasses more medals to her already growing record. Her performance has made even the most skeptical of human swimmers second-guess their routines and has revolutionized a sport that up until vulpines hit the international waters seemed rather one dimensional indeed. Sulevire has accumulated twelve total medals in swimming, including seven golds, four silver, and one bronze medals, and two Olympic records to boot. Her latest singles performance netted a silver medal in the Woman's 200 m Breastroke final, an event which saw the top swimmer set the Olympic Record. Saku nabrivoyi, kivia Sulevire!

"It takes focus and sharp confidence to reach a top level," the female vulpine swimmer remarked, "and that's a daily commitment that's almost as important as training and strength conditioning. In my lifetime, I must've swam thousands of laps in many upon many pools - maybe even tens of thousands. I know my strengths and I know my limits. But I always seem to have a little more vigor when I know the entire nation of Vekaiyu cheers us on. It's why these medals belong to the folks back home as much as they do to me." When presented a bottle of Eskola Grow®, Sulevire was quick to unscrew the cap and wait for the carbonation to settle. "O-oh yeah, and this stuff's great! It's good now and then to reach for something that provides the body with - what is that - fourteen different essential vitamins, vitamins that fuel these muscles!" She was quick with a sip, then set the bottle down.

Ilo Yeskuviye, another Eskola® spokesperson, is a young swimmer from Skendia. He's never held his tongue when it comes to speaking his mind. Eskola® reveres this embodiment of freedom, and certainly respects the performance that "the wild one" has won over the last few years - one gold, four silver medals, and one bronze, including one Olympic record. Yeskuviye will take home one silver when all is said and done here in Republica. Saku nabrivoyi, kivio Yeskuviye![/list]

"What can I say?" the athlete said after reaching for a bottle of Eskola Jaku®, a staple product loved by many vulpines in and around Vekaiyu. Known for its tangy flavor, Eskola Jaku® is made from a recipe that has remained unchanged for over thirty years. "If you want to take something, you have to do it yourself, cause no one wants it more than you do. You need to be independent, think for yourself, and leave the politics out of things. At the end of the day, it's either you did it or you didn't. And you have to live with that."

"But it isn't just you," Sulevire chimed in as she grasped her bottle of Eskola Grow®. Speaking of Eskola Grow®, we have recently added in a refined beet sugar substitute to provide this award-winning formula with spectacular taste. "It isn't. People see you in the water, but they don't see the coaches, the people who take care of the pools you swim in, your family, your school-age competition, Riyna Yovisktre, all the people who coordinated this-"

"And a partridge in a pear tree," Ilo quipped, quoting a common Codexian saying. "I didn't see anyone else dive in the water with me. It's just me... and maybe this soda!"

"You're ridiculous!"

"I alone am judged whether I win or lose, and that's all there is to it."

"You aren't just born with it - it takes many upon many people to get one person to swim at an elite level! Admit it!"

Well, our two spokesperson athletes seem to be engaged in a bit of wordy differences. But it's nothing a cool, refreshing glass of Eskola Classic® couldn't fix! Regardless of iniquities, their dedication and determination for greatness is something that resonates well with Eskola®, which also strives for excellence in ensuring every bottle of cola is a winner. Our five brands of cola are prepared using water from the purest of streams stemming into the mighty yet serene Neski River. Vekaiyun farmers wake early in the morning, dedicated to delivering the finest ingredients to our production facilities. These ingredients then undergo careful inspection and are added together using recipes that have quenched the thirst of billions worldwide. Don't mind us, though - our reward is the smile afterward. For as we say in Vekaiyu, Vekaiyun's don't say "ahh" when they drink our cola, they contentedly say "ess" for Eskola®!

• Eskola Classic® - our award winning original formula, featuring a blend of several spices, most notably clove and essence of jaku among others, to produce a cola that isn't too sweet but is definitely tasty, especially to the vulpine palette.
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• Eskola Jaku® - for those who simply can't get enough of the tangy and unique flavor of jaku root. Our jaku roots undergo a slight fermentation process to deliver a flavor that is unlike any other cola you've had. We guarantee you'll be reaching for more!
  _
• Eskola Energy® - need an extra boost before, during, or after training? Give our Eskola Energy® cola a try. With essential ingredients clinically proven to safely and legally give you the little push you need to finish that extremely important job.
  _
• Eskola Grow® - we at Eskola® are proud to say that our colas are among the more healthier soda options on the market today, but when is the last time you've seen a cola that is actually going to make you healthier? Eskola® has unlocked the secret of combining several ingredients, vitamins, and minerals to deliver a product that is unlike any other. And it tastes great, too.

Most importantly, thank you to the athletes of the Thirteenth Summer Games. This one's on us!

[West Phoenicia]

The Cats Meow

Hello darlings it's me again Norma Mansfield

I first would like to thank all my readers, both long timers and those who have recently jumped on board. These Summer Games are really pushing up my viewership and hashtag #normamansfield is trending higher than Vangazi Jenna Vandersen final position place in women's Auto-Racing.
Oh yes, they will sure fire back with some smarmy comment how they also placed 4th and 5th while West Phoenicians bombed out. Which we did, our best hope was Vanessa Adelaide who had won silver at the U.S Summer Games held in Britiosea and had placed 5th in overall before the final race, but she along with Courtney Le Plonk and Lady Portia De'Cavier were so far behind even the car in driving Miss Daisy was ahead of them. In all honesty, Auto-Racing is not our thing, we have some great race courses in our city-states of Deception Bay and Titania, where more of the racing fans reside, but so does a lot of the nations equivalent to red necks. I see no difference between Auto-Racing and hooning myself.
Vangaziland have boasted that auto racing is one of their things, so it was very disappointing to see them not place in the top three. Did I say disappointing?

Also a big thank you and congratulations to Dalia Dahl of Eastfield Lodge. They had a successful race and my hunch paid off as I won $2000 betting on them, I may donate my hard earned gambling win to all the Sherpa Empire Drag queens who don't see to wear the most expensive lip liner.

Some juicy news on royal family members who actually have won these games as opposed to 8th place.
Not only is the Gryphon-Bush royal family the most powerful royal family West Phoenicia has ever had reign. I mean they ooze leadership and if that doesn't work they have a crafty way of eliminating their rivals for the throne. Other empires need to look to West Phoenicia; if you want the throne, but your mother or father or sibling is sitting on it, eliminate them. Toxicology should be something every royal tutor teaches those under their care. And if that doesn't work a West Phoenician Scorpion or Taipan also does the trick.
While I do not endorse regicide, I am loyal to whomever is on the throne, it does keep our royals on their toes and doing their best to appease its citizens, keeping one's citizens happy is a lesson in keeping one's head attached to their shoulders.

I digress, these Olympic Games have been amazing for the Royal House of Gryphon-Bush. Princess Candace Bush-Sunbury has two gold medals hanging around her neck these games. She took out the Gold in the Women's Table Tennis then came back for more with Apama Ngyuen and Carol Ngyuen taking out the Women's Team Table tennis against
Royale Godin, Calandre Bellemare and Angelina Boxer of the Free Republics, who took out the first set pushing the West Phoenician team to go on the offensive and win the next three sets.

Princess Rhea Gryphon took out gold in the Women's Skeet. Rhea is the much younger half sister of Emperor Glenton Gryphon-Bush II. Whose father had a child with the Crown Princess Kyla Mordillac of the Empire of Morning Rose Isles after the death of Queen Juno of West Phoenicia.
There is no love lost between the Emperor and Crown Princess Kyla Mordillac who he calls his father's whore. The Emperor has been known to try to push his government to declare war on the other empire so he can dispose of Crown Princess Kyla Mordillac . But with no real justification they have been reluctant to follow through.
Regardless of how the Emperor feels about her mother, Princess Rhea was poached by the West Phoenician delegation to represent them in shooting. She is one of the youngest members of the delegation, but she has already made her mark and will most likely be someone we will see again.

Last but not least, and another fist pump for Women's power is Princess Katherine-Margaruite Bush. Niece to the Emperor she took out a first place win in the Traditional Pentathlon. Daughter of Prince Gai Bush and his second wife Princess Margaruite de Senegalli; Duchess of The Kingdom of West Ivory ( Where we get all our lovely rubies from) She shares a passion for sport and modelling. A front runner from the start, she defeated Ivonka Nowicka of the Free Republics in the Greco-Roman Wrestling portion of the event to cinch the first place. I had the pleasure of sitting down to high tea with her during a modelling shoot, and she by far is one of the nicer royals. She definitely will go far in both careers.

Meanwhile Kai Logan, a West Phoenician surfer and hopeful in the Men's Surfing who washed out in the second round has slammed the judges and accused them of thought hate crimes. Kai a aura healing practitioner slammed a judge who he felt was thinking negative thoughts of the surfer. His negative aura was screaming out at me, and I blame the judge for my loss.
While a large portion of West Phoenicians engage in New Age activities even I found this hard to swallow.
West Phoenicians are urged to rally behind Petarrr Pirate of Kriegiersien. The nation has the warm support of alot of West Phoenicians after the kind gesture of Daisy Darling, who they are looking to woo over to the West Phoenician Equestrian team.

Also a 100m Freestyle Celebrity Charity swim is in the works and plans to be held in a matter of days. I encourage everyone to turn out to watch these celebrities make utter fools of themselves in the pool.

And lastly before I head off to a champagne brunch, West Phoenicia has outdid their gold medals obtained at these games with 23 gold medals. It beats our former tally of 21 gold at
Kelssek and Vekaiyu. We need to win 8 more medals to pass the tally of the previous game of 62 medals. We are in a very good position to beat that record.

[Main Nation Ministry]

Jinkies!

Karen Yamuna was driving on the track in her stock car as the race has over started a couple of minutes ago. She was going to make sure she was at the top of her game here. That mistake back in the qualifying day isn't going to stop her. She can already see that she was near the lead. She just couldn't mess up like this. As she was pass the 12th lap, she realized that she needed to get the car in the pit shop, since the tires were already starting to wear out. "I need the pit stop crew to be ready immediately!" she yelled through the intercom that lets her communicate with the crew. Pulling the car into the pit stop lane, the crew immediately went to work as quick as possible. Several seconds later, they gave her the thumbs up as she sped away.

As she was immediately back on the track, she sped up her car some more until her car was starting to buckle a bit. "No! Not again!" Yamuna screamed. "Karen, what is it? Please respond!" a pit stop member was trying to communicate with Yamuna, as her car was starting to veer from left to right. Her tire was already starting to stop moving, leaving her to attempt to steer the car off of the track, so she didn't get in a major wreck. Managing to get her foot on the brakes, the car skidded from the side away from the track. The moment the car stopped, Yamuna immediately took off her gloves and threw them to the dashboard, as the SportsLife blimp was monitoring the race below.

Meanwhile, Masami has managed to get a hold of the training footage from 2 days ago to see why it wasn't an accident. At first, the car shows Yamuna driving around all normal in her spaceship of a car. Then, she drives to the pit stop, where he sees the crew working. Then, literally seconds later, the crash occurs. The car has a burst of smoke emerge from one of the tires, where it looks like the car was accelerating, rather than attempting to brake. "Why did the tire go out? At worst, it should have simply rolled out from the car, like a loose bolt. Then why is there smoke?" Masami thought up, as he heard a knock at the door. Answering it, it was one of the Ministry of Sports officials. "Mr. Masami..." he said in a menacing voice. "Yeah, any reports on the crash?" Masami asked. "You mean today's or the training crash?" the official said.

"Wait what?!"

Arriving at the race track to see Yamuna's car being towed away into the garage, Masami tried to stay low as he knew that Yamuna was going to try to kill him. "Tell me what happened? And hurry up! Yamuna is going to want to find me." Masami said to the Ministry of Sports officials. "We have footage this time immediately. It looks like something happened with the engine and one of the tires."
"Well, I found what looks like a pattern."
"You checked the footage from practice."
"The tire had to be sabotaged. Yet, I don't understand why the brakes didn't appear to work."
"We did check the evidence from the scene. We found traces of explosive residue."
"Explosive? Did the Olympic bomber managed to sneak a bomb on both of Yamuna's cars?"
"We're doing our best to cover it up from the public. It doesn't line up, because the bomber uses more homemade bombs. The debris we found at the scene, including that black orb you found came from a bomb similar to our post-modern tech. The bomber targeting Yamuna has to be someone from our nation or from a nation like ours."
"But what's the motive?"

The Ministry of Sports official tried to explain, but he was interrupted by a phone call. "Hold on. Hello? ... What do you mean the fire alarm is going off? ... Ok. I tell him. Bye." the official immediately had a nervous look on his face, as he looked at Masami. "What's wrong?" Masami said. "We need to get back to the hotel immediately." Back at the hotel, the hotel manager was looking mad at several members of the Ministry of Sports, as they were in the lobby. "Good timing. We can explain that we were testing a chemical that managed to trigger the fire alarms. We can pay for it, we promise." a soldier was explaining the manager. "What going on?" Masami asked. "What's going on, you ask?" a scientist-looking fellow said. "I'm from the Ministry of Science, which the Ministry of Sports borrowed me for the esports events, but they had me check the fuel from Yamuna's race car she was planning on using."
"So what happened?"
"I was skeptic on why the fuel wasn't ignitable. Until I was testing to see if the fuel was cause the car to corrode with sugar. The next thing I knew, all of my eyebrows were signed off. That fuel is extremely combustible."
"How does sugar cause an explosion?"

"Glad you wondered that." another official from the Ministry of Sports said. "The fuel was actually a rejected bio-fuel that was disallowed many times from the Ministry of Science. The fuel used a chemical that is typically found in sugar, but an egghead managed to extract several materials from the typical sugar you find in a supermarket, to make it basically anti-sugar proof. So if someone added sugar to the fuel, the car wouldn't corrode just like any other car. But this fuel here suffers from doing the exact opposite. It just explodes. Yamuna's car, if someone was trying to add sugar to make it non-functional, would have literally turned the speedway into flames."
"But why was Yamuna's car using that fuel?!"

"We think that Yamuna Industries isn't telling us the truth when they faked the test results.. The most important question, though. Why is someone targeting Yamuna?"

[Vilitan Union]

Vilitan Union Olympic Auto Racing Demonstration Qualifiers (Continued) :: With three Male and three Female drivers having already earned their spot on the Vilitan Union Olympic Auto Racing Demonstration team to compete in Republica, Free Republics for the XIII Summer Olympiad Motorsports Demonstration event, there was just one spot left each for a Male and Female driver who would advance to represent the Vilitan Union in Republica. After the completion of the three open qualifying events in Eelandii, Turori; Lopinka, Vilita and Tropicoast, Tropicorp where the highest finishing Male and Female competitors in each event earned a spot on the Olympic Demonstration Roster, the 2nd through 5th place finishers in each class across the three events were invited to a last chance event for the final spot in each class along with the driver who posted the fastest qualifying time amongst those who did not finish in the top 5 at each location for a total of 30 drivers still vying for just one male and one female spot on the roster.

The last-chance event would be held at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, home of Vilita & Turori Motorsports, the Vilitan Grand Prix and the Challenge at the Rocks. Located along the coast where the Vilitan Mountains succumb to the the shore and overlooking the waters of Atlantian Oceania, the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course was carved out of the rocks on Vilita's Rockii Coast. The course was originally build as a high speed, high banked track that acted as a high speed oval until the exit of the 3rd turn where the terrain prevented the originally developers from creating a standard oval. Instead, the track folds back upon itself then back out again forming a simple road course with three large left hand entry turns and one large right hand entry turn for drivers to navigate on the 3.14m track. Growth at the track has seen many additions including the Grand Prix 'Boot' modification which was a new addition for the inaugural Vilitan Grand Prix contested beginning with the 11th World Grand Prix Championship season turning the high-banked speed park into a true World Class Road Course with multiple braking zones. However, the boot would not be used for the Last-Chance Olympic Demonstration Team Qualifying event, instead drivers would navigate the traditional course which is also used for NSSCRA stock car competition.

This would potentially aid one of the drivers who was lucky enough to advance by virtue of their qualifying time, Vilita and Turori development driver Rockii Ezis who has competed part time on the NSSCRA circuit over the previous two competition seasons. Ezis had posted the top speed at the Lopinka National Speedway amongst drivers who did not finish in the Top 5 of their class. Ezis failed to finish the Lopinka event due to an accident before the halfway mark.

With iBen Toralmintii, Turakki Mayelli and Eastern Raciini already qualified on the Men's side and Anavella Ariiki, Lotara Novorali and Rulita Kikaba already qualified on the Womens side the Vilitan Union team was ready for its last two members and it would be 60 laps at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course to settle the score. It was no surprise that World Grand Prix driver Jama'obo Pegasii would set the fast time in the qualifying session with Vilita and Turori Motorsports development driver Rockii Ezis right behind in second place. When the race began, the two quickly began to distance themselves from the pack and never really received a challenge from behind. Both drivers were wary of pushing too hard, however - with Ezis having crashed out of their first qualification attempt and Pegasii having over-worked his car in Lopinka, losing the grip over the final ten laps after leading much of the event to fall back to the third position necessitating their participation in the last chance event.

Pegasii would not make the same mistake again, taking care of their tires and keeping Ezis in the rear view mirror to lead the event wire to wire with the exception of during the races lone pit sequence. With the win, Pegasii punched their ticket to the demonstration event in Republica while Ezis was shut out entirely with no more spots on available on the Men's side. As for the women it was Jixaka Motorai who would advance with a fourth place finish at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course to be the last one named to the squad for the Olympic Demonstration.


The Report from Republica :: Checkered Flag waves on Women's Auto Racing; Vilitan Union claim first ever Table Tennis Gold

Turorian iBen Toralmintii was the Vilitan Union's top qualifier for the Men's Auto Racing Demonstration Event

Olympic Auto Racing Demonstration Event, Republica Motor Speedway, Republica, Free Republics :: After weeks of preparation, the big moment had finally arrived as the Vilitan Union Auto Racing Demonstration team arrived in the Free Republics. With practice sessions not starting until nearly a week and a half into the XIII Olympic Games, some drivers in the field opted to not even arrive in the Free Republics until well after the games had officially opened. Others, however, like Vilitan Union female driver Rulita Kikaba, were taking advantage of every opportunity to have an all-expenses paid trip to the Olympic Games as the winner of the Tropicorp qualifier could be seen at the Opening Ceremonies, Boxing events, Swimming events and even a Footsport match just taking it all in.

In hindsight, it will certainly be a good thing that Kikaba will have enjoyed their Olympic Experience as she was the only Vilitan Union female driver that was unable to string together a fast enough average lap speed to qualify for the Womens Demonstration event. Lotara Novorali and Anavella Ariiki, two of the top Female Drivers in the Vilitan Union, qualified 10th and 11th respectively while Jixaka Motorai, winner of the last-chance qualifying event at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Event, comfortably slotted into the field with the 25th fastest time. Vannish driver Karli Schmitt had claimed pole with a time of 39.096 - over two seconds faster than the best Vilitan Union driver.

On Race Day, the Vilitan Union drivers suffered disappointment despite showing flashes of their potential throughout the event. Lotara Novorali had moved inside the Top 5 early in the race before a cut tire due to unknown debris possibly left on the track from a prior incident sent her into the Turn 2 wall and out of the event. It was an incident filled event and survival seemed to be just as important as speed on the day with Anavella Ariiki and Jixaka Motorai taking notice. Motorai drove a safe race and finished in 13th position while Ariiki had a thirst for more but would suffer mechanical failure three-quarters of the way through the event while trying to keep pace with the lead cars. The Eastfielder duo of World Grand Prix driver Dalia Dahl and country-mate Uzza Sharp stole the show with Dahl eventually lapping the field en route to victory in the Demonstration event. Jixka Motorai would be the only Vilitan Union driver to finish the race doing so in 13th position.

On the Men's side it was a qualification stunner for World Grand Prix drier Jama'obo Pegasii who, like fellow Grand Prix driver Jessica Franssen on the Women's side, suffered through being unable to get a clean qualifying lap and ultimately failing to qualify for the main event. It meant that the Vilitan Union team would be down to three drivers in the feature race with the experienced veteran iBen Toralmintii leading the way with an 8th place qualifying run just over half a second behind the surprise pole sitter Jeffery Underwood who beat out a slew over experienced World Grand Prix drivers for the top spot with Mattijana's Alex Dimitrianov, Cocoabo #23, Jason Masami of Main Nation Ministry and Vannish driver Jang Xiaopeng rounding out the Top 5. The Vilitan Union's two other entrants, Eastern Raciini and Turakki Mayelli, qualified 23rd and 24th respectively being over three seconds off the fast pace set by Underwood and over two seconds slower than their teammate Toralmintii who must certainly feel the added weight of being the Vilitan Union's best shot to claim victory on Matchday 14in the Men's Demonstration Final without the aggressive driving Pegasii in the field.

Elsewhere in Republica it was a memorable day for the Men's Table Tennis team of Takei Noaoeta, Liaaiba Boaboa and Senchau Imamaota who completed a near-perfect Olympic Campaign conceding just a single game to their Darmeni opponents earning the Vilitan Union's fourth Gold Medal of the games with a 3-1, 3-0, 3-0 victory in the Gold Medal Match against Darmen. It is the first ever medal of any kind for the Vilitan Union in Table Tennis. The closest the Vilitan Union had previously come was during the XII Summer Olympic Games when one of the Vilitan Union's now-Gold Medal Winning athletes, Takei Noaoeta, was defeated by Uvan Borlanzic of Mattijana as they tried to get onto the Podium - ultimately finishing in Fourth Place.

Other than the Men's Olympic Auto Racing Demonstration Race, there will be plenty for Vilitan Union fans to look forward to on Day Fourteen. While the Vilita & Turori team suffered a disappointing Footsport defeat to rivals Cocoabo Forest in group play, there is still one more game to go before the Knockout round begins and the Olympic Eel-Cat Things will certainly be looking to re-gain some momentum heading into the elimination rounds. All other eyes are likely to be focused in the ring where Vilitan Welterweight Boxing Champion Ciprimo Hutraskk looks to defend their Olympic Gold Medal against David Murillo of Porabasta. The Boxing event will take place in prime time in the Vilitan Union on the main channels while the Footsport and Auto Racing Demonstration Events will be available via streaming device or secondary broadcast channel.

[Vangaziland]

Bekah Adeson (@Beks772)
Just now from Republica, Free Republics

@Norma Mansfield
You should try reading the article Imperial Motorsports wrote about the women's race. Based on your writing, I'm not sure if you're capable of comprehending it. If there ever comes a day when you can, you might understand why having three cars finish in the top ten is a good thing.

If you want to question Baroness Vandersen's leadership, here is a story. In the first season of the WGP2, Jenna lead all drivers in standings until her teammate passed her months later. Jenna inspired him to win the Driver's Championship. She also helped her team win the Constructor's Championship. VMR led driver and team points every week in an event which ran from May to October. Eastfield Lodge citizens ran the competition by the way. The information Vannish Motors gained from the Baroness helped refine cars that went on to win two more championships in WGP2 II. Jenna was also part of the the WGPC 16 management team when Jessica Franssen won a driver's title. A splatter of random medals says nothing about leadership compared to her influence on VMR. This isn't even the only Vannish record of repeat success over time. Your nation has two water polo titles, so I'm sure you understand.

Also. You Phoenicians should employ simple mathematics. Cut out the medal race between us. You have twice as many entries. Your nation is racking up medals where Vangazi are not present. You, the multiverse and I all know Vangaziland would take some of those medals right from your athletes. Be thankful the Vannish delegation does not game the system like you Confederates do. The Vangazi are here for the sport. Never forget that.

Good day to you

Be best,
Bekah Adeson

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Olympic Watch
Women's LAX Advance To Semifinals

Vangaziland's women faced the Kytler Peninsula in the Quarterfinals. It was the first game since the team learned of Belinda Ashley's attempt on her own lfe. The team hosted a ceremony for peace and harmony on their campus the night before the game. Several members of the team were seen crying and embracing athletes from other delegations.

Emotions seemed heavy on Vannish faces as players jogged onto the field. Pressure seemed to get to them early in the game. The Vangazi started with a poor 1st quarter. They were outplayed in the battle for possesion and face offs in first half. The first quarter ended 2-1 in favor of Kytler. Vangaziland fought back to tied the game 3-3 by halftime.

Midfielder Constance Wise scored both 2nd quarter goals 7:24 apart from each other. The Old Prairie College freshman had a solid game, addiding 3 assists. Her passing was a big part of the 3rd quarter rally which saw Vangaziland run away with the game. "The Olympics are the largest stage I've ever played on", said Wise. "It is amazing to be a part of the games."

WLC champion Lizzie Borhanson added a 3 goal hat trick. She plaed in a similar fashion to her games in the co-ed WLC. The World Lacrosse Championships play by Men's rules. This gives Lizzie an edge. She's used to going after ground balls under threat of hits from large men. Kytler's stick checks did little to intimidate her. On one play, Lizzie made a corner shot from a tricky side angle. It showed how well her shooting mechanics were, even with a different kind of lacrosse stick.

Stella Dahl added 2 goals to the Vannish effort. She worked with line 2 to keep scoring up for the reserve unit. Even 6'4 Wilhelmina Stenbeck saw time in midfield. The WLC defenseman even managed a goal. Wilhelmina started as a midfielder in the women's genre before her growth spurt. "It's been awhile since I've been on the offensive side of the field", Stenbeck said. "Brought back memories."

Mahala Taye, Ruth Emmersdotter, Skyler Yohansson and Esha Ghatak each scored 1 goal to round out the tally of 11. A tough defensive second half closed down the game to give Vangaziland an 11-4 win. Stenbeck played a large role in this with her midfield performance. "Now we can only look forward to our next game. We're going to have a tough practice between now and then. Coach will go over the footage with us too", said Stenbeck.

Vangaziland will face Cassadaigua in the Semifinals. The Dagans are talented in the sport and will present a challenge. "It's great to see women's lacrosse gain time under the international spotlight", Lizzie Borhanson told reporters after her match. "A lot of top teams in international competition feature female players. It's fun to watch how these matchups go under women's rules."

Many Vannish athletes and fans in Republica will watch the ladies compete in a version of Vangaziland's national sport.

[West Phoenicia]

Dedicated to the One I hate...

No Air

After such a successful pooling stage, it was such a defeat to go down in the round of 32 against players from Mattijana. After winning the first set they were clobbered in the next two.


Micah True-Path/Amos True-Path (KWP) 25 13 12
Marko Salakov/Matej Djurcic (MTJ) 23 21 15

Amos knew they had more to give, they were just outplayed in the day. In West Phoenicia they ranked second behind the Eastlow brothers, In talent anyway. Most female fans ranked the True-Path brothers as they hotter of the pair combo, they certainly had received a number of wolf whistles from spectators in the audience.
But now they would rally behind the Eastlow in the hope that West Phoenician Beach Volleyball could finally win a medal. Volleyball was a hot commodity sport that West Phoenicia wanted to excel in. The women's Beach Volleyball round of 32 would play soon, both pairs were fierce competition and would give any rival a run for their money.

Micah had been deflated with the loss, he had hopes they would have progressed to the quarter finals. Boyd Syd, the head coach of Beach Volleyball was going to be very disappointed. Amos had wanted to celebrate, while they had lost they still did better than previous appearances, Micah had waved him off not in the mood to celebrate.

“You should come out, the love room at the Garden of Eden club is the happening place at the moment,” Amos said as he splashed expensive aftershave onto his face.

“Nah, I'm going to lift some weights than spend some time in the sauna to clear my mind,” Micah said as he stood in the doorway. “Enjoy yourself in the love room.”

Micah headed out of his room in a purple singlet and shorts. He strolled through the common area where West Phoenician surfer Bunny St Claire was holding court giving her captive audience a blow by blow of her heat.

The radio was on playing radio shows Cupid’s Dedication to the ones I love. It was quite popular and many athletes loved ones were sending in dedication requests as morale boosters.

“Hey Micah you missed a dedication song to you,” one of the male Lacrosse players called out from one of the sofas through a mouthful of potato chips.

“Anything good?” Micah asked. He wondered who would be ringing in too dedicate a song to him.

“No Air, Jordin Sparks is so hot,” the lacrosse player said.

“Who dedicated that to me?”

“Supposedly your number 1 fan! They must be angry you lost today, cause it was no love dedication. They dedicated it to one they hated.”

“Can't please everyone,” Micah said as he headed over to the gym.

He spent 45 minutes lifting weights working on his legs and upper arms. The sweat soaked into his singlet, clinging to his chiseled body. He was lucky he had the gym to himself.


The song dedication annoyed him, he worked hard to be an athlete. A Lot of fans were fickle only liking someone if they won. You couldn't win all the time. So to dedicate a song as a slap in the face was really petty.

He finished working on his legs, they were aching, but it felt good. He flung the towel over his shoulder and strutted off towards the sauna. He hasn't had the best opportunity to spend some downtime in the sauna as it was usually crammed with other players.

The steam him the second he walked in and plopped himself down on the wooden bench. The match today and the work out, had tired him. He used the ladle to add some more water to the rocks. The rocks sizzles as the steam rose like an incense offering to the gods.

He signed and closed his eyes letting the steam run over his body and invade his pores.

It was a loud bang that jolted Micah awake, he sat up blurry eyed to see a figure’s face looking at him through the small window of the sauna. It was a face he had seen before but in his sleep state he couldn't recall.

He rose from his seat and pushed open the sauna door. It didn't budge. He tried again and the door wouldn't budge.
The figure on the other side gave him a small wave before they disappeared.

“Let me out of here,”Micah screamed. “Let me out,” Micah began pounding harder on the sauna door. “Somebody help!” He felt himself starting to panic and knew he had to call down so he could think straight. But the steam was not helping, he was finally it hard to breathe.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Garden of Eden club, Republica, Free Republics
The leisure facilities available at the garden of eden club, according to Rahim Njo, were considerably better than those available to Havenic athletes. The Havenic facilities were spread around...part of the Havenic love of buying or renting various places in order to have the most facilities: sure, they probably did have the best facilities but such facilities might be a 45-minute subway ride apart. For this reason, various Havenic athletes had taken to stealing the West Phoenician facilities, either asking, begging or stealing passes to get in; the non-sport specific gym was no exception.

Rahim, however was worried by something as he changed back into his jeans and t-shirt from his swim clothes. Not his performance, it had been dominant...but the loud and insescent banging from the sauna door, and the fact that...such banging was getting quieter by the minute. He'd always been known to be a bit paranoid, to let stupid fears get on his nerves. If there was a creepy feeling walking home at night, Rahim was one to check behind him; just to make sure everything was still alright and deserted. Tonight appeared to be no exception, even as he told himself that the sauna must just be malfunctioning, he couldn't help but get the impression that someone was desperately scrambling to get out.

The wait to get his stuff from the overcrowded locker room was an eternity; but after what felt like hours (more like 10 minutes), Rahim had his bag under his arm and was walking briskly towards the door...all thoughts that someone was trying to get out of the sauna driven from his mind...but then he remembered.

Robert Strong's blog, several days ago...several deaths. 3 out of 4? All from one delegation. All of them, people who had lost in relative obscurity; west Phoenicia sure was doing well in this Olympics however it still had people who hadn't managed to perform so hot. When Rahim Njo knew the stupid was taking over, he was helpless to stop it; and that was the reason he found his feet carrying him to the now silent sauna.

The sauna door didn't want to open, part of it deliberately warped on the left as it closed. That confirmed his suspicions now, and Rahim was alarmed; a few seconds of thinking what to do ended with one of the volleyball players boots slamming into the door and rocking it open, disgorging a cloud of far-too-hot steam...and what was left of another volleyball player.
Rahim knew what all his opponents looked like, and Micah true-path was no exception; the red and bleary eyes however, the sheets of sweat and the almost movementless body were different though; they were definitely not part of what he had seen the past time the two had met. A crowd was forming around the man who had decide to smash open the sauna door, and was wondering why the strange foreigner had remained silent...they stopped worrying quickly as he stepped back after placing the man in the recovery position and allowing him to be viewed.
"Someone call an ambulance," he snappe, "He must be dying! He's been in there an hour...at the least."

[The Sherpa Empire]

----‭֎-‬---

It was evening. Kai Qiang and Houzhi Chang were munching on chicken wings and beer at a local bar. There were a couple of TVs scattered around the bar showing different things, but Qiang and Chang had decided to sit near one that was showing Olympics coverage. They were hoping there would be something about auto racing, maybe a recap of the women's race and a preview of the men's race that was scheduled the next day. They already knew the outcome of the women's race since they had watched it that afternoon before coming to the bar, but they were still curious to see what the sportscasters had to say about it.

Instead, there was a boxing match on the TV. Qiang and Chang didn't care about boxing. Chang would have been good at it if he was interested. Maybe not good enough for the Olympics, but good enough to win local tournaments if he'd ever gotten into it.

Qiang was reading something on his phone. His fingers were greasy from the chicken wings and occasionally he had to stop and wipe the grease off the screen by rubbing it against his pants. He was wearing black jeans that wouldn't show the stains much if he got them greasy. "Oh, dear. Apparently I don't wear the most expensive lip-liner," he said sarcastically.

Chang laughed. "It's almost like you're a man or something."

"Almost."

"I'm still trying to figure out why you wear lip-liner at all."

"Only once a year when I do drag," said Qiang.

"I still think it's weird that you do drag," said Chang.

"It's for a good cause," said Qiang.

"You could just donate money to charity and save yourself the embarrassment of having pictures of you in women's clothes circulating around the internet."

"Drag is only embarrassing if you're not good at it," said Qiang.

----‭֎-‬---

[APOC Coalition]

Gaelic Gamers
Presents...

The Olympic Opinions
with Graham O'Doherty, David Norton, Denis Avtushenko, and Ibrahim Ahmadinejad

FROM REPUBLICA, THE FREE REPUBLICS - Nice to have finally returned to normal programming after all the shit that went down as of late. Also nice to finally be able to report and give our opinions on games without really worrying about whatever else we've had to worry about. So enough chat from us; let's get started.

Men's Baseball Game Four: APOC Coalition vs. Vakolicci Haven and Celeria (Ibrahim)
And so it has happened, ladies and gents. As I have so eerily and accurately predicted a few months prior (not really, but I can say that I had a gut feeling), the Coalition men's baseball team has failed to make it out of the group stage. Heck, they have even failed to get off the foot of the table! For any other team, this would have been a complete and unmitigated disaster, but for APOC (and especially Fleftics) this has become par for the course. Baseball is such a wild and unpredictable sport; even more unpredictable than say, basketball or football. It's just the nature of the game. Ain't nothing stopping it from getting cray-cray like this, as a friend of mine once said. It truly was not APOC's day in the diamond, I'll tell you that much. Poor Trayko Yoanov Adamov. Yeah, I have to write his full name out. Apparently there's a lot of Trayko Adamovs running around in Pridnestrovia and he needs to be separated from those other plebs. Anyway, the APOC Coalition is out of the Olympic men's baseball event. There's nothing more to be said about that. The Coalition's hopes of winning a baseball medal now rests on the shoulders of the women's team. Funny how it all works out. Everyone thought that the women's team would be in the situation that the men's team are in right now, as in they weren't going to get out of their group at all. And now the women's team have advanced (and top of their group as well!) while the men's team have gone and crashed and burned. Just as we expected. Oh, well. There's always the World Baseball Classic to crash and burn in as well.

Women's Basketball Game Six: Polynesia vs. APOC Coalition (Davey)
Oh, boy. Here we go again. This is the exact same situation that we've had to sit through for women's lacrosse, and see where that ended up. This is why everyone hates bye days. If you're the team unlucky enough to get the bye day on the last ever day of the group stage of whatever game it is you're playing, and you know that your position at the top or near the top is not really rock-solid, then nails are definitely going to be chewed. I'd like to think and say that the Coalition women's basketball team did a pretty good showing of themselves. I mean, yes, we lost the first game (I think), and there was that absolute blowout in the hands of Baker Park college students, but I'd still say that the APOC women's basketball team still did pretty well. Now it's time for all of us to wait for the results of matchday seven to see if we'll actually make it out of the group or not. The teams surrounding us are also the team that happen to have beaten us; Titaniumland up top and Baker Park right below us. I admit that I don't know much about the scenarios playing out here but I do know for a fact that if both Titaniumland and Baker Park win then we could easily slip down to third. And I don't know if third can get you through to the next stage. It's all difficult mental gymnastics that, frankly, I cannot wrap my mind around. I just hope nothing bad happens to this team when the dust settles and we know who's going through and who isn't.

Women's Football Game Five: Polynesia vs. APOC Coalition (again!) (Graham)

█████████POLYNESIA 1 - 3 APOC COALITION
GEVORGIAN (62' og)       McGINNIS (19' pen)
                         ERIN (35')
                         LINER (85')

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Polynesia: 45%
APOC Coalition: 55%
Shots
Polynesia: 11 (7 on target)
APOC Coalition: 20 (9 on target)
Corners
Polynesia: 5
APOC Coalition: 10
Fouls
Polynesia: 11
APOC Coalition: 15

It all worked out in the end. For a moment I was actually worried that we weren't going to go through. I mean, I thought, "Surely not. This team is surely too good to be eliminated just because of a run of poor form." And we didn't. Thank God for that. I mean, imagine it though. Imagine the uproar if this team didn't make it out of the Olympic groups. There would be bedlam! Remember, this is the next generation of Fleftic (and Pridnestrovian, Oontaznik, and Copperite) women's football right here! They're battling to prove themselves on the second-biggest stage in multiverse football! Okay, sure. Things got a bit sticky after consecutive draws against Vilita & Turori and Kelssek (we only played two games, not three, okay? Old joke but still relevant!) but at least, against Polynesia, we finally pulled through. Granted, we got fortunate. Any other day, there is a 50% chance that the penalty awarded for handball against Polynesia which led to Kelly McGinnis' opener wouldn't have been given as a penalty. Then Erin Jensdottir pulls off some amazing shit including juggling the ball with her feet in a crowd of defenders before striking it home on the half-volley and you just know that this was going to be APOC's day. Not even Tatiana Gevorgian's own goal could diminish the feeling that we were going to own this day. Elene Liner's rocket with five minutes left to go in regulation was the cherry on top of the banana sundae. We also went top of the group as well because of that victory, so we've got that going for us. Now if we can only get past Benjamin Mark in the Round of 32...

Women's Gridiron Game Three: Grand Theocratic Empire of Holy Marsh vs. APOC Coalition (Denis)

Holy Marsh          3  7 10  6  26
APOC Coalition     14  7  7  7  35

Hello once again, friends, comrades, and fellow fans in gridiron. It is I, Denis Fyodorovich, your friendly neighborhood Unofficial PGSL Blogger. There hasn't been a lot of action over in the women's gridiron side of the Olympics so that's why you haven't heard from me much this time of year. But I am back, and I have a steaming hot plate of Olympic women's gridiron that I wish to present to all of you. Now if you want a real and in-depth look at this game, I suggest that you head on over to my actual blog because that is where the meat of the matter is. However, if you want just a quick skim of the affairs, then continue reading here.

The Coalition women's gridiron team had a rocky start, losing 13-10 to the Alpine Union. They have since rebounded from that loss with a slender victory over the Vilitan Union. Not to say that they scraped past their opposition there but the team could have certainly done a lot better than just 23 points. And they proved this just here, just now. You cannot argue with 35 points and 5 touchdowns, comrades. You just simply cannot. It is a losing argument for you no matter what. I believe you already know how much of a fan of Kelly Profit I am. Heck, I have even been accused of having an obsession. My girlfriend tells me I have more pictures of Kelly Profit in my phone than pictures of her. I tried to tell her that that wasn't true but I took a look and counted, and my girlfriend was proven right. So I guess my point here is that do not argue with women. You will never win, even if you are right. Of course, in my particular case, I was actually wrong, but let us not get into that.

The game itself, then. The Coalition took their time with their first drive, consuming ten minutes on the clock before Kelly Profit punched through to the goal line for the first touchdown of the game. Then in their first possession of the ball, the Holy Marsh quarterback practically passed the ball into the hands of the APOC free safety for an easy defensive score. Holy Marsh never had a chance, not when Kelly and her offense have finally got going. In the course of the game, Kelly threw two touchdowns to Maxine Stone and one touchdown to Martina Zelenko in a simply unstoppable display of gridiron. Spread out over three quarters, sure, but still a dominant effort. If you would like to read a more in-depth analysis of this game, go check out my blog and add to the discussion there. I'll try to answer all of the comments that I can, but I don't always have the time to do such because I am busy with... other stuff.

Men's Rugby Sevens Game Four: Kernovi and Rewgwlas vs. APOC Coalition (Graham)

Kernovi and Rewgwlas (33)
Try: 1' c
5' c
8' c
Con: (3/3)
Pen: (4/4) 2', 3', 7', 11'

APOC Coalition (12)
Try: Heyedy 2' m
Votaw 10' c
Con: Mahout (1/2)

Well, that was unexpected. Here I was thinking that the Coalition had a straight path ahead to the rugby sevens gold, and then Kernovi and Rewgwlas happened. Like, what the actual fuck? That came out of nowhere! Can you tell by my words that I'm actually fucking surprised by this result? All right, okay, I'm shutting up about it now. Can't expect everything to go your way now, can you? That question was directed at myself, of course, but if you feel that it's directed towards you as well then feel free to answer in the positive or the negative or even in the unsure. Still, I can't help but not contain my disappointment. You're better than this, boys. Better, I tell you! But I still believe in you. I know that you can do it! You can do it! Fleftic and Copperite honour demands that you be successful in Olympic rugby sevens! As they say, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

And that does it for this edition of the Olympic Opinions. Next time, you know that there's going to be more! XOXO from Graham; goodbye from Davey; До свидания to my friends, comrades, and fellow fans in gridiron from Denis Fyodorovich; and a ciao, peace from the Armored Dinner Jacket. Catch us in our next post.

[Free Republics]

Day 14 Cutoff

[West Phoenicia]

The Cats Meow

Hello darlings it's me again Norma Mansfield




It is always a delight when some little upstart nobody from a crumbling empire tries to match wits with moi! In this instant it's someone named Bekah Adeson.

I tried looking her up in the web search but I couldn't find her. And I didn't have the time to scroll past page 10. I started my career on Broadway, I don't take cheek from unknowns.

She goes on and on and on about motorsports as if I care. So they are a good team, good for them, it's nice to be good in something outside of Lacrosse and having husky female cheerleaders which they excel in both areas. I rather she would have chosen lacrosse, as they field a great team and West Phoenicia hovers at average. But she choose *yawn* motor sports.

To me motorsport is a sport for drunk men, women with bad haircuts and hoons. The Confederate Empire of West Phoenicia does not field a permanent international motorsports team, it does not have enough of a fan base to bring in the dollars to bother.
So citing the Vangazi victories in this sport is mute. If we fielded a team and if we continuously lost against them or other motorsport nations than that would be a reason to gloat, it would be comparing oranges to oranges or a sweet West Phoenician peach; but it's not. It's comparing oranges to Brussels sprouts. Fix your hair sweetheart and come back when you have something to gloat about. If it aint a rolls Royce, Limousine or Porsche for the nanny to drop the kids off in school in, the rich of West Phoenicia really don't care.
Take your soapbox and rattle off the motor sport achievements in the West Phoenician city-state of Deception Bay and Titania, where they may care about motorsports results. Point is, you cite yourself as a superior motor sport team, you brag that you have three drivers in the top 10, but you couldn't get one in the top three. It took your men's team had their drive to actually place which they did as I am writing this article. Good job on 1st and 2nd Place. Now that is something to celebrate. And our hearts go out that it won't be included in the medal tally, but a round of applause for the men's team. It does show when you pull a lot of funding into one area, it does bring results. And it shows I give merit where merit it due.
When you do get a female drive in a top three position in motor sports at the Olympics, call me, we can do lunch and I will give you an interview alongside the victor.

A splatter of random medals says nothing about leadership? Envy is a deadly sin. Each medal shows the hard work coaches and athletes have undergone to be successful in a multi-sport competition where over 70 nations have come to compete. 70 nations who have sent the best of the best to compete. That splatter has many repeats of athletes coming back and winning again, others have returned and improved themselves. Even Vangaziland has improved on their last appearance, something I'm sure your nation is proud of. It would be hypocritical for you to celebrate your win while we should be ashamed of ours. If you didnt cut sport's from your delegation you too may be drowning in medals.

Yes Vangaziland has downsized their team from the last Olympic Games. But there are many teams at these games who have big teams and have broken no rules. As each sent the max number required and who was excellent enough to meet the qualification standard. We too have followed those rules and have only sent those who actually qualified higher than the Olympics require.
Cassadaigua, Vakolicci Haven and Celeria, Main Nation Ministry, Kelssek, Vekaiyu, and Electrum to name a few at the top of my mind. Some are ahead of you in the tally, but some are not.
So to assume you are where you are at, due to being a smaller delegation and we are where we are at, because we are bigger team falls short. Plus we don't see you slamming them for wanting to send all of their best to compete.

Its being a guided hand of leadership on the West Phoenicians part who have outdid themselves after each new multi sport event. It's our athletes who have taken the advise from their coaches, the true leaders of these Summer Games.
West Phoenicia has a big budget to send athletes to compete. If they qualify why should they not attend to live their truth and dreams.
If you are only we sending the cream of the crop, why is that not enough to beat large teams who have just sent okay players. The reason is size does not matter, it's the potential within those athletes who want to push themselves even further in the sport they have a passion for. The rest comes down to luck.

Half of our gold medals were scored where a Vangazi was fielded. Men's Team Archery, Men's
10m Air Pistol, Women's skateboarding. Table tennis, Men's Coxed Rights? We could go on, but I think little Bekah gets the point. #owned. Your nations athletes were present at those events and more but were defeated. We have lost against Vangazi athletes too, we could scream less funding was given to those athletes and that's why they lost. But even with lack of funding in certain sports a player can still do their best, we tried and failed in some areas. But to say that your athletes if enrolled in the same events as us were present it would be a different story. You had the opportunity to send more athletes, but you didn't. And results speak for themselves, your athletes have been present at many events but they were snuffed out like a candle in the West Phoenician wind.

Let me get you some food to eat, wanna eat some grow? It's West Phoenician flavoured.

Lastly but not least we are West Phoenicians not Phoenicians. It's two different cultures, nations, ethnicity and belief system. I'll buy you an atlas, so you doing get confused in future that it's West Phoenicia that is the nation you are competing against.

We too are here for the sports and the glory. Be the best you can be is all we ask. Delegation size has nothing to do with winning, it's heart and soul; is rooted into two different objectives, you are here to play sport and we are here to win. Each medal is money in the pocket of athletes who have worked so hard.

With so many more days to go, bring it, step up and be some tough rivals. If we are fighting for every medal be a thorn in our side not a petal under our feet.

And guess what, now you can do a web search and find your name on page 1, thanks to moi!

One last thing, there are rumours flying around that West Phoenicia is looking to poach some non-human athletes for future sporting events. As many are aware Unicorn Isles which is apart of our mighty empire is the home to a lot of non-human people. Could it be time for West Phoenicia to lift its ban on non-human competing? Would that be something we could get behind or do you feel giants, mermaids, dwarves and the like would have unfair advantage. Shoot me an email loyal readers with your thoughts. While I scoop a little deeper into this issue.

Thanks once again to all my wonderful loyal readers.

[Mattijana]

Auto-Racing at the Olympics: a One-off or the Future?

MFO SPORT

By Johan Struna, MRT team principal

When I first saw that motor-racing had been chosen as a demonstration event at the Olympic Games in Republica, I had a lot of questions, but was very excited.

We've seen a rise in the number of nations submitting drivers and teams to the WGPC over recent years and while the competition is as competitive as ever, it would be great to see some new countries as well as the usual band of passionate regulars and odd fresh face. The Olympics is a great way to do this. The greatest show on earth reaches more nations than any event other than the Football world cup and has a vast television audience. This makes it the ideal showcase for the sport and is a massive opportunity to inspire existing talent from countries without previous WGPC experience and youngsters who simply didn't know that professional motor-racing was a possibility.

This of course, is assuming the Olympic race is a roaring success.

If not, there is the potential for the opposite effect to happen. A processional race, an uninspiring venue and a lack of atmosphere would put this untapped pool of talent off the sport, making them switch over to more traditional Olympic sports or the football.

Unfortunately, the first of the two Olympic races failed in all three of these areas. Dahlia Dahl vanished off into the distance after overtaking pole-sitter Karli Schmitt, eventually finishing two laps ahead of everyone else. There were a fair few retirements, but most of these were mechanical failures or driver error rather than wheel to wheel incidents.

Then there was the Republica Motor Speedway, the sort of oval circuit that is banned from submission as a WGPC circuit. If the race isn't providing the entertainment in the WGPC (a rare occurrence), one can at least marvel at how the cars tackle the multiverse's trickiest corners, often set against a stunningly picturesque backdrop. You couldn't fault the condition of the track in the Free Republics, but the track layout was partly to blame for 200 laps of utter dross.

These two factors undoubtedly resulted in a diminished atmosphere around the track during the race. This of course wasn't helped by disappointing results for the Vannish and Mattijanan delegations, who are followed by some of the noisiest and most passionate fans on the WGPC tour.

On the surface, this doesn't add up to a particularly good prognosis for auto racing at the Olympics, but all these problems can be solved, even in time for the next games.

As well as replacing the drab oval circuit, that could frankly be anywhere in the world, with one of the many pulsating racetracks from around the multiverse, there needs to be increased clarification of what auto-racing actually means.

Auto racing is a very ambiguous term and covers everything from WGPC-style open-wheel racing to rallies, stock car racing and illegally charging around the backstreets of your local city in the dead of night.

That meant that delegations rocked up in the Free Republics with a number of very different machines. Mattijana and Vangaziland turned up with their top of the range WGPC cars, Jason Masami and his underlings from the Main Nation Ministry brought some stock cars, there were a range of cars fitting somewhere in between as well. A ridiculously unlevel playing field certainly didn't make for a competitive race.

Mattijanans would certainly prefer a level playing field to come in the form of a WGPC-spec race, but stock car racing also has a global following, including in nations without any WGPC pedigree such as Newmanistan and the Sherpa Empire. We wouldn't like it, but if any future host went that way, you wouldn't blame them.

Then there's the question over whether auto-racing is actually feasible as a medal event. The main criticism is that the highly technological nature of the sport favours countries with plenty of money. This of course is completely against the Olympic spirit, but there are a number of other sports in which there is an advantage for the advantaged.

Track cycling involves some pretty serious kit as well. The average Olympic-standard bike costs around 12, 500 NS dollars. The research and development behind these bikes often costs an awful lot more. Shooting is another example. Guns have progressed from being bog-standard hunting firearms to pieces of telescopic art that surely make it harder to miss the target than to hit.

There are also ways of foregoing this. Whilst introducing a standard chassis to the WGPC would be hugely controversial given the rich history of many teams, the Olympics have a clean slate to play with and this would help to level out the financial playing field.

The whole furore about the presence of E-sports at the games has once again brought up the issue of what constitutes a sport. Many outside the racing world have said that the WGPC doesn't have enough physicality to fit this category, but they are wrong. Races in steamier conditions can lose a driver 3kg of fluid and drivers need exceptionally strong muscles to handle the intense G-forces, especially in the neck. For me, there is no doubt that motorsport is physical enough to be a sport.

I think motorsport has promise at the Olympics. If a future games can conjure up an entertaining race, it will do the sport a world of good and maybe convince the International Olympic Committee to put some medals on the line.

[Kriegiersien]

Some press commentaries to Locharian Olympic Team (LOC) 40–0 Kriegiersien in Rugby Sevens.

Schoenwetter Herald

Men’s Rugby Seven Team with historical loss. 0:40 against Locharian Olympic Team.

The team, consisting only out of players from military academies, was outplayed from the beginning. With an historical 0:40 loss the Kriegiersien team ended their last group match and are staying with two wins and two losses on the second place for now. That could be enough to still advance, but it is highly to doubt that the other teams, who all have a game left, will play in their favor.
The match began with an utter disaster in the defense and soon slipped even more in negative territory, with many fumbles from the Kriegiersien team and early tries from Locharian. At the end the players were visible just happy that it was over.
No one gave an interview.

Kriegiersien Kolors

Rugby team collapses. End of all dreams? Nation in crisis.

The players cried and weeped, starred at the heaven and finally left the field, ignoring the reporters. If there is hope left, only Margaret knows. Probably also the beginning of the end of the whole Kriegiersien sport.

Patriotic Picture

Game of Shame in the Gem of the Ocean Stadium

Treason on a big stage. Don’t the players know any honor? They should kill themselves for their behaviour and failings. Relatives breaking with the players who hopefully await conviction for treason in their battalion after returning home.

On Page 13:
Suicide at the Olympics a big problem. How can we help people with such thoughts and the pressure they have to live with?

Candlekeep Morning News

Kriegiersien wins 40:0 against Locharian! Great demonstration of skill from our team.

Muhr Post

Men’s Rugby team has to bury all dreams after 0:40.

Our great local hero Manny Calvera apologizes to his parents for his team, even though he wasn’t even playing. Maybe he would have brought the change and turnaround. When does the coach begin to trust his needed skills?
An interview with his mother on Page 5.

The Truth

Kriegiersien losing in Rugby. 10 foot big Alien Doppelgangers invaded pitch and overrun the team with laser beams, psyonic powers and teleportation devices. Then the ratman summoned their demonic god and transformed the ball in a man-eating monster. The team fought bravely, but was easily beaten by superior space forces.

Sport News

Kriegiersien Rugby Seven Team with unbelievable loss.
Speculations that the team was bribed. Scandal? Referee making many shady decisions.

Rugbynews.kgs

The day of shame in Republica. The day the Kriegiersien Rugby had to rebuilt.

The matches in the demonstration events already gave it away. Under pressure, if the opponent was a bit stronger, the teams immediately broke. The women and men had the same problem. The international level was too high for them, after great hopes before and experts assigning them a great level of skills in athletic and tactics. The Olympics showed a different picture. Now the Rugby League World Cup awaits but it is predictable: The teams will come empty handed and leave the World Cup soon.
Maybe it needs another clear defeat there, to understand that things have to be changed. Leaving Rugby solely in the hands of the military is just not enough.

The Punchline:

Group G                                     Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Locharian Olympic Team                        4   2  1  1   97  67 +30    7
2 Kriegiersien                                  4   2  0  2   78  95 −17    6******
3 Free Republics                                4   2  0  2   92  88  +4    6******
4 Taeshan                                       4   2  0  2   93  69 +24    6******

After the next matchday Kriegiersien was in the Play-Offs against Kernovi and Rewgwlas, thanks to just the right results in Group G from the other teams.
The press could only respond with silent disbelieve, waiting for the next round to react properly.

****

Kriegiersien fleet beginning operation "Sinking drinking Jolly Roger" against Pirates

With a massive attack against Pirates at the open sea and in their ports the Kriegiersien fleet sank a not small amount of ships of the Pirate Family. The Kriegiersien President announced that:
“We can’t tolerate anymore that they are sinking our merchant ships. Our new cruisers need to be tested and the crews training and thus it was a win for everyone.”

A high ranked captain from the Pirate Family replied angry:
“This offense is offensive. That is the revenge for us not winning enough Gold medals for El Presidente at the Olympics. So he wants to steal our gold. We had a clear arrangement. We can plunder all ships except the ones from Kriegiersien and we did. If the ships don’t have the Kriegiersien flag it is not our fault. They can’t make up new rules, just because they are disappointed about Olympic results. He will find us not the easy prey he may think.”

The president of Kriegiersien disagreed:
“We likewise have clear partners in trade and don’t want them to be sunk. We need their goods. We told the Pirates that, they know who our partners are. It is not hard to look up. And it is not a problem that they won insufficient Gold medals. They haven't won medals at all!”

****

Shadow and light – Short stories out of the Kriegiersien view


After both Tennis doubles lost in the quarter finals, the Table Tennis and Fencing Foil men’s teams the matches for bronze and others coming close to a medal, but just close, the days looked grim in the medal table.
Amanda Acemonster failed, after her lost in the singles in the first round, to repair her appearance with a medal with partner and table tennis Silver medalist Esther Ada in Tennis. The duo of Mindriel and Mr. Handy wasn't good enough to win more sets after a terrific 6:1 in the first set against later finalists Luciano Ziccardino IV and Colonel Selav Tukerawan from the Heaven.

In the semifinal and bronze match in table tennis the opponents had found out how to manage serve and play style from Michael Bridgestone, Rainer Claas couldn't save the team alone.

Nok Nok, Monsta Casserole and Rink lost the fight in fencing for bronze, even with trying tricks and taunts like "you fight like a girl" against the guys from Cassadaigua.
After that they just sat together with enough rum and other liquor. Like every evening before.

There were many good 4-6 placements in swimming for Nova and Alf Swimtob, which weren't clebrated.
But it got better.


Atlanta Johnson in BOXING - Women's Middleweight managing the closest possible win with a 2-1 decision over Bella Payne (New Saria) and now facing Kelsey Weller from Cassadaigua in the semis.
With that a medal is guaranteed the nearly 40 year old Johnson is now already winner in two different Olympic events, 200 m sprint in athletics an eternity ago and now Boxing.
For the still buff Allrounder, who also played Rugby and was part of a Bob team, it was an exhausting fight, but her experience payed off in the end. “I look forward to the semis. I like to hit these women from Cassadaigua. Or this Polus Sister if I ever see her. Hell, I love to hit a lot of people”, smirked the heavily tattooed Kriegiersien athlete.

The first highlight for days now was Susi Nomnom, who got a silver in Judo, Women’s 78 kg. After having to lose weight to make it into the weight class at all, she celebrated her second place. Even though she ended the day like most Kriegiersien athletes with a loss, the second place was enough for her to proclaim: “I am going to eat anything I had to quit for weeks and months now.”




CYCLING - TRACK - Men's Madison

Even though having the same points together with 3 other teams, at the end Li Pi and Zu Pi were in front, getting Gold. How? Well, even for the two brothers and engineers working in their parents bicycle shop it was hard to believe and explain. “At the end we were just somehow ahead. Unbelievable.” A first medal, a Golden one, for the family, the franchise and for the nation.


Basketball 3X3 - Women

In the Quarterfinal the Main Nation Ministry was much clearer beaten than Liventia in the round before. Now Leral awaits, who have won against Santaclausigodistan. And if you have played against this Showteam of Muppets, you don’t fear much anymore. Not even bigger opponents.


ATHLETICS - Men's Pole Vault

Finally Lantry Terratus had won the first medal for Kriegiersien in Athletics. And also the first for an athlete from the tiers.
He couldn’t show the same magic like in the Kriegiersien championship, but good 5.90 m in the second try were enough for Bronze.
“You can buy my book “How I ‘nearly’ flew to Olympic Gold” now online. I have already written it, just have to change some passages”, the enthusiastic writer told everyone he met.


KARATE - KUMITE - Men's 67 kg

(BRONZE) Rathi Breathless (KGS) 1–0 Govannon Hogarth (DAR)

Rathi had just started this new Olympic Sport for fun and was very surprised when he somehow won Bronze.
“Some years ago I just started with Kung Fu, Jiu Jitsu, Capoeira, Tai Chi...you name it. Just to do sport at all to get fitter. When I started with Karate some months ago I would have never expected to even qualify.” Now he is an Olympic medal winner.



Football


Polynesia (PLY) 3–3 Kriegiersien (KGS)

The football match between Polynesia and Kriegiersien ended with a draw, but it was still enough to reach the play-offs as second, the women also qualified on place 4 in their group.
While the women only barely got through thanks to the many play-off places granted after the group stage, the men were already qualified before, so that the coach played with his B-Team.
“Contrary to the press I knew that we were already through. The Organizers even told us. See, the teams qualified were colored in the table. And it’s in the rules how many teams advance”, told the coach the Journalist, shaking his head.
That the second of the World Cup is the next opponent didn’t bother him much.
“I told you often enough: The Olympics are a different thing.”

The round of 32:
Men:
Kriegiersien (KGS) v. South Covello (SCO)

Women:
Illahee (ILA) v. Kriegiersien (KGS) (only shown in the webnet, not TV)

[Diarcesia]

"Day 14 of the Republica NS Olympic Games has concluded with gymnastics, rugby, badminton, and judo events played. How did the Diarcesians fare?"

Video: Rugby Sevens game showing the highlights of the Diarcesia vs. Darmen game. Visible is two Darmen' scoring events, one of them shifted the lead from Diarcesia to Darmen, 17-21.
"The Rugby Sevens team fell to Darmen after a crucial try in the second half; the Darmeni offense showed their guile by exploiting some gaps in the Diarcesian defense in the middle part of the match, as the latter failed to respond in kind. With this second loss, it's now the end of the line for them."

Video: Judokas Graciano Rios and Ronam Saab grapple and wrestle their respective opponents. Graciano managed to put Brimskill Dagbarssen out of bounds while Ronam skillfully executed a takedown against Hjalta Tístransdottir for an ippon
"Once again, the Diarcesians have advanced in judo with Graciano Rios and Ronam Saab slated for a semifinal match tomorrow. Will they be able to get a silver or even a gold medal?"

Video: Beach volleyball players Tina Northman and Cacana Demetriing are toe-to-toe in their game against the duo of Laika Björnsdottir and Ashley Alexander from Cosumar. The Cosumarites scored easily in the highlight. On their next serve, there is some back-and-forth until Cacana broke Cosumar's points streak to catch up. The score is 11-6 in favor of Cosumar in the second set.
"Tina Northman and Cacana Demetriing in beach volleyball faced the formidable Cosumarites Laika Björnsdottir and Ashley Alexander. Tina and Cacana struggled initially, losing the first set, but they eventually regained their footing and won the match to advance to the Round of 16"

...

Video: Stock footage of Olympic Committee's headquarters in Chiyginia City. Actual footage follows with the president Tom Cole greeting other committee members and then followed by another shot; a meeting room with almost everybody seated, with Tom apparently discussing something over the mic.
"Talks are in progress in the Olympiac Epitrope office in Chiyginia City whether to split some of the Monarchy-wide delegation to represent Diereses as a sub-delegation of the Team Diarcesian, similar to the unique situations of the Teremaran Unified Team and the Vilitan Union. If passed, this will allow Diereses such as Odrioya, Hylvoria, and Wochaystein to exercise their option to be represented with trigrams of their own."

"Imogen Brown, reporting for Arcesius Teleorasi."

[Beepee]

Beepee Olympic Media Broadcast

Ivo Dhjukharevic and Dusan Ventaromovich made it to the semifinals of the Olympics, which is a stunning result. However they couldn't quite overcome the pairing of Doerwald and Vrient, current reigning gold medalists. However, the pairing still are in the hunt for medal and will face the Dallas' of West Phoenica in the bronze medal match up shortly.

Dusan Ventaromovich has become something of a pin-up celebrity in Beepee after changing his shirt on court during the semi-final; in what is a break for the Beepeean tradition of non-public nudity. The shirtless photos have become a viral sensation. Women, and some men, have been calling on him to win 'Beepee's sexiest man' award.

Beepee's Volleyball Team surprised everybody with a 5 set win over group leaders Natanians and Nosts. The win lifts Beepee off the bottom.of the group, for now. However, it's still unlikely they will progress past the group stages.

Beepee's soccer team have upset all odds and topped their group after beating santaclauseisgodistan. The team now face Équipe nationale du Québec in the first knockout round.

Uppan Atom, head coach of the Beepeean squad has revealed qualifying from the group stages was his dream, 'and every moment from here on in is to be savoured'.
 
In men's baseball, Beepee pulled off the coup of coups, by qualifying from the group stage on head to heads. Beepee finished second due to head to head victories over Amuaplye and Vakolicci Haven and Celeria. Beepee now face Illahee.

In less good news, Beepee's Aussie Rules team couldn't quite maintain their winning ways, falling by 16 to Vilitan Union.

[Ioudaia]

Suite 2000, Republica Grand Hotel
Ioudaian Olympic “Village”, Republica

“Your Majesty?” Avi Theodotus cautiously pulled King Zamir's attention away from whatever was on his laptop screen. When Zamir finally acknowledged him, he continued. “I've arranged the meal with the olympic medalists that you requested.” He waited for a reply, but got only a nod. “A formal dinner in four days, which will be the 18th day of the Olympiad.”

Zamir's brows furrowed. “I thought you were arranging a simple, light breakfast?”

“I was, Your Majesty, but we already unusually blessed with athletes who have final events for the next several days. The teams that have completed all their events – all of whom have at least one medalist – are eager to return home, the swimmers especially. Getting them to agree to stay longer was impossible. I could have insisted in your name, but--”

With a heavy sigh, Zamir stood up from his chair, closed his laptop, and started to pace his suite. “That would defeat the purpose of a celebration, yes. The 18th day is well-chosen in any event; we may have double-medalists by then. What are you proposing to call this event?”

“I was thinking of 'The Dinner of Champions'.”

“Then it's good breakfast didn't work out.”


Suite 1502, Republica Grand Hotel
Ioudaian Olympic “Village”, Republica
Swim Team Post-Competition Meeting

“Alright, team, you know the drill.” Matan Costas, head coach of the Ioudaian Swim Team, started the meeting as he always did. “How'd it go out there?” He was answered by dull stares, people suddenly finding reasons to check their phones, and faint groans. “I think it went pretty well.” The team looked at him, expressions showing confusion, annoyance, or curiosity, sometimes more than one.

Matan read from his phone. “We competed in 29 races, and ended up with four medals, three gold and a silver. That's one in ten golds, and one in, obviously, 29 silvers. Depending on the race, there were between twenty and forty teams competing.” He looked up at his swimmers. “If all the teams were equally good, we should have expected about a gold, a silver, and a bronze, total. So, we clobbered them. Three gold medals means we have some world-class swimmers. Checking the fourth and fifth place finishes, we were close – really close – in a few more races.

“It proves what we thought going in: we're better than average.” Good, they're showing signs of life. “So, how'd it go out there?”

Tamir Euenus cleared his throat, found his voice. “Yeah, we lost some heart-breakers, but we got clobbered ourselves a few times. Maybe we should expect it at this level – it's not like any of us won all of our races getting here – but sometimes we seemed like we were in the wrong pool.” The room filled with of murmmers of agreement.

“Ok, who else?” Another silence. “Right! Gabi, Bat Shahar, Shamaria, Eitana! You guys won our one team gold. How'd it go?”

Gabi bat Nemerte cocked her head, gave it a moment's thought, then delivered what sounded like a prepared speech. “It went far better than I'd expected. I thought we were still pretty rough around the edges going in, but we pulled it together in the end. I lost all of my races. Some of those losses were humbling.

“We've got to up our game, Matan. I'm not sure what we can do better, but we need to start doing it now, and we need to start doing it hard.” She got an enthusiastic chorus of yesses, exactlies, and right-ons.

“Ok, Shamaria, you did well on your leg of that race too. What's your opinion?”

She shrugged. “I gave my lucky stuffed frog two hugs. That always works.” The room exploded in laughter. “No, seriously, guys! It does!” The team's laughter increased, then slowly died away to chuckling and headshaking. “Oh, you want me to pretend it's all easily broken down into easy-to-digest pieces? Look, sometimes sports just isn't. Setting olympic records isn't something you can grind up and put into a pill. Everything just clicked on that race, the way it didn't for some of the other races. It... sometimes just happens.”

“I got a clean sweep!” Nitzan ben Hippon seemed jovial. “Lost every time!” Familiar chuckling and groans answered him, along with a few mocking calls like “Oh, you think you're so special!”

“I partially agree and partially disagree with Gabi and Tamir. I think we need to improve, but it's mostly small adjustments. Lots of small adjustments, but I don't think we need wholesale changes in how we do things. What I mean is that Coach Costas already said we're doing well, so let's smooth out the rough spots, not try to change everything.”

Matan nodded at him, and then at the whole room. “I think you'll both get your wishes. Donations to the olympic committee have been pouring in since Tamir won. That race, the meeting with King Zamir, and all the interviews Tamir gave afterwards have been setting ratings records for non-football sports. And then Ofek showed it wasn't a fluke, and Ohad showed swimming isn't just a men's sport. The freestyle team's record cemented it: Ioudaia is ready to show the world what it can do, and swimming is how we're gonna do it!

“Back home, people have been going crazy for you guys! The Sport Ministry and the Six Kings are sticking to the existing policy: the government is matching all the private donations, so we're going to be swimming in money! And a lot of the donations have come especially for swimming, so we're getting the largest share that. We're struggling to figure out what to do with all of it!” After a moment of stunned silence, the swimmers burst into cheering, clapping, and whistling. There was no need to say more.

[Cassadaigua]

Another Successful Day,
by Hannah Marshall, Olympic Correspondent

The second week of Olympic action is now officially in the books, and Cassadaigua is having success here, and is just one medal shy of West Phoenicia for second in overall medals, although when looking at gold medals, there is a larger gap that we would have to make up. The gap that is very large, though, is the one behind us, and fourth place Vakolicci Haven and Celeria. Our golds are the same, but they have 24 fewer medals then us at this point. While we have seen several royal figures make comments about the performances of their athletes, Queen Cassie II has been silent. Until now. This is a transcript of an address she made at the palace, today:

“I want to start, first, by complimenting the hard work by all those involved in making sure these events run smoothly, and that security in the Olympic village, and at our venues has been maintained to provide a safe experience. We have seen some wonderful individual and team efforts, as well. For our own athletes, you have done an amazing job. So far, we have won 59 medals, which is one of the top performances from any nation right now. I am especially proud in the diversity in which we have won these medals. From disciplines such as weightlifting, to wresting, to aquatics, and many more. We have seen both men and women accomplish their dreams. I have also been entertained, and I hope you have as well, by the sports that are only seen as demonstration events. There will be a week and a half to go, and I hope those who have not yet competed in their events can do so with continued success.”

While auto racing is only a demonstrated event, it’s presence is certainly a highlight for nations that are active in the sport. A piece from Mattijana’s Johan Struna wrote a good piece talking about the future of motorsports in the Olympics, although it is only open wheel racing being contested. Not sure if we will see stock car racing, ever. The track at Republica Motor Speedwa being an oval was not adored by their own media, and that’s fine. But one does not need to know how to maneuver the turns of a road course, such as we have become accustomed to in Jebslund or Vilita and Turori. Today we were able to witness the open wheel race on the men’s side, and it was won by Kev Schorebrook, for Vangaziland. That was happy news for NSSCRA 7 Champion, our own Stacie Houston, who was on hand to help our drivers adapt to competing an all-star field. Our chances were much better on the women’s side, but Houston was not going to only help the women. Of course, her rooting interest likely shifted to Schorebrook, a man she had been seen quite frequently with as the NSSCRA season went on. Not sure if they are officially dating, you will have to ask the gossip sites that. However, they can be called the “power couple” of racing now, with Stacie winning a NSSCRA championship, and Schorebrook now being able to call himself an Olympic champion. They were seen together after Stacie’s title, and were seen again after this. Stacie has some free time now, so they can spend quite a bit of time together in the Olympic village. They've gotten a start on that, so I have been told.

Elsewhere, Brittney McDonald has been picking up the jewelry during the Olympics, winning her second goal medal, and third overall medal. She was blistering fast in the 50m Freestyle, just barely missing the Olympic Record by .02. That was also her margin of victory, though these races are always close, especially at this level. Brittney seems to be enjoying some of the publicity that she has been getting, and reportedly there are several companies wishing to sign her up for an endorsement deal. We can say that we called this, though, if you remembered our look at the delegation before Brittney even stepped into the pool in Republica, “ Brittney McDonald is one of our top medal threats, and she will compete in a total of eight events...” was something that we wrote back then, and later quoted Brittney later in saying that she expected to win a medal, and would have been disappointed if she had not. There are a lot of athletes that come into the Olympics with a high amount of expectations, but it is not often that you can such an athlete actually exceeded such expectation. Brittney has done that. “This has been a lot of fun,” Brittney said, “That’s what this is all about, having fun, representing your country and winning medals. Now, I am going to enjoy some fresh apple pie. Nothing like that after a big win.” Also in the pool, Michael Marrero picked up his second medal, getting a bronze to go with the gold that he won earlier. This came in the men’s 50m freestyle. Marrero said getting to know McDonald has been a real highlight. “Brittney is someone I looked up too, and was excited about meeting. The women were very confident that they could win medals in the pool, but they were very helpful and motivational for us men as well. Brittney does make good apple pie, too. I didn’t want too, but it was very tempting once I saw it.”

Matthew Byfield picked up a silver medal in the pole vault, then both Danielle Weaver and Stephanie Shields picked up medals, silver and bronze, in the 400m. Cassadagan cyclists have continued to be a big story, as an additional medal was picked up by Stacey Moynihan and Lauren Henderson, combining for a silver in the women’s team sprint. This should further increase the excitement for the creation of an official cycling series within our country, as we talked about in a recent article.

We also picked up a silver in the women’s team sabre in fencing. In somewhat of a surprise, our men’s rugby sevens team completed the group stage winning their group with a 3-0-1 record. Will this mean we try the international competition in rugby that does seem to be popular? Probably not, but still a noteworthy event there, and a great chance for our players to be rewarded for the training they put in. We also have three of the eight quarterfinalists still alive in women’s squash. The pair of Jessica Shipley and Shannon Standifer have drawn the #1 seed for the round of 16 in women’s beach volleyball. Impressive versatility by our delegation. Let’s keep this going!

[Todd McCloud]

Vindication from an Unlikely Source
Reporting for V3 News Services, Rin Slakori

REPUBLICA - To say that the Vekaiyun swimming program had not performed to expectations would be considered an understatement. Indeed, one Olympiad prior, Vekaiyu had taken home an unprecedented eleven golds, six silvers, and four bronze medals. Home field advantage? Perhaps, but the vulpine nation had won fourteen medals during the Tenth Summer Olympiad, and thirteen during the Eighth Summer Olympiad. Indeed, Vekaiyu is very accustomed to winning when it comes to aquatic competition, which is why the current struggles are all the more puzzling. Going into today, the last day of swimming events, Vekaiyu was a paltry four medals in - far off the pace even when one considers the less-than-stellar showing at the Eleventh Summer Olympiad in Paripana. What made things worse was that no gold had been obtained. Should that had remained unchanged, it would be the first time Vekaiyu had failed to gain a gold medal in swimming.

Host nation hangover? Perhaps. There could be a number of reasons attributed to a sharp decline in performance. Every venue has their own quirks, and difficult sleep or even a rough plane ride over could very well be the difference maker in a sport that is literally measured in hundredths of seconds. A mis-stroke or an imperfect initial dive could turn a medal performance into something that is forgettable and relegated to the dust-bin of film review and back-end highlight reels.

It's not like the nation had their chances. Yeri Mikislavi had a shot in the Men's 100 m Breaststroke to take home a gold medal after he placed second in the heats to the eventual lead athlete, Ofek ben Atiphates. Such excellent times would undoubtedly mean the two would be well-accustomed to the quirks and styles of each other, and considering they both set the pace meant they would be placed in favorable lanes toward the center of the pool where drag would be minimized. Yet the final event yielded the same result. Though it was later revealed to be a miscue during the flipturn, sometimes there really doesn't appear to be an answer as to why a swimmer finishes second - sometimes, they simply lose. Such was the case with Ikrisia Sulevire. Again, the Vekaiyun swimmer managed a second-place showing in the heats, pitting her near the center of the pool for the Women's 200 m Breaststroke. It seemed it would be a race of two between her and Emma Marleau if one considers the heat times. Sulevire did indeed beat Marleau in the controlled waters of the Olympic pool... only to watch her gold evaporate by a flawless routine by Rita Carmichael of Taeshan.

Day 14 featured a handful of Vekaiyuns entered in various final matches, but more of the same plagued the vulpine swimmers. Yamano Viri would have to settle for sixth in the Men's 100m butterfly, and Levisa Sikalori nearly, nearly took gold in the Woman's 50m Freestyle. If only she wasn't on an outside lane, because her performance could have certainly not just taken gold, but an Olympic record to boot. Instead, she would have to settle for the fourth and final Vekaiyun silver in swimming.

"At the end of the day, you have to be comfortable with your performance," she told V3 News after the medal ceremony. "I can't think about what could've been - I instead choose to think what happened instead, because, let's face it, a silver medal, a bronze medal, a gold medal, that's what's awarded in the competition. If my form is good, and I give it a strong showing, there's absolutely no reason why I should feel any disappointment."

Of course, there's more to swimming when it comes to medals, but many more fans will remember the medal performances over winning a heat yet failing to advance (which happened several times, unfortunately). This meant that one final event, the Women's 200 m Backstroke, was next, and luckily a Vekaiyun athlete was in the pool. However, that athlete was Leina Irlavistre, perhaps the unluckiest of all swimmers. An off-and-on force in the Vekaiyun swimming arsenal, Irlavistre managed just one medal - a silver - way back in the Eighth Summer Olympiad in Orean, and it wasn't even in the backstroke. Even biology seemed to be against her, as she is among the shortest swimmers in the Vekaiyun delegation, and has a shorter-than-average reach. But where she lacks in length, she excels in dedication and regularly competes in events across the Vekaiyun nation. Leina Irlavistre is truly a testament to how difficult Olympiads can be, especially considering how her star remains high in national competition. No amount of success, it seemed, could correlate to international glory.

Perhaps many assumed it was a forgone conclusion at this point. Nevertheless, she would remain the last hope for a Vekaiyun gold. Her competition would be stiff - two swimmers from the host nation, one from the second-place West Phoenicia, and one from the always-dangerous Sargossa. Yet in the second-to-last leg of the event, something happened. Leina Irlavistre, a swimmer who had never actually obtained a gold medal, seemed soundly in the lead. Three swimmers seemed to follow roughly the same pace until the third turn, where Irlavistre delivered a flawless flip and propelled herself forward. On the last leg, she maintained her lead, and suddenly the unlucky athlete from Skendia was nearing the scoring plate. She touched first, and the rest was history. Leina Irlavistre had her first gold, and Vekaiyu was spared the dubious distinction of leaving the games without a gold in swimming.

The short vulpine swimmer was nearly inconsolable after the event, and could not be reached for comment until after the medal ceremony was well-over. "I see other swimmers like Lisa [Ikaveri] or Sayli [Koveseru] win all the time. I didn't know what was wrong with me - I thought maybe I just have that thing where I choke in international competition. I didn't even do anything in Provinsk!" When asked what it was like to finally win gold, she rubbed her eyes and collected herself. "I didn't believe it. I knew I touched it first around me, but I figured there was something that'd call it back, like maybe someone down in one of the other lanes finished first. I just, I don't know, it's a different feeling. I guess I've joined the club."

Joined the club? Perhaps. But we'd like to call it more like saving the best for last.

[Main Nation Ministry]

Race Day

Masami was driving in his stock car, as the race was progressing throughout the day. Many would ask him how it felt to continually drive a car through lap after lap on the same racetrack over again. The true is it wasn't really the same unless you were in the lead. What you had to watch out for was the racers taking to overtake you or do something reckless. He was already pass 140 when it came towards laps, but he was still going to hold out before someone ended up in first place. He was already in ease, though something about the SportsLife blimp hovering above the speedway was unnerving him. As he was going through his 145th lap, he saw that his fuel was starting to run out. "I can go through a pit stop. They just gotta do it, quick." Masami thought. "Come in! I'm requesting a refueling!" he communicated with the pit crew, as they confirmed that they were ready to have Masami come through. Arriving at the pit stop, he waited till they gave him the thumbs up, until he noticed several of the pit crew rush out to where the gas tank was. When Masami looked, he immediately saw smoke erupt. "No.. No no no no no!" Masami got out of the car to see what had happened.

"Masami! The gas is screwed!" a pit crew member said, as he went to inspect one of the gas nozzles that was used to insert gas into the car. "Someone added a bag of goddamn sugar into this!" The moment Masami heard that, he immediately took off his helmet. "How is that possible?! I thought all of this was happening to Yamuna?!" Masami yelled, as he went to inspect it.

After the race, the Ministry of Sports immediately did an investigation on how Masami got screwed in a sugary way. "Well, Masami. I think someone was a bit of a prankster, weren't they?" the official said with deadpan humor. "Did the same saboteur do it? Something doesn't make sense." Masami asked. "We're checking the security footage right now. Seeing the comparisons with Yamuna and you, we already have reason to believe that this is the same perp taking it easy on you, or there is another saboteur." the official explained. "Sir, you need to see this!" an investigator said, as he was checking the security footage from the tablet. "Hey? Is that one of my pit crew?" Masami asked, as he saw what appeared to be a pit crew member trying to stay hidden with a large cap on them. "That build that they have is already someone we recognize... Masami. We will take it from here."

At an improvised intergettion room at the hotel, Karen Yamuna looked at the security footage, but didn't say a word. "What does this have to do with me? I'm an innocent individual." Yamuna said, calmly. "Ms. Yamuna. We know this is you from the footage, along with witness testimonies. You rigged the nozzle to be filled with sugar, while the pit crew had their back turned." the official said.
"When my car gets broken down, whoever did it is scot-free from justice, yet when I do it, I get all the blame?"
"Ms. Yamuna, we-"
"My father is going to have your asses be swiss cheese when I arrive back to the nation after the Olympics are over."
"Ms. Yamuna. If you could just cooperate-"
"I already poisoned Masami. I know he is the one who did it to me. He deserves to fail."
"Ms. Yamuna!" the official had to increase his voice, so Yamuna didn't try to respond. "He has a clear alibi for both times you were out in the races. We're working to find your culprit, but we need more evidence."
"I already know that it was Masami that did it. I don't need a reason. He did it. No questions asked." Yamuna said, in a smug, stubborn and spoiled tone.

Later, the Ministry of Sports got a visit from Masami, who had a jug of milk to drink, as he talked. "She poisoned me. She must have poured gallons of some sort of hot sauce onto all of my food in the mini-fridge." Masami said. "Masami, we need you to talk with some of the other nations doing the racing events. Either them or one of us had to sabotage Yamuna's car. We also need to make sure it isn't the Olympic bomber, if they managed to get a hold of technology more advanced somehow." the official explained. "I think I got an idea.. I try to do my best, though." Masami said.

[West Phoenicia]

Special Agent Franco Genoa had gone through the files of each of the three West Phoenicians, looking for any little clue that may link them. Yes they were all West Phoenicians, and so far only West Phoenicians had been targeted; could it be a plot from Greater Phoenicia, the biggest enemy West Phoenicia had. They were all athletes, could a disgruntled athlete who didn't make the delegation be the culprit? He had already spoken to a number of people, and there were still more people to talk with.


Baroness Freeman was under the delusion that the three were not connected, it was just some cosmic coincidence. Franco had a different opinion. He had arranged to meet Glaphyra Cappadocia of the Camogie team who shared a room with Livia Rush, the poor girl who had been shot in the car park. Glaphyra was still in the hospital suffering from anxiety over the shooting.

He was heading to the hospital when he received a call. Another West Phoenician had been targeted, unfortunately they failed, the victim was Micah True-Path, one of the Beach Volleyball players, he had been locked in the sauna; he was alive but the condition critical.

“I want a police guard outside his hospital room. Whoever did this may come back to finish him off. I'll be there in 15 minutes.”

There was no assuming they were all coincidences now. That would not add up. This was clearly the work of a psychopath, intent on harming West Phoenicians. As he rode to the hospital he called Baroness Flora Freeman at her hotel, she would need to be informed. She would not like this, he reached her assistant Oliver North who promised she would call back after she got off the phone with an official in West Phoenicia. The Baroness must have been running her assistant ragged, he sounded deflated and void of a personality today.

Micah True-Path was in ICU when he arrived at the hospital, the doctor in charge refused Franco Genoa entry to see him until the patient was stable. A small delegation were in the waiting area when he arrived. One was the brother who was openly weeping and cursing at the same time. He would need to speak to him soon, but he was clearly not in a position to give any statement at the moment.

He found Glaphyra in her room, she was out of her bed, sitting in a chair brushing her hair and gazing out the window when he lightly tapped on the door.
She jumped out of her skin as he head swung to the door, “Who are you?”

“Special Agent Franco Genoa, but you can call me Franco,” he said flashing his badge, he found it eased people when he reduced it to first name basis during interviews.

“I was hoping to ask you some questions if you feel up to it?”

Glaphyra nodded.

“Tell me what you remember about that night?”

“ I was planning to have a short rest before I checked out downtown of Republica. Livia scared the hell out of me as I didn't expect anyone to be in the room. But she was there getting dressed for Casino Night at the Garden of Eden club.” Glaphyra let out a small sign.

“You're doing great,” Franco said encouraging her.

“I thought they would have cancelled the theme night after Jermiah jumped off the building. That was so sad to hear, there would have been other Olympics. Such a waste. But he has always been an overachiever.”

“You knew him well?”

“Yes, we went to the same school growing up. But than he transferred because of his athletic talent and went to one of those academies for those gifted in sports, to build them up to one day be Olympians,”

Franco jotted this information down on his notepad.

“Livia begged me to borrow my car. She didn't want to wait for the bus. I let her borrow it, but she would have to come back and pick me up later when I wanted to go out. She than left the room and obviously headed to the car park.. No wait” Glaphyra stopped as her mind raced. “A package had arrived.”

“Package?”

“Yes, it arrived when I was out getting something to eat. She pointed it out to me before she left.”

“What was in the package?”

“An iPod nano and a sheet of paper. On the paper was written “I dedicate this song to you, signed Your number 1 fan. Kind of tacky for a fans present. I usually get flowers.”

“What was the song?”

“Bang, bang my baby shot me down,” Glaphyra said slowly. She then froze, her face masked in fear. Livia was shot, just like the song.”

It had to be connected, it was too much of a coincidence.

“I was listening to the song looking out the window,” Glaphyra gaze went from him to looking out the window as if she was back in the moment. “ The car park was semi dark. There were tons of people down there. I saw her strutting to the car in her gorgeous outfit. Than shots were heard, I ducked in terror. And when I had the courage I looked up and she was on the ground and she wasn't moving,”

Glaphyra burst into tears as she started to cry. Franco walked over and gently patted her shoulder, “Its okay to cry and your information will help catch who murdered her.”

“If I only let her take the bus, she would be alive today.” Glaphyra sobbed.

“Not necessarily, the killer could still have shot her at the bus stop.”

“Did you see anyone with a gun?”

“No it was started to grow dark, the car park lights hadn't turned on yet. People were screaming and running around down there. I didn't see anyone with a gun.”

“Did she have any enemies that you are aware of?”

“No, everyone liked her. She was nice. Yes, she was a party girl, but she was nice. Please catch who did this!”

“We will.”

“What was all that commotion in the hallway before?” Glaphyra asked.

“I really shouldn't say anything, but there has been another incident. One of your beach volleyball team mates was locked in the sauna, they are clinging to life.”

“Sounds like a horrible prank gone wrong. It feels like West Phoenicia is cursed this Olympics. So many bad things happening to us.”

“I doubt it was a prank, I have reason to believe something more sinister is at hand.”

“Who was it?”

“Do you know a Micah True-Path?”

Glaphyra face turned a deathly white, she struggled in her seat, as if she was about to have a fit. “Yes, we were in the same class, along with Jeremiah.”

Franco bit his lower lip in thought, a connection was forming. “The gymnast who was involved in the hit and run, Claire Tan?

“Yes, but she was in the grade below. She was in year 10, when I was in Year 11. Oh my god, three people from my own school, how awful. No, it can't be…” Glaphyra was in mid sentence when she stopped.

“It can't be?” Franco asked.

“It's nothing. I mean.. No, it's just awful is all,” Glaphyra finished turning back to the window a strange expression masking her face. Franco didn't know what to make from it.”

“And Livia, you have known her from school too?” Franco asked.

“No not at all. She grew up in the city-state of Mythologia. I lived in the city-state of New Dixie.

“Damn,”Franco muttered, he thought he had found his connection. “Thank you so much for your assistance today. I will be in touch.”

He was walking out the door when Glaphyra screamed for him to come back.

“Jacket,” Glaphyra mouthed.

“Jacket?”

“It came back to me. Before she left, Livia asked to borrow my jacket. We were always sharing clothes as we were the same height and body shape. The song on the ipod… “Glaphyra voice trailed off.

“The shooter thought it was you, your rented car, your jacket and it was growing dark outside. You were the target not her…”

[APOC Coalition]

CRESCENT NEWS NETWORK
SPORTS CHANNEL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ABANHFLEFT • PRIDNESTROVIA • OONTAZ DERT LI NG • COPPER CUPRUM • TRENDSTART • FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA

XIII OLYMPIAD REPUBLICA: OONTAZNIK RUNNER WINS FIRST MEDAL FOR APOC COALITION
By Malik Qazizadah


APOC Coalition's Raihaan al-Neman (center left) catches up to the pack leaders in the final of the men's 800 meters. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

REPUBLICA, THE FREE REPUBLICS - The APOC Coalition has won its first ever medal in the Games of the XIII Olympiad in Republica, the Free Republics courtesy of the Sultanate of Oontaz's Raihaan al-Neman, who took home the gold medal in the men's 800 meters in a very tight and close race.

al-Neman, son of prominent Oontaznik runner Mohammad Mahmoud al-Neman, was among the Coalition's delegates for the athletics events, participating in the men's 800 meters, men's 1500 meters, and men's 5000 meters.

al-Neman qualified for the finals of the men's 800 meters after taking second place in both the heats and the semifinals.

al-Neman started off slowly with the men's 800 meters final but managed to claw his way up to the front of the pack coming into the second lap before crossing the finish line first in a classic photo finish.

al-Neman won the gold medal in the event, APOC's first ever medal in the Olympics and also its first gold, a certified achievement given that the Coalition's aim in the Olympics is to compete and win in the team events.

al-Neman's time of 1 minute and 44.66 seconds is only three seconds behind the current Olympic record of 1:46.63, a very credible achievement for an athlete who is participating in the Olympics for only the first time. Of course, this record does not take into account the Ashford Olympics, which has been excluded from the record for reasons unknown.

"First of all, I would like to thank the great and merciful Allah for letting me win the gold medal for the Coalition in the Olympics," al-Neman said to CNN Sports after the presentation of the medals. "And I would also like to thank my father Mohammad. Without him I probably would have never taken up running. This is for you, Father. For you and for the Sultanate! And for the Coalition!"

XIII OLYMPIAD REPUBLICA: BELINDA ASHLEY "AWAKE AND RESPONDING", SAYS WURZMANN
By Malik Qazizadah


APOC Coalition chef de mission Heinrich Wurzmann announces the condition of Belinda Ashley in a press conference. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

REPUBLICA, THE FREE REPUBLICS - APOC Coalition chef de mission Heinrich Wurzmann announced today that Belinda Ashley, the Coalition women's lacrosse player who attempted to take her life after her team failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Olympics women's lacrosse event, has awakened from her coma and is now responding to basic queries.

"We are pleased to announce that Miss Belinda Ashley is finally awake and appears to be responding well to her treatments," Wurzmann said.

Ashley had attempted to commit suicide by ingesting numerous medicines and sleeping pills after the APOC Coalition was eliminated from the women's lacrosse event through victories by Vangaziland and the Free Republics.

"We are continuously monitoring Miss Ashley's situation, and we shall inform you of further developments as they unfold," Wurzmann concluded.

The news of Ashley's recovery is a welcome respite from the tragedy that has surrounded the current Olympiad. Just hours earlier from the APOC Coalition's press conference, it was reported that yet another West Phoenician athlete, Micah True-Path, had been locked inside the sauna in the Garden of Eden Club and left for dead. Thankfully, this time True-Path was found before he passed, and he is currently under heavy guard by both Republican and Phoenician authorities who have stated that there might be further attempts on True-Path's life.

[West Phoenicia]

“We did it” Bunny St Claire squealed in delight, she jumped up and down clapping her hands like a Price is Right contestant, as the warm sand cling to her wet feet. The two piece revealing leopard skin bikini bounced in all the right ways.

Fellow West Phoenician surfer Joni Malone stepped back as the squeal rattled her ear drums, she looked at Bunny quizzingly as she ran a hand through her shirt pixie cut auburn hair. “Did what?”

Bunny St Claire, tall and statuesque with a halo of platinum blonde hair adjusted her leopard skin bikini. Most of the other female surfers wore modest one piece swimsuits. Bunny liked to be different, she had a great toned body and loved to flaunt it. One never knew when a movie producer or modelling casting director was in the audience.

“We both came second, we are one step closer to the finals,” Bunny clapped again. Joni noticed the bikini top struggling to contain Bunny’s assets.

“No we are not! Second is not good in heats, we lost! You lost to Megan Turner from Cassadaigua and I lost to Tricia McCrutcheon of Kelssek. “


“But that's not fair, we are far hotter, not our fault and I totally had the right of way at one point, and my wave was stolen. I needed to win to launch my movie career. I don't get it, competition structure had the top two from each heat move forward.”

“That is just for the first heat. Better luck next time. Just wasn't our day. Total waste of my time. We better go speak to our media, than grab a burger and fries?"

“You can speak to our media, I want to get noticed,”Bunny giggled.

You had your chance, you blew it by not moving fast enough to get the good waves “

“There are other ways to get noticed,” Bunny said.

Bunny removed her bikini top with a laugh and ran behind Meghan Turner who was giving her interview to the media, posing for the camera.

“Yeah, I ain't doing that,” Joni mumbled.

[Vangaziland]

Bekah Adeson (@Beks772)
Just now from Republica, Free Republics

@Norma Mansfield

*Message Deleted

Kingdom o' West Phoenicia
Water Polo International Championships I
Water Polo International Championships II
World Softball Classic #3
World Twenty20 Championships XI
World Baseball Classic 44

-

Vannish Empire
Van Eaux Royal Regatta - Esportivan Team Points' Trophy
World Lacrosse Championships 28 - Vangaziland
World Lacrosse Championships 29 - Wrexwic
World Lacrosse Championships 30 - Wrexwic
International Basketball Championships 26 - Vangaziland
India Football League - FC Bakati North - Regional Champion - Jhalpharezi
All India Cricket Blast T20- Jhalpharezi

Cross Rally Championships @ Enfaru - Winner-Jessica Franssen, VNG
WGP2 I - Drivers Championship-Jang Xiaopeng, Constructors Championship-VMR
WGP2 II - Drivers Championship- Karli Schmitt, Constructors Championship- VMR
WGPC 16 - Drivers Championship-Jessica Franssen

Multiverse Boxing Organization I - Champion-Abigail Kaldwell (Wrexwic)
Ilysea Amphitheater Classic - Boxing Champion, Linda Henshmen (Vangaziland)
Multiverse Fighting Championships
-Linda Henshmen, MFC Welterweight Championship
-Marcus Frankerssen, MFC Light Heavyweight Championship
-Otto Bjorn, MFC Heavyweight Championship

---

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Bekah's phone had been out of control with notification alerts. She had a habit that she couldn't break. Every time she got an alert, she had to look. Bekah Adeson was touring Republica with her mother. Her brother was in college and her father had to work. The gold cellphone clad in a bedazzled case had been buzzing non since the men's race ended.

As a motorsport fan, watching one of the races was a priority. They couldn't get tickets for the women's race. Bekah was bummed out until Jess didn't qualify. Karli and the others were cool but Bekah just wanted to see Jessica. WGPC 14 seemed like such a long time ago to the high school senior. When Bekah saw Jess drive the green and gold MRT machine long ago, she was hooked.

The live Olympic race was even more exciting than she could have imagined. Neither Beks nor her mother had ever heard open wheel cars in person. The sounds were so loud that they were aromatic. Bekah would never forget the sound of the Vannish Motors engines. There was an almost delicate, high-pitched wail. Auto Racing Vangaziland cars evoked a knife of a howling spirit, darting through the butter that was the high speed pack.

There were four indigo and red machines on the track. These cars were improved versions of an award winning chassis. Bekah and her mother tried to track the cars as they spread throughout the field. Luckily large scoreboards tracked each competitor along with their top speed. They were both surprised at how fast the cars were going. Neither had seen many open wheel cars on ovals. The speed of an open wheel car on a high speed track is easily 30 mph faster than any stock car on the same course. This made for quite the spectacle, as the open wheel cars rocketed past their viewpoint.

It was about halfway through the race when Bekah started getting weird notifications. A sports blog with 109.6K followers suddenly messaged her.

@Beks772: Looks like Kev might win if he holds out. Boy would you school Mansfied if he did.

Bekah didn't expect other people to know about her message to Norma Mansfield. She was just a high school student here to cover the games for her school newspaper. When she read the message from the sports blog, she saw it was getting a lot of interactions. Others were talking about it.

The exciting part was that Beks watched Kev run his race live. She couldn't help but yell now whenever he passed, shouting loud cheers. Her reputation as on the line to. As time went on, the pack started to spread. Kev Schorebrook separated himself from the field. Broadcasters across the Vannish Empire broadcast the race in excited, dramatic tones. He didn't just win the race.

Kev Schorebrook's final time was over two minutes faster than Dalia Dahl's earlier win at Republica Motor Speedway. If the fastest laps in qualifying were just under 40 seconds, it is easy to assume that Kev may have lapped the women's race winner at least three times.

"And the winner of the men's Olympic race is NSSCRA", a Vannish announcer known for being overly dramatic called as Kev crossed the line. Vangazi often pronounced the stock car league as Niss-Cra. "Kev Schorebrook shows us what one of the league's fastest stock car drivers can do in an open wheeled car. The win doesn't just speak for Vangaziland, but for drivers like Stacie Houston, Skip Stiller and Eva Kerman."

Kev was in tears after the race. After exiting his car, he fell to the tarmac and kissed the track. Kev lay there hunched over for some time, really seeming to milk the moment. Bekah watched the scene live in the stands on a gigantic monitor.

"Aww, he's so sensitive", Bekah told her mom. She looked away from the monitor to read another alert. Bekah was stunned to see a post from Imperial Motorsports on her page. She loved that magazine. Now they too had noticed her spat with Norma Mansfield. They sent an image, which was still loading.

"It's an emotional moment", her mom responded. It was around this time that she noticed Bekah was paying a lot of attention to her phone. She seemed to be getting more messages than normal. It made her curious.

When Bekah saw the message load, she broke into laughter. Mansfield had called out Auto Racing Vangaziland for not winning the women's race.

Floyd Hackerbee ran a solid race. He fought as hard as he could to stay in front of the pack. He just couldn't keep up with Kev. Schorebrook also had experience with GT2 racing in Hodori. After switching from one style of race car to another before, Schorebrook was more confident driving a car he was less comfortable with.

When the clock started winding down, Floyd shifted into a mostly defensive run. Hackerbee figured that if he couldn't catch Kev, he wouldn't let anybody else do it either.

This meant Floyd had to battle Vijay Tripathi. The Sherpaland racer is known for being outspoken. Tripathi is one of his country's greatest and knows it. The two fought for position over the last 60 laps. Both cars constantly swapped position in an effort to one up the other. This included timing the last pit stop. Floyd got out slightly faster, beating Vijay back onto the track. Bekah watched the two pitstops on the monitor's split screen view. She cheered and threw her hands high as Floyd sped out of the pit area. His tires spun just a little on spilled oil upon exit.

The men's race turned out to be another one of attrition. Drivers were having a tough time with the speed. Open wheel cars tuned more towards circuits usually reach closer to 180 MPH on winding tracks. Cars reached up to 230 MPH+ in a place like Republica Motor Speedway. It was a different kind of racing. It brought many challenges.

Ade Imoju finished 7th. Bekah didn't know him as well. He raced WGP2 for a team overseas. She loved watching some of his more aggressive passes on the track today though. Early in the race, before the field was spread by laps, Imoju found himself in a battle with Cocoabo #23. He had heard of the bird before. With the cars racing in two lines, Ade slotted into the faster line. A slightly better shift helped his car make the most of its power.

This was not stock car racing. In NSSCRA, cars are designed to be equal. There was more variety between teams in the Olympiad. Cocoabo's chassis was just as fast as the ARV cars. The timing of Ade's engine put the power down faster this time. Ade used an aggressive move to drift to the other racing line and then outside. His car streaked past Bekah in the stands as Ade cut outside, passed a slower car, cut back into the slow lane and then over into the fast line.

There weren't a wide variety of corners, but there were still exciting moves to be made. Ade's move wasn't the only time cars tried to go three wide.

Jang Xiaopeng finished one spot behind Ade at 8th to his 7th. The story was not that simple. Jang did not make his pass until there were 10 laps to go. With laps this late way under the fastest qualification time, time was running out. Ahead of the beautiful Vannish work of art was a bland West Phoenician chassis.

"The race can't end with this geezer ahead of me", Xiaopeng transmitted over the team headset. "This one is for the Empire. For the True Royalty." Jang knew fans would be listening to the track radio. It was time to use a strategy he'd seen some risk in the WGPO. Karli Schmitt was known for her late braking. It helped her win the title, but she crashed often in the process. It was all or nothing at this point.

Xiaopeng began pushing the slight braking needed for the squared corners to the last moment. It didn't seem as if there were a lot of braking, but with cars pushing 233+, the little tap mattered. In a reckless move, the former street racer and WGP2 champion took the extra distance to buzz alongside Trevor Barri. The Tainese-Vangazi turned his wheel sharply in front of Barri, not leaving his car space. The Phoenician had to swerve to avoid contact. Luckily they managed to avoid each other and the wall.

Xiaopeng laughed over the team network. There was not enough time for Barri to make a comeback. Fans had to cheer at the spectacle of the late race maneuver.

"Nothing personal, Barri", Xiaopeng said after the race. "You know I love you, baby." He winked and pointed his finger at the camera clicking his thumb like a hammer fall.

[Kalosia]

Ǧiorǧiu stands in a small independent coffeeshop in Monterra, awaiting his latte. As the espresso machine is doing its magic, the barista turns to him and asks:

"So are you supporting the Rams or the Patriots?"

"What?"

"Are you watching the Super Bowl tonight?"

"Oh no haha, but I'm still following the Olympics."

"Oh that's still going on? How are we doing?"

"Nothing yet unfortunately, but we might be getting a medal from badminton or even beach volleyball."

The barista extracts the espresso shots from the machine and puts together Ǧiorǧiu's order. "I thought the Olympics ended after we lost tennis..."

"Yeah, I think that's where public interest started to fade. But I think it's still going strong."

"Well, here's your latte" the barisa says, handing it over to Ǧiorǧiu."

Ǧiorǧiu receives his order and says "Thank you, have a good day" and then leaves.

[Vilitan Union]

The Report from Republica :: Vilitan Union Women take Team Sprint Gold, Toralmintii fights back to 6th in Men's Auto Racing Demonstration

Olympic Cycling Venue, Republica, Free Republics :: It was a strong day at the Olympic Summer Games for the Vilitan Union Delegation picking up three medals including a Gold and Two Silvers to move up to 13th place in the Overall Medals table. The biggest excitement came on the track for the Women's Team Sprint Final. The Vilitan Union's dynamic duo of Zinella Nuaoi and Nihata Kala had already broken the Olympic Record on the way to qualifying for the Gold Medal Race and thrilled the crowd at the Republica Olympic Cycling Venue as they chased history once again against the Cassadaiguan duo of Stacey Moynihan and Lauren Henderson. Nuaoi and Kala came oh so close to an Olympic medal during the XII Olympic Games in Kelssek and Vekaiyu losing in the Semi-Finals then once again in the Bronze Medal Race falling to the team from the host nation Kelssek. They trained endlessly over the break and returned to the track in the Free Republics in world class form winning races and setting records in the process. The Gold Medal Race was no different. While the Dagan team gave the Vilitan Union duo a strong challenge, at races end all the focus was on whether Nuaoi and Kala would be able to break their own Olympic Record once again. While they missed on the record by six-one-hundreths of a second, they still took the Gold Medal by over two tenths of a second over the runners-up from Cassadaigua. It was the second career gold medal of Zinella Nuaoi who is a prior gold medalist in the Women's Individual Sprint, but the first Gold and first medal for Nihata Kala.

The Vilitan Union has shown great rewards thus far with their Cyling program with Nuaoi and Kala leading the way but others also powering forward. On the men's side, Vilkaus Amacettio will have a medal on the line against Saraf ben Alexias in the Men's Sprint Semi-Final having avoided the events defending champion, Ziyaad Nazar, who appears in the second Semi-Final race. Amacettio was the Gold Medalist in the Men's Ominum in the XI Olympic Summer Games but was shut out of the medals in Kelssek and Vekaiyu.

While some Athletes achieved life long dreams in Republica, others came agonizingly close only to narrowly miss out. Paypa Flieh came into the XIII Olympic Summer Games with a goal of improving on their performance in Kelssek and Vekaiyu where they earned the Bronze Medal with a victory against Deandre Hagge. With a Semi-Final victory in Republica, Flieh ensured they would do just that but still had the Gold Medal Fight ahead of them at the New Legislative Building in Republica.

Unfortunately Flieh was soundly outmatched in the Gold Medal Fight by Ervin Dennis who would take home the gold leaving Flieh to settle for the Silver Medal. While clearly disappointed to have lost the Gold Medal Flight, Flieh was very optimistic and appreciative post match praising the organizing committee in the Free Republics for putting together a smooth competition in a unique venue joking that they might even consider keeping the Boxing Ring up in the Legislative Hall after the Olympic Games have concluded to help government officials settle their political differences. While for some there was still consolation in losing, for others there was little to go around. In the Men's gymnastic competition, a strong performance from Bonafidav Nutka on the trampoline was not quite enough as the Vilitan's score was one-tenth of a point short of the Dagan competitor Vince Bloomquist who was the final athlete to qualify for the Top 8 position and the event Final.

Finally it was a difficult end for the Vilitan Union Motorsport team as the Men's Auto Racing Demonstration Final suffered from a deteriorating facility, drivers largely unfamiliar with the cars they were driving in and an unwarranted hesitance to throw the caution flag by series organizers resulting in large attrition rates and huge gaps on the track allowing drivers to stretch out their advantage on track solely due to not falling victim to one of the various on track hazards left by crashed vehicles or on-track conditions. Veteran Turorian driver iBen Toralmintii survived the chaos better than any other Vilitan Union driver finishing the Demonstration event in 6th place despite a number of extra pitstops throughout the day to deal with damage from debris and other careless drivers on track. Toralmintii was at one point 5 laps down but managed to pull back one of those laps with a strong late run bypassing Ade Imoju with four laps to go and then running down Isaia Fanene but ultimately running out of time as they looked to crack the Top 5. Turori's other driver, Turakki Mayelli, was one of the last drivers left on track finishing 13th out of the 15 drivers still running at the events end. Vilitan driver Eastern Raciini who qualified for the team by winning the Lopinka Qualifying event had been running well but saw their day end twenty-five laps from the finish after contact made the car uncontrollable at high speeds and the team opting to retire rather than risk the safety of Raciini or any of the other 15 drivers remaining on track.

There will be plenty to look forward to for the Vilitan Union over the coming competition days, particularly on the shores of Lake Rydia where there will be two Vilitan Union surfers vying for the first ever Olympic Gold Medals in the surfing competition. On the mens side, Vilita's Summer Conlin has been able to tame the artificially made waves as well as anyone out on the Lake progressing through to the Semi-Finals after beating local host nation surfer Edward Alekseeva by a point in Heat 3 of the Quarter Finals. Conlin is widely regarded as the top Surfer in the Vilitan Cove region and will secure the Vilitan Unions first ever Olympic Medal in surfing if they can defeat Kelssek's Nick Hernandez in the Semi-Finals.

On the Women's side of the draw it is Turorian competitor Tikimora Iorara who will be carrying the weight of the Vilitan Union on her board after posting the top score of any competitor with a 17.87 in the Second Round to advance to the Quarter Finals. Elsewhere in Republica, three-time Olympic medalist Kay Beane who was defeated in the Quarter Finals of the Over 100kg Men's Judo competition will still have a chance to add to their all-time medal count starting with a Repechage matchup against Brimskill Dagbarssen. Beane, who had been considering retirement after the games in Republica, may now be reconsidering having once again gotten so close to their first career Gold Medal but yet still failing to achieve their ultimate career goal.