14th Winter Olympic Games :: RP Thread

[Kriegiersien]

It’s a kind of magic



Imoen. Anora, Adhan, Kraven, Skull Dodgery, Tim and Shao were sitting togther in a room in the Olympic Village in Neverend. A bunch of normal athletes from Freestyle Skiing, in Kriegiersien clothing.

“Oh, have you seen how many Top Stars are here? I will gather so many autographs. Weeeh”, Imoen rejoiced.

“You could get so many autographs from real stars when we played at the Quidditch World Cup. And you want autographs from muggles?”, asked Kraven.

“These are the best muggles, as you call them, in their events. And not only Muggles. Chocobos. Furries. Kings. Godkings..”

“You should maybe look more into winning your competition”, teased Anora.

“Ah, first you have to look humble and then in the finals...whoosh.. Big show.”

“That is why you failed so blatantly in moguls, to show up better later, in another event. I understand.”

Imoen stuck out her tongue.

“I don’t know, some of these guys are really good. Nearly superhuman, you are right. I bet half of them are using secretly magic”, Tim tossed in.

“Or enhanced drugs. I guess most of the Kriegiersiens do use that. At least the good ones”, said Shao.

“Maybe, but our sports really had no competition in Kriegiersien. I thought Kriegiersien is such a sport nation?”, wondered Anora.

“Oh, yes. But we magicians, witches and wizards don’t really care, the other Inhumans and mutants like the Ponies, Superheroes, Orks and whatnots don’t really care for Wintersports, so they used … wait for it … Zombierobots!”, Imoen explained.

“Really? And where are they?”

“Somehow they withdraw the budget and now their own ‘human capital’ has to make it, this time.”

“Funny. Did you all make sure they don’t catch you using magic?”, Shao asked.

Everyone nodded.

“I rather risk to lose then to be busted. Subtlety, that’s the key”, said Shao.

“I have fought and lost against Demons and Spacebeings and now I am trying to not be catched while fighting for a medal in the Olympics in the mortal Multiverse. Is that now descent into hell? Why are we doing that again?”, asked Adhan.

“For the LULZ”, mumbled Skull Dodgery.

“Whatever that means.”




On a TV Screen the 15:0 of a Bandy team was shown. Kriegiersien had beaten the Royal Kingdom of Quebec.

“Wow, didn’t know you can score that many goals in that game”, Shao wondered.

“Ha and the Hockey team won 4–3 against Diarcesia. Both bets right”, Anora enjoyed the pictures on the screen, counting gold coins in her head.



The Kriegiersien men’s hockey coach was interviewed.

“Yes, I am glad we won. Every match is close, no opponent can be beaten clearly here. I left back many All Star players, but I wanted our team to play clean, swift, fast. I prefer the players with the best passing statistics, well practised and attuned players that work as a team. Now we can hopefully show that the long months playing together in hiding made our team one strong unit, even If I had to leave some very successful players behind.”

[Diarcesia]

Winter Games Day Two: Men's Ice Hockey, Figure and Speed Skating, and Curling Highlights

Gasps of surprise and mild disappointment were noticeable among the Diarcesian audience as the game-winning goal ensured that Kriegiersien grabbed the victory in an evenly-matched game with a final score of 4-3. The all-pro selection of the Hockey League packs offensive power and somewhat dissected the Kriegiersienian defense, but the latter also did the same, snaking through the Diarcesians with their passing game and answering goals the Diarcesians make. The team has two more games to perfect their craft and make a shot for the finals.

Though it's increasingly clear that it will take a sizable dose of luck for curlers Braam Nibhanupudi and Cindy Alonso to enter the semifinals, it did not faze them as they won draws five and six versus equally determined opponents by a single point differential. These, including an earlier bye, boosted their mixed doubles standing from 21 to 14.

In figure skating, the duo of Thedebrand Wolfing Chandra Ichijo put up a stellar performance in the rhythm dance for a score of 77.15, landing them in second place and nine points towards the team trophy. Another top-10 performance by Srekislava Babich in the ladies' short program capped off Diarcesia's team standings at 18 points, behind West Phoenicia and Tara and Cambray for third place and a continuation to the free skate, where Karl Ziemniak and Cas Miller finished sixth with 135.49. The day ended with Diarcesia still at third place with 23 points in the team trophy standings.

In the men's 5000 m speed skating, Srekislas Milich and Leo Arena just missed the medal with them having a 4-5 finish. In Milich's case, he was greeted with applause by the Diarcesians present and other members of the delegation when it was learned he was limping, dealing with a mild ankle sprain that occurred towards the end of the course. Despite losing much of his momentum, he pushed forward and completed it in 6:12.08.

[Ioudaia]

National Biathlon Centre, Neverend, Liventia
Day 2, Men's 10km sprint

"What the hell?? That's the second time!" Peneleos added a long string of obscenities as he slapped his right ski binding back into the locked position. "Damn thing is costing me time!"

He tried to resume his previous pace, considered how many skiers had passed him which he fixed his ski, and decided that his race plan was just going to have to change. An old military adage came to mind: Always have three plans when conducting operations. Plan A is what you want to happen. Plan B is what you expect to happen. Plan C is always the same: run like hell. Under his breath, he added, "Now it's 'ski like hell'."

Skiing into the last round of shooting, Peneleos was thrilled with himself. I got all the time back, the binding is holding, and I'm shooting with the leaders. He lay down in position, sliding his rifle off his back and letting his heart slow. One breath, two, three, pull. One black circle. All the targets went black, and he got to his feet: he had this now.

He checked his foot: "How is this even possible??" He reslung his rifle, and locked the binding down again. It didn't take. "Fuck! The mechanism failed. Dammit!" [i]Not the first time I've had stuff break in the field. Think, buddy! That's why you have the brass on your shoulders!

Right. Emphasize the left ski and arms. Hold down the strain on the binding, so it doesn't pop completely loose. Go like hell! He pushed off, trying to get used to the unbalanced stride he needed.

Crossing the finish line, he took a deep, ragged breath, then slowly let it out. "At least I'm still in the pursuit. Damn!"

Taking a look around, he didn't see anybody familiar, and was about to head straight for the training room, when he heard a familiar woman's voice. Hermine Reut repeated what she'd called out, "Peneleos! We're over here! The guys said you challenged them to match us!" As he reached her, she added, "...and you did!"

Peneleos hadn't thought to check the leader board, and his head whipped around as he took a look. "Well, I'll be--!" That brought a rueful smile to his face.

He joined the rest of the team, all enthusiastically celebrating Gelon's silver. Gelon asked him a plain, "What happened to you? You disappeared on the last lap."

"Right binding gave out. I think I've offended some god or another."

Amyris ben Hillel's face darkened, and question was hushed. "Do you know which one? The Winter Gods the Midee found on Black Plateau are supposed to be--"

"It's just a figure of speech." Peneleos' flashed smile was muted. But if the zealot is right, it would explain much. "But perhaps a small offering at one of their temples couldn't hurt.

"Do I correctly assuming all the bragging and taunting is out of the way?"

Kyra practically beamed at him. "You do. The tie-breaker is tomorrow's pursuit runs. We'll see who's best at this game."

"Challenge accepted." His wolfish grin suggested he wanted nothing more that rematch.

[Liventia]

This is your Day 3 cutoff. More medals on the way…

[Vilitan Union]

Onalinto takes Luge Gold in Yeaddin

Ferrandieu Ski Sports Centre, Neverend, Liventia :: It was a close but no cigar kind of day for Vilitan Union athletes on the second day of competition in Neverend, Liventia though each of the Union's three competing nations were represented on the Medal Podium by days end. It all started off with the Mens downhill Alpine Skiing event where three Vilitan skiers challenged for the gold medal but each ultimately came up short. Early leader Juzlk Lpozn would get pushed off the top spot by a pair of Mattijanan skiiers in Mattias Burges and Dominik Hirser. Lpozn's teammate Akrarin Nudlekaa would come up just short with a time of 1:41.02 before the Receucn athlete Jacques Francois ensured neither Lopzn or Nudlekaa would factor into the medals. The Vilitan Union's last hope in the downhill came from Snolari Jivata who was tracking level with Burges down the hill but ultimately crossed the line eight one-hundreths of a second behind the Mattijan skier. Still the performance was good enough for the Silver Medal.

Later in the day the Vilitan Union would have another strong performance in the Men's slopestyle Snowboarding competition where Vilita's Elkto Majpycha would post the top score in the first Run to take an early lead. While Majpycha could not improve on their 85.2 it would eventually hold on to place Bronze after being bested by Zachary Barr of Unified Berentania who earned that delegations first gold medal of the games, and Tropicorp's Rakzo Mivasora who narrowly bested Majpycha with a score of 85.8 to give Tropicorp its first medal in contribution to the VIlitan Union's overall total.

While they had a number of near misses in the Liventia section, the Vilitan Union would eventually become the first delegation to earn multiple gold medals at the 14th Winter Games when the clock rolled around to Yeaddin time. Vilitan slider Osterrazi Onalinto had taken the lead of the Men's Luge standings at the conclusion of Run 2 at the Parra Kala Sliding Center and set themselves apart with the second best time of Round 3 to enter the final run with a two-tenths of a second lead over Liventia's Caleb Stevens. With the top 20 competitors making one final run in reverse order of standings, Onalinto was the last to go. As Stevens crossed the line with a time of 51.611 on their final run to narrowly move into the provisional top spot, Onalinto knew that any clean run should be enough to give the Vilitan Union its first ever Olympic Gold medal on home soil.

As the Vilitan came down the course the fans were both boisterous and nervous as the anticipation of what was to come built exponentially the further that the sled marched down the course without issue. As Onalinto crossed the finish line at the bottom of the course the crowd cheered loudly and then erupted once more as the time of 51.625 came onto the board. While the conservative time was Onalinto's slowest of the four run's it was more than enough to secure the gold and etch Osterrazi Onalinto's name into the history books as the first ever Vilitan to earn Olympic Gold at a Vilitan Olympic Games.

[Mattijana]

Burges Ends Downhill Career With Olympic Gold: Day 2 Roundup

MFO SPORT



Mattias Burges earlier ended his Olympic downhill career with a sensational win in the men's event in Liventia. His time of 1:40.43 was enough to ensure victory at the Neverend-Ferrandieu ski centre, finally securing a victory that despite a long and illustrious career, has so far remained elusive.

The 35 year-old made his debut at the 11th Winter Games in Electrum, finishing a commendable 5th in the downhill aged just 23 and bringing home silver in the Super-G. He has struggled since then though, despite performing well on the Alpine Ski World Cup circuit, finishing well down the order at the 12th and 13th editions of the games despite being tipped as a medal contender.

The RadesBirjke native was handed the advantage of a good start draw however, avoiding being one of the first competitors down the hill, but also getting the chance to complete his run before the course started to soften up.

A fast and practically flawless run saw him easily overhaul the time of Savojarna's early pace-setter Victor Leifsson, but he would still face a nervy weight to see whether he would stay at the top. Teammate Dominik Hirser was first to really threaten, but a late turn near the bottom of the course meant that he dropped away, finishing 4 tenths behind by the time he reached the line. Jacques Francois from Reçueçn was the first to split the Mattijanans, trailing Burges' time all the way down the run, but unable to beat it. It would be the Vilitan Snolari Jovata that eventually came closest however.

Jovata got off to a rapid start, leading Burges by 2 tenths through the first split. Like many others though, the technical turns and increasingly sticky lower section would cost him. A minutely late turn meant he had to dig the skis in to keep to the course, leaking enough time to see him finish 8 hundredths adrift.

With the course cutting up and the favourites out of the way, no-one else managed to trouble the veteran Mattijanan, but the finish of last man Rafe Gillespie still sparked celebrations from the winner's enclosure.

The result makes Burges one of the most successful Olympians in Mattijanan history with the gold added to his silver from Prescott 12 years ago. He has the chance to make history and become Mattijana's first 3-time medallist if he is able to claim a medal from the Super-G or the team event later in the games.

Men's Ice Hockey Team Underway with Draw

Lirai Asku Castle, Yeaddin, Vilita

With Mattijana's Ice Hockey teams back in the spotlight after 12 years out of the Olympics, it was the turn of the men's team to see if it could follow up the women's impressive defensive effort in their draw with Amuaplye. They would face Liventia, a team not tipped to escape the group, but potentially buoyed by their nation co-hosting the games.

With the women's game yesterday ending 0-0, fans were still waiting to see a Mattijanan goal during the tournament, but they didn't have to wait long as forward Sebastian Thorsson pounced on a ricochet off Liventia goaltender Benjamin Atkinson to poke home 7 minutes into the first quarter.

Mattijana had the better of the first half and could have racked up two or three more goals were it not for some fine goalkeeping from Atkinson. Thorsson forced a good reaction stop from close range early in the second quarter before Julian Schafer's longer range effort threatened to bullet into the top corner only to be flicked away. Marko Pirson also mis-hit a shot into the side-netting of the Liventia when well-positioned.

Liventia grew into the game as the Mattijanan attack tired however. Matej Handanovic made a good save of his own when tested by a low flick from Liventian captain Laurent Picard before Quentin Jaillet narrowly missed the far post from a tight angle early in the final quarter. The co-hosts would get their reward for a dogged performance with just 5 minutes left on the clock however. Dominic Moore cut inside off the right flank, muscling inside of Alex Zelinsky and flicking a fast shot into the top corner of Handanovic's goal.

A cagey end to the match meant that both sides would take a point away from their opener, albeit with tougher challenges ahead in the form of Kriegiersien and Diarcesia, who took part in a thrilling 4-3 Kriegiersien win later in the day.

Insight: Dominik Illicic with Kevin Jantscher

MFO Sport's Dominik Illicic talks to Mattias Burges' former coach and 3-time Mattijana Ski Cup winner Kevin Jantscher.

Aside from his family, few have known Mattias Burges longer than his former coach Kevin Jantscher. The two lived in Burges' home town of RadesBirjke on the Western side of the Mattijanan ZentraleAlpe whilst Burges was growing up in the thriving ski resort and have fond memories of the time.

By appearance alone, Jantscher is the archetypal skiing coach. His skin has been toughened by the cold alpine air and he lives seemingly permanently under a bobble hat. His own record in alpine skiing was anything but ordinary. The now 65 year-old won the downhill at the Mattijanan Ski Cup three times during his career before going back to RadesBirjke to take up coaching shortly after retiring from competitive skiing. He recalls first seeing Burges at a session one winter around three years after his retirement.

"Mattias caught my eye pretty early on. We were practicing slalom technique with the brushes and this tallish, lanky 10 year-old came to the top of the hill. He didn't have the jerky slalom tenchique that everyone else had, even at that stage. I saw him skiing freely and I thought, this is someone who could be a natural downhiller."

Burges would continue to hone his technique under the guidance of Jantscher for 7 years, both in RadesBirjke and as part of the Mattijanan youth setup based in Gornje-AlpenZee. Despite changes in his physique and ability, his technique retained the same characteristics.

"Mattias managed to keep hold of that style I saw from a young age. The best downhill skiers don't look like they're putting any effort into their turns and he looked like that even despite his height. He was one of the best in his age group in the country by the time he moved into the Mattijana team and he only got better from there."

Kevin thinks it was not the winter training and development that helped Burges get to the Olympics, but what he did during the off-season.

For most sports, all year training is possible in some capacity. When it gets cold, athletes can wrap up and carry on. Even Cricket, a game dependent on it not being cold and rainy can be practiced indoors. Skiing, particularly fast downhill skiing, is distinctly for Winters only.

Most athletes choose another adventure sport to go alongside their fitness commitments. Mountain Biking is popular, replicating the gravity-assisted thrill of skiing, but without the snow. Burges was different however.

"I remember during the summer in RadesBirjke, a lot of the kids would take their bikes up to the top of the mountain and ride back down to entertain themselves. Mattias was always more family-orientated however. He wanted to save the thrill of skiing for the winter and help his parents with their guesthouse and restaurant during the summer. I think it made him more hungry when he came back to the sport. He found that time to get out of the bubble and spend time helping his family and then came back refreshed and hungry to train. If anything got him his medals, it was that."

Winning races between the best skiers in the world that comes around only once every 4 years is hard enough and worthy of the national hero status Burges has aquired. Two medals is incredibly impressive and a rare feat amongst the elite of the sport. Winning three? that would make that stringy yet elegant 10 year-old that Kevin Jantscher coached 25 years ago a legend.

[Diarcesia]

Just after the eighth draw of curling mixed doubles...

Braam Nibhanupudi and Cindy Alonso knew it is now futile to reach the semifinals, but they hoped that hey can at least have a running chance of beating their last opponents from Amuaplye.

They didn't.

It was not in doubt. At 11-6, they realized their chemistry is not to the level the Amuaplyeans have at this point.

Braam reached out to the coach first, who gave him a tight hug, "No, no, no, don't fret. You've done well," he said.

"And I could have done better," Braam sighed. "We've done too many mistakes that I feel are avoidable."

"Yes, I see them too, but still, you both got a lot of things right."

Cindy chimed in, having just removed the mic to give to the staff, "Doesn't remove the frustration though, we repeated them in our past draws too."

The coach, a somewhat-elderly foreign-hired one, replied, "This is natural, it almost never happens that everything has it right the first time. Remember what I told before we left Arcesius? The very act of volunteering to be a part of Diarcesia's first national mixed doubles curling team and being presented an opportunity to represent it? That is a huge achievement. And additionally, we are not really here to hoard medals—we are in pursuit of being as close to perfection in our sports as humanly possible. We compare us to ourselves in the past. The medals are side-effects."

Both Braam and Cindy chuckled. "That's a bit cheesy, coach, but you do have a point," Braam said.

The coached smiled, "You may laugh and say it's naively idealistic. We all have a limited time in our prime to play this sport. Eventually, we have to pass down what we learned to the next generation."

"Braam, I think we should be going. We gotta get interviewed anytime now."

"See you later, both of you. Good luck with your new... opponent," the coach jested.

[West Phoenicia]

Ratings have come through and network executives at WPS1 are over the moon. The Opening Ceremonies in Neverend, Liventia & Yeaddin, Vilita were a huge success. Both ceremonies were watched by over 10.3 million West Phoenicians either through the live broadcast or online streaming. Both events took out the number one and two spot, while WP Muse interview with West Phoenician pop sensation Magdalene ranked 10th, West Phoenician Pop Idol ranked 5th and over on television station Reality Now, Do you wanna be a Polygamist? Ranked 9th and other new reality program Temptation flopped in 20th position.

WPS1 and their sponsors are pleased their airing of both opening ceremonies back to back has paid off. And while numbers will shrink based on the events being aired, they have businesses lining up to air their commercials during the Olympic period that the station is flush with new wealth.

Citizens took to Twitter and Facebook, the majority praising both opening ceremonies, praising the vibrant colours, storytelling and artistic displays.
However West Phoenicia as a whole found itself being slammed by the nation's own supporters.
Among the posters top complaints, they found both opening ceremony delegations to appear sluggish and apathetic.
The performances that they usually displayed with the opening ceremony which in the past included horses, snow leopards and gladiator outfits were nowhere to be seen.
A once stand out team about blended in with mediocrity.
There once colourful and expensive looking uniforms, often talked about as some of the best of the nation's was nonexistent, it was if the designer tossed rags to the delegation to wear.

Winter Olympics is still growing in West Phoenicia, and while it is not up there with the Summer Olympics yet, a number of athletes are stepping out of the box and pulling in some amazing top 10 finishes, and even closer with a number of athletes hitting the 4th place.
Coaching staff are praising the results as good things to come over the next few Winter Games.

West Phoenicia has proven that figure skating is one of the nation's favourite sports. Over the last few days they have taken part in the Figure Skating — Team Trophy. A silver medal win at the last games, the team has been on top form hovering at the top of the pack to cinch the number one spot and keep riding it until the end. Towards the end they did start to face some challenges especially in the ice dance porting of the event where Baron Thomas Boelyn/Tiffani Day did not appear on top form with the rest of the team when they were performing the free routine part of the event.
Team West Phoenicia has outdid themselves and instead of being home the silver they have taken home the gold improving on their last performance..
The gold win is great incentive moving forward, where they will now all compete in individual events where they hoped to medal pull for the nation too.

Ice skating pairs Gypsy Parks and Bo Grahame, who are the sole members remaining of the previous team trophy event were thrilled to be involved in this golden moment.

All I know is skating, it's the first thing I think of in the morning, and last thing I think of before closing my eyes to sleep. My blades against the hard ice, and the chill running over my body is what I live for. It gets my blood pumping. I am overjoyed that I helped boost the numbers to get West Phoenicia across the line first. I always want to praise the talents of all the other athletes who fought so hard in this event. We are all winners." Gypsy Parks said.

[Teremaran Olympics Delegation]

“Good evening, Neu Engollon and our international viewers! You’re watching the NETV Sports 7 Special coverage of the 14th Winter Olympics. I’m Lizbet Rittenhaus with my co-host, Karl Demais.”

“Back again for another edition. This time Lizbet and I are in Neverend, Liventia.”

“Yes, and our colleagues, Dom Toglani and Magda Wertauer are in beautiful Yeaddin, Vilita, where the other half of the 14th Winter Olympics are being held.”

“So we see the Teremaran unified delegation also split between the two nations, depending on the events being competed in.”

“The bulk of the snow sports being in Neverend…”

“With the exception of curling…While most of the rest of the ‘ice’ sports like skating, hockey and bandy are taking place in Yeaddin.”

“We’re two days in, Karl, and...well, let’s just get to it as we discuss the performance of the Teremaran athletes. First up, the Teremaran mixed curling duo consisting of Neu Engollian Stephan Renhirsch and his partner, Geira Sveinnsdottir of Glisandia. They came out in fair shape as they took a close defeat from West Phoenicia, but were able to beat the duo from Kreigersein with not too much difficulty. Leaving them in 8th place in the standings on Day Zero. Then they faced the Taeshan team the next day, Mariah Griffin and Abel Hernandez, who were seemingly insurmountable, after a couple brutal blank ends with a lot of knocking action. Stephan and Geira were able to get one stone up in the final end for a 7-6 finish over Griffin and Hernandez. Riding high into their match with the Darmenis, they were savaged 11-5 by the Green team, dropping them down to 11th slot on Day One. They bounced back yesterday with a narrow win over the Veikayuns and another over the pair from the Main Nation Ministry. They now stand at 6th place and face the Kelssek pair tomorrow. ”

“Skiing...Only one of our freestyle skiiers were able to qualify during their runs, Boris Vasiliev from Falkasia got a number 26 spot on Day Zero. We’re hoping he can stay in it. Many of the other Teremaran skiiers fell short of qualifying, but…”

“Let’s hear a definite shout out to Valerian Larashenko, who got a silver in 30km Skiathlon crossy country. This is not Valerian’s first medal in the Olympics, with several including multiple golds, but it is the first for the 14th edition, the first for Teremara, and...of course the first for Falkasia in some time, who was seeing a drought of medals as of late...”

“Cheers to Valerian, a true Teremaran hero. We’re glad to see you back on top, Mr. Larashenko.”

“Now, Karl and I turn it over to Magda and Dom out in Yeaddin…”

“Hello, Karl and Liz! Good to see you if only through screens. I miss the whole team together.”

“We do too. How are things going out there, Magda?”

“Very well. Dom and I have had a chance to really get out there and talk to the Teremaran athletes. Dom spent a day out with the men’s and women’s hockey teams...Later today we’ll have some indepth coverage and interviews from that.”

“It was quite exciting to see the Teremaran hockey teams prepare. A lot of Teremarans from all over the region are anxious about their chances.”

“If there’s one thing we can count on it’s that ice hockey whips almost the whole region into a fervor and that’s where a lot of focus of the unified delegation goes towards...They select the best players from across the hockey power houses of Teremara, and let’s face it, a lot of the key male players are from the Neu Engollian national team, who recently came off winning the last World Cup of Hockey and bringing that trophy home to Albertville...”

“To be fair, let’s not count out our Falkasian and Austrak players who have also had some play time in the World Cup.”

“Of course, I think this is one of those instances, despite the controversy, where we can say a fully integrated, unified team is good as there’s a lot of fresh, top echelon players to choose from, Confederacy or otherwise...”

“The men’s squad is in group 4, playing in the Vilitan Capital District. Their competition is Benjamin Mark, Darmania, and Saintland. I think its safe to say that Saintland might be the toughtest competition for the Teremarans in this group, and we watched them get one goal over on Saintland.”

“The women’s team is in Group 6 with Kelssek, Veikayu and Fujai. Some very tough competition there. They took on Veikayu the first day and slammed home 3 unanswered goals. Yesterday we saw them get a draw with Kelssek.”

“Magda, what else is going down there in Yeaddin?”

“Quite a bit, but we’ll have to catch bandy, luge, and skating qualifying action after the break while we take time out for our sponsors. Stay tuned right here to the NETV Sports 7 Special Coverage of the Olympics.”

RP Courtesy of Neu Engollon

[The Transmondian Commonwealth]

Day 3 of the Olympics saw New England win its first medals, bronze in the figure skating team trophy and a silver medal won by Ethelred Dillard in the freestyle skiing moguls. LBC's Olympics correspondent in Yeaddin caught up with the Yankee figure skaters while they were still gathered at the rink chattering with each other and admiring their medals. Bob Sloan and Julia Braxton got interviewed first, since they deserved a large share of the credit for getting the New England team into the top three. They had put on an exceptional show in both the short program and the free skate. The jumps in their free skate program didn't have quite the same technical difficult as Fyodorov and Hampton's, but pretty much everyone agreed the backworld New Englanders were a delight to watch with their graceful spins and the way Braxton could make landing throws look effortless.

"Okay, first of all, you guys were amazing!" the LBC correspondent gushed.

"I don't get to visit civilization very often so I thought I should make the most of it," Sloan said jokingly. He was smiling brightly and he had an arm around Braxton.

"I'm really proud of all of us," Braxton said. "Bob and I had good performances, but we wouldn't have won a medal if these other guys hadn't done their part and picked up more points for the team."

Alfred Oakley echoed Braxton's sentiment about the value of being teamed up with other good skaters. "It was a team effort from all of us, and it really shows New England's strength in figure skating that we can show up to any event, whether it's men's, women's, pairs, or ice dance, and we can do well in all of them. It goes to show we really are stronger when all of us work together."

The interviewer prompted Nadina Links for her thoughts: "You fell during the short program, but I think it's fair to day you redeemed yourself today in the free skate."

"Ey, t'as a big disappointment for me fall'n like da' in de short program, so I're reallike glad I conta doen better today," Links said while the interviewer gave her a puzzled look, apparently thrown off by her eccentric dialect. "I knew dese ragas were countend on me and I didn't will let'n ehm down. 'Tis a good feeling get'n a medal. Of course, we willta like winnen gold, but a bronze medal is still a big accomplishment when we're skatend against world-class skaters like dis, so I're still reallike proud of uns."

Links noticed the puzzled look on the LBC correspondent's face, and added, "Ha, 'tis enpee if ye give me subtitles when ye put dis on de air."

[Recuecn]

How Far Can Reçueçn's Hockey Teams Go?
The Reçueçn Times

Turoki City, Tivali City, and Alikki-Corra, Vilita—In their first game or two, Reçueçn's hockey teams have been able to hang on and avoid defeat; collectively they are 1-2-0 in what is possibly the winter games' most heavily contested event. If either the men or the women are to make a medal run, they will be guaranteed to face world-caliber teams, and indeed, this is already the case in the group stage.

Let's break down the group stage for both of our teams, because we know the whole format is a bit hard to follow for the fans back home. We'll begin with the women's tournament, since it's a bit simpler. From twenty-seven teams in eight groups of four (one group has a bye slot), the top seven teams will pass directly to a round of sixteen, while the rest will pass through playoffs first, with the bottom four teams going through a round more than the rest. Our ladies, who are tied at the top of the group, might be able win it: their most recent game was a draw against Valanora, who looked to be the biggest threat, and their remaining game is against Darkmania—the easiest match-up on paper. Hopefully we take a win there, enabling the team to rest while others fight through the playoff rounds. A fit, rested Reçueçn should be able to make it at least to the quarter-finals, although of course one hopes for more.

The situation on the men's side is more complicated. There are a full twenty-eight men's teams competing, so again the tournament has been organized into eight groups of four. You would think, then, that from that point on, the format would be the same as that for the women, but such is not the case. Not only will the group stage not eliminate any teams, but hardly any will clinch advancement. Only four teams in the games will earn a spot in the round of sixteen straight out of the group stage. The rest of the teams—twenty-four of them, including both every last-place team and three group winners—will face playoffs before moving onward.

This might seem like a strange format, and we would be forced to agree. Although mathematically a group stage was required at some point to bring the number of teams down to a power of two, the games played in the group stage are practically meaningless for the teams competing. The instant that Reçueçn dropped points in their opening match, they had essentially lost their chances of winning one of only four spots available to twenty-eight teams. Reçueçn could conceivably win their group, but even then, seven points might not be enough to avoid a playoff. Essentially, it appears that the Olympic Committee just wanted to see more hockey games for the sake of some good old-fashioned sporting fun.

As a result, if the Reçuecian men lose their next two games and the group, it's not the end of the world: they could theoretically win the rest of their games and still take home the gold. On the other hand, lower group placement will make the playoff round more difficult, so there is still at least a small incentive to perform. As, however, the abilities of the teams within each group differ widely, our eventual placement may have been decided with the group draw. Hopefully whatever happens, Reçueçn will be able to make it out of the playoffs. We have a good team, but despite our boys' skill with the puck, they may have a tougher job of it than the girls: other nations' men's hockey programs appear to be much more developed than the global women's game.

Truthfully, however, we could have hoped for slightly better results from the men thus far. A scoreless draw against West Phoenicia was a bit dissappointing, and painful to watch. Neither team really seemed to find their stride at any point throughout the game, which got uglier and uglier as it went on. The Reçuecians, usually very clean players, began giving away more and more power plays, which wound up challening their own defense. Fortunately they managed to keep things tight enough in front of their own net.

The men's next match, tonight against Taeshan, looks to be their hardes on paper, and will again put them to the test. There is only a small chance they will make it far enough to bring home a medal, but let's hope that they do and are able to add to the count started by Jacques François with his downhill skiing bronze.

[Ko-oren]

Opinion piece by Therguil Jadheshugithen

I have received some interesting responses to my earlier writing. My key point was that given the Corporate Responsibility bill, we should see companies lining up to sponsor something that gets them free advertising, such as, you know, sponsoring the Olympic team.

The Dragonfly Archipelago has been absent from individual sports events for a long time. Back in the day, there was a marathon that touched on two of our four capital cities, our first foray into getting foreign athletes into Ko-oren and also our first exploration of individual sport events. We've been in a handful Olympiads and Olympics, and barely any other tournaments, we've almost forgotten what an individual athlete can do. Why do individual events just not take off, and are sponsors only trying to find team sports instead? Those are two questions, and they are more or less the meat of the responses.

Why are there no individual events?
Let me first say I'm wholly underqualified to say anything about this. In some classes, they teach you that there are individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures. In the former, you might see more of a celebration for individuals, and in the latter, team effort might be praised more. The very next thing you learn is that it's not a dichotomy, it's a spectrum, and a culture could be ranked anywhere on the line between completely 100% individualistic and fully collectivistic. Ko-oren, it's often said, ranks somewhere to the right side, on the collectivistic side. Honestly, I think that's very much bullshit. It's a bit like saying that I'm an extrovert, and because of that, I always respond in a certain way - when honestly, there are times when people annoy me and there are definitely people that sap my energy instead of replenishing it. Same for cultures. You can't put Ko-oren on the right side of the spectrum and expect that that tells the full story.

Seriously though, why no individual events then?
There's one other thing about Ko-orenite culture, and that is found in its use of material. Again, this is no exact science, and there are plenty of examples in Ko-orenite culture from ancient history to today that go against this. We are not so much thrifty, but we love to use as little material as possible to get the job done. We've traditionally built housing that shares space and walls, to accommodate more people in a smaller space, while always leaving room for a person to be alone. Even in shoddy housing from the 1500s. Just look at the design for the Boulevard of Aminey, for instance, or the many gardens of Sterrenwolde - even though it's a public space, there are a lot of areas where you can be seen, but not heard, or vice versa. Personal identity has always been big for us. (One area where there is a lot of material used for something, is clothing - we're certainly not a country of nudists). The personal focus says there could be a market for individual sports, and a lot of historical events hint that way as well, but then the 1800s began.

In the 1800s, Ko-oren ran into foreign, international - but mostly team, ball, and field - sports, which tick all the right boxes for us:
1) Not a lot of material used (soccer, rugby, etc)
2) Played in a team, where
3) every member has an own job, a personal art, an individual calling in
4) a team that relies on these specialisations to make something beautiful.

I don't want to muse on and on, but winter sports tend to use a lot of specialised materials, that outside of snowy and mountainous areas, just wasn't produced or used all that much. It's a crying shame how cross-country skiing isn't a thing. For our "national" love for gardens and all things nature, what better is there than to explore a gorgeous area? (It could also explain how ice hockey did take off in the face of all this. Team sport, naturally formed playing area, specialised positions).

The summer games suffer the same fate. Soccer, or even volleyball, are hugely popular. Sports that take up a lot of space for just one or two contestants (most field events), didn't make it to the Dragonfly Archipelago. And I hate to generalise, but at what point can we accept this as our national lore?

Are sponsors focusing on team sports instead?
Well, there's the second point. Teams want to pretend like they're bigger than everything else. Bigger than any player, bigger than a fan, bigger than the city sometimes. They really want to be a society, but thankfully without feeding into some tribalist bullshit (but can you ever stop that in a team sport?). And being bigger than any one person, can you really 'sell' your team to a sponsor, marking your jersey forever? You can never look at highlights of that team again, because seeing that sponsor immediately puts you in a certain time frame. The Manavis logo on Miradela jerseys? You know that's 2004. Because it's the only time they've ever dared to put a sponsor on. And the backlash was so severe, that teams are seriously considering dropping to a lower level rather than to cave in. If Ko-orenite teams want to stay in the race, though, they'll have to accept the money someday.

Seriously there, get some money into team sports and individual events alike. The Olympics aren't off to a great start, so if we want to be something at the very least next time, we can't embarrass ourselves like this. At the same time, get some money into our team sports, too. We need to get a team to the Champions' Cup group stage for a change, please. I don't really know how our club teams keep being good in the Champions' Bowl, though.

[Kriegiersien]

Sport news – Olympics

Neverend

Biathlon—Women's and men's pursuit FINAL

No medals in Biathlon. First Diana Desnudo failed in the pursuit as 6th, with two shots too many missed, then Norbert Nude was the best men, as 5th, losing a further place after being 4th in the sprint.

“We have a good team result, with Top 5, Top 10, Top 15 placements. But what we need is a medal”, said the shooting coach and former Olympian in shooting, Kampf Teddy.
“And that only works if you are hitting the target. Running fast alone is not enough. And no, running without clothes neither!”

Curling
With a 8-10 loss against the Darmen Duo Mirya and Joey missed the opportunity to crown their comeback with a Top 8 placement. They had no chance to qualify for the final of the Top 4 before, but that was never expected. An interview with the two couldn’t be arranged, as mother and son vanished soon, arguing angrily, like nearly all the time on the ice.

Freestyle skiing—Men's moguls FINAL

First medal and Gold.
After only just reaching the second round final as 12th, with one point more than Tecumseh West Rickshaw, Skull Dodgery dominated the second finals.
The last final of the best 6 then showed him being closer to his opponents again, but still winning and catching gold.
He then vanished mysteriously, after ignoring any requests for an interview.

Ski jumping—Women's individual normal hill
With the second and fourth place after qualifying, Monika Donovan and Kendal Lowry dreamed of a medal. Donovans jump in the Qualification was the second best in the whole competition, but in the end 0.5 points were missing to bronze after the final two jumps.
“Before the competition, if someone would have told me I would get a Top 10 placement, I would have taken it. But now I am sad”, moaned Donovan.
Her teammate Kendal Lowry was ok with her 10th place and comforted her.
“We will show them at the team event.”

Yeaddin

Speed skating—Women's 1500m FINAL
Silver medal.
Speed Skater Elodie Rodrigues couldn’t believe it.
“Silver. I get a statue in my hometown. I thought that only happens on-screen or in fairy tales”, the small clerk from Schoenwetter was shocked and screamed all the way after ending with a PB and second best time in the 1500m Final.

Luge—Women's singles runs 1 and 2
J van H, girlfriend of flag bearer C van D, who had already missed a chance for a medal in the men's luge event, was also disappointed after the first two runs.
“More than a second back to Gold, place 15 is disaster. I will try my best, but in the moment we… I just can’t read the track. Maybe we need feathers“, she grumbled at the side of her friend.

Two matches against Ko-oren.

First in Bandy the women won her first match 3-2 against Kooren, not surprisingly not scoring as much as their male counterparts before.

Then the ice hockey ladies made the early qualification for the playoffs, after beating the Ko-oren team 1-0 in the Eelandii Iceplex. Even with many penalty times against them, the rough defense stopped all the attacks from Ko-oren until one counter attack decided the game.
“We can now play a bit more relaxed against Savojarna. Of course we want to win, but we won’t brake a leg for that”, the couch said in a smug tone, after another brutal match.

[Taeshan]

A Team and a Dream: The Story of the Taeshan Olympic Team

Another set of results, another set of Taeshani's with less than thrilled afternoons. The Men's Hockey team returned to international play with a thrilling 4-0 defeat of the Free Republics. On one hand the game was a show of strength in the area on the other it was a sign of good things to come as not only are the Knights competing in the Olympics, but after 4 decades out of other international competition the national team will return to the World Cup of Hockey next year. The second best league in the world has long had some strong players, but now they will get a chance to show it in more than the olympic games. Some of the best players in the nation will have to get used to the World Cup rules vs Olympic and League rules and that could take a while.

Two pieces of big news really ruled the day one a bronze medal for Florence Gale in the Men's Moguls. After a strong competition Florence was unlucky to do better, but still earned his first olympic medal and added himself to the many Moguls medalists for Taeshan. The second piece of news was Aramis Ashante losing his podium position in the Luge and ultimately ending 5th overall in that competition. Yet another strong olympic games from the strong slider but unable to add a second medal in the competition.

[Ioudaia]

National Biathlon Centre, Neverend, Liventia
Day 3, Women's 10km Pursuit
5km mark

I think I can hold this. Pacing's good, breathing's good. Only a few women ahead of me. I've got enough in the tank for the end. Kyra skied on, unperturbed by the skiers jockeying for position around her. Occasional sidelong glances kept her abreast of the uniforms that mattered: two of the skiers ahead, one going stride for stride with her, and three close behind. Only ones to worry about. The others will fade. Stick to the plan.

Final Shooting Round

In a single fluid motion, Kyra slung her rifle and stood up. I think I'm still with the leaders on the riflery. She gave her poles a gentle push to get started, and looked over at the shooters between her and the track. "Ow! That's gonna hurt!" The sprint's winner had missed a shot. Good luck for me, bad luck for her. With a smirk, she mentally added, Maybe she pissed off the same god Peneleos did.

500m to go

Kyra was almost of out breath. I got 'em! I got em! The five skiers ahead of her thinned to three as Kyra burned up her reserves. None of them matter! Their endgames suck! Go! Go! Go! She dug deeper, hungry for the finish line.

Just two more! There were rapid sounds behind her. Not beaten yet. Look or focus? Look or focus? Look! Glances side to side told her to the truth: they were definitely still in it to win. At least Hermine is a teammate. But sorry, Hermine, it's time to burn it for gold! She poled faster, faster!

100m to go

With her vision blurring, Kyra took a mid-stride moment to listen: whoever they were in second, they weren't getting closer. Hold it, Kyra! Hold! Her left arm throbbed from wrist to shoulder, but that was a problem for the doctors and the coaches. Worse things than retiring with a gold and a bad arm. Always coaching jobs. She refocused: Hold!Hold!Hold!

She let her left arm dangle as she coasted out after the race. She watched the leaderboard: "I beat them by ten seconds!"

Hermine Reut skied up from behind, grinning from ear to ear. "You did it!" She started to embrace her, saw Kyra's arm, and then quickly asked. "You alright?"

"I'm not sure. My whole arm burns, with spikes of-- It doesn't matter. The gold does. And you?"

"Fifth." She started helping Kyra off the track, right arm around her shoulders, poling with her left; awkward but effective. "There was a moment for third, but it flew away."

Kyra attracted a herd of camera crews, vloggers, and teammates on her way to the podium. She ignored everybody but the latter, and even was brusk with them. There'd be a time for celebration in a minute.

One voice from the crowd stopped her determined walk: "You're the most decorated olympian we have! Aren't you going to say something?"

Kyra turned to the speaker, a heavy-set young man with blue and green hair, and a fancy camera. Pro blogger or something. "Wha...? No, there's what's his name, the gymnast."

"You mean Anaxagoras Raam: silver in the horizontal bar, gold with the team. Just two medals. I'm Joseph ben Kerkyon, vlogger.

"You're the best. How's that feel?"

Kyra realized that a couple of the Ioudaian media networks had caught up, and their cameras and others' were all now pointed at her, along with a forest of microphones and smartphones. Better make this look good.

"Justified. I feel justified. It's not an easy decision to become an individual athlete. It takes hours of practice every day for years, with no hope for anything unless you come home with gold. Sure, I got a few small sponsorships and endorsement deals after the pursuit silver, but that wasn't even break-even money.

"All those years; it gets harder and harder to see former classmates, former friends grow up and get 'real jobs', or drop out of the sport and do the same. It gets harder to explain to parents, though the silver did help with that." A warm smile graced her face as she remembered that. "But now, it all seems to make sense. I did what I set out to do, and that's all anybody wants from life."

She returned to walking to the medal podium, not wanting another question to delay her more.

[Liventia]

This is your Day 4 cutoff.

[Gryphonian Alliance]

GRYPHONIC DELEGATION CONTINUES THROUGH XIV WINTER OLYMPICS
--Sebba Ingle, reporting from Neverend

The GA Delegation kicked off Day 3 with Men's 12.5 km pursuit biathlon finals in Neverend. Jottur Hostur placed the highest out of the Gryphonic athletes, coming in at 39th out of 60 competitors. Muhme Aburuve followed up with 47th and Chaklyoin Norrykie finished 53rd.
That was all for Neverend, so let's move on to the results for Yeaddin Day 3. Miska Thrynen came in at a solid 26th place out of 56 competitors in Women's Singles Luge. She finished run 1 with a fairly impressive time that was less than that of many of the eventually more higher-placing athletes, but a slightly fumbled sharp turn in run 2 determined a slightly lower total time for the Davosite 23-year old.
The GA team tied for 2nd place in group 2 of Women's MD2 Ice Hockey and did not advance further, while the Women's Bandy MD2 team came in at 4th place in its group with one loss.
Moving on to Day 4 back on the Neverend side of the games, Hemo Godwuku placed 15th out of 59 competitors in Men's combined downhill and slalom skiing finals, which is one of our more impressive placements in this year's Winter Olympics, though this was not entirely unexpected considering his previous record. Mifaer Wafer came up 35th, followed by Griff Masuty in 39th. Sasok Bonyuy tumbled the slope in downhill and could not finish.
The Gryphonian team completed the Neverend side of events for Day 4 with a loss to Electrum in men's snow volleyball.

[Ioudaia]

Ioudaian Lounge, Olympic Village, Neverend, Liventia
Day 4, Morning

Kyra Glezos walked into the lounge, looking for somebody, but her search was interrupted by a question from Peneleos, who was chatting with a mixed group of Ioudaian athletes. "How's your arm?" He motioned for her to join them, and was seconded by others gesturing and greeting her. She drifted over, but hesitated on sitting down.

"It's fine, just a little sore."

Peneleos' gaze didn't waver from her face. "No, really, how's your arm?"

Kyra took an offered spot on the sofa. "I pulled a few muscles, and a muscle spasm pinched a nerve. I should be fine for tomorrow." Peneleos' expression suggested doubt. "That's Timotheus' best guess. He said there's nothing on any of the x-rays or MRI scans."

She thought she was going to have to emphasize the point, but Peneleos looked away after a moment, saying, "I'm not going to second-guess the doctor.

"We were just talking about tie-breakers..." Peneleos got a sly expression.

"Oh?"

"It's difficult to weigh a gold medal vs a silver and a bronze." His expression was echoed by nods and murmurs of agreement. "Leaving aside the obvious, that you're personally our best athlete."

Kyra leaned back in; more sank into the sofa, relaxing. "So you think we need another tie-breaker."

"Oh, at least one!" Peneleos chuckled.

Chaya bat Meiri interjected, "Yeah, we were kicking around there being three more events for each men's and women's team: individual, mass start, and the relays. Amyris thought the relay made the best tie-breaker, because it's a group effort, but the rest of us want a series."

"The rest of you?" Kyra sounded amused. "Everybody else is going to pick a team and cheer for them? You're going to be spectators?"

"Exactly!" Chaya's bounce nearly carried her out of her chair. She added, calmly, "When we're not practicing for our own medals, that is." For an instant, she looked sheepish.

Kyra laughed, and was joined by a few others. "Forgot what you came here for?" But she turned to Peneleos just the same. "Alright, a little friendly competition to go with the real competition." Unable to help herself, she decided to tease Chaya: "And I'll find some blogger to keep score on you and the guys. We've got races while you compete, so we can't keep eyes on you ourselves. Expect amateur commentary on the video, too."

"Awesome! The more we can expand the audience, the better!" If Chaya was faking her enthusiasm for the idea, neither Kyra nor Peneleos could tell.


ITV Main Studio, Ioudaia
Taped in advance

Berenike Tsafir: Hello, and welcome to another edition of Sports Backgrounder! I'm Berenike Tsafir, and tonight I'll be talking to Ioudaia's pairs figure skating teams. Please join me in welcoming them.

Berenike made a sweeping gesture, and the camera cut to another view showing the three pairs sitting in upholstered chairs in a semi-circle opposite her, while the studio audience applauded.

BT: Let's start with Lois Antoniadis and Deukalion Hatzis, our figure skating veterans.

Lois Antoniadis, smiling: With just a single Winter Games under our belts, it's very hard to think of ourselves as veterans.

BT: OK, but that's how people think of you. Despite that, you're both our youngest figure skaters, both still in your teens.

LA: That's right. I first saw figure skating online when I was eleven, and decided that that's what I wanted to do, despite the sport being almost unknown in Ioudaia then. Fortunately, my parents lived in one of the few cities that had a skating school. Then, when I was fifteen, the agreed to send me to study with Kharmion Zmira who was then Ioudaia's best figure skating coach.

BT: How about you, Deukalion?

Deukalion Hatzis: I started even younger, at age nine. My father was a manager for an international company, in Nouvelle Aquitaine. Over there, figure skating is a big-money individual sport, and I started learning with other kids my age. It was just something kids do, like play football.

BT: Oh, wow! So you speak, um...

DH: French. I was raised bilingual, since my father thought he'd be there for a while. We moved to NA when I was two years old. He worked for that company for nine years, then another company hired him for some fancy job, and that was enough for the Aquitans to grant him citizenship, and my sister and I became citizens too. He worked there for three more years, but decided that twelve years in a foreign country was long enough.

Since I was used to the schools there, and starting to get good at skating, my parents decided I could go to a boarding school there, and at that point they could afford one of the best, and they could even fly me to Ioudaia or come visit me almost every month. That lasted only a year, because some other company made it worth my dad's while to work a couple more years over there.

BT: What an interesting childhood! But speaking of education, Hippon, you're considered the smartest athlete in Ioudaia. Is that true?

Hippon Zer: Because of the sociology degree? Oh, come on! Plenty of athletes have gone to college. I just went a little further down that road. My mom insisted that I learn to do something that somebody might give me a job for, and business and law seemed boring.

BT: How did you manage to do both?

HZ: I busted my ass. Very long days, not even weekends off. I ended up in the hospital a couple of times from overwork and not taking care of myself. But I think it's worth it. I'm here, in the olympics. I think I have a fair shot at the medal. I think we all do. Young team or not, we're world class.

BT: I admire your enthusiasm for the sport and the country! What about you, Theano? Are you the most talented athlete in the world?

Theano Latona, laughing: One talent show, ten years ago, and people think I'm the best that ever was. More laughter.

BT: But you can sing and paint.

TL: Sure, I can sing in a choir, and I can paint a little. I haven't really done any serious painting since then. Skating's become my life. I still sing for fun, but that's easy to keep up. Maybe I'll take up painting again after I retire from skating.

BT: Zakai, Keidar: you're called "the visionaries". Do you think that title's deserved?

HZ: Oh, yeah!

Keidar Eudoias bat Zemmer, nodding: It is. We want to do things on skates nobody's done before. Sometimes I dream of skating. We don't want to improve skating in Ioudaia, we want to change it everywhere!

Zakai Plades: Exactly! Sometimes, figure skating comes to me. I see routines, beautiful routines, and I try to write down what I see before the vision disappears. But what I see is for two people, never for just myself. I think it's a gift, and one I'm meant to share. Keidar is the one who shares my dream, so I share my gift with her.

BT: Will we see any of that dream tomorrow?

ZP: Just a glimpse. The short program doesn't allow much room for visions, it--

HZ: It's just a bunch of routine moves we have to demonstrate. It's something of a hold-over from the old days of figure skating. We have to show seven moves, chosen by the international union. Sure, there's a little space for creativity, but it's really cramped for that.

ZP: But within that cramped space, maybe you'll see something interesting.

BT: We're out of time for this evening, so thank you all!

Applause

[Diarcesia]

Figure Skaters Bagged Second Silver For Diarcesia In Winter Games

The Diarcesian national figure skating team won their first medal in their debut Olympic appearance, a silver, at the conclusion of the figure skating team trophy race.

Thedebrand Wolfing and Chandra Ichigo danced to a four-minute version of the Abajan Naomi Assan-Duke's Her Last Breath, Britonisea's entry to the 47^th World Hit Festival. At 116.13 points, they stood at second-place like at yesterday's rhythm dance routine. This was enough to cement Diarcesia's overall team trophy points to 49. The new champion and the 13^th Winter Games silver medalist West Phoenicia earned 50 points.

"It is definitely challenging. The pressure is definitely there and there are more pairs of eyes watching your every little move during the routine. Discipline and confidence are key," Ichigo said.

After the first five team trophy events, Kacper Parrish and Srekislava Babich placed first (173.39 points) and fourth (136.95) respectively to help bridge the gap and climb from third to second.

[West Phoenicia]

Prince Glenton Gryphon-Bush III Philopator (friend of his father), eldest child of Emperor Glenton Gryphon-Bush II of the Gryphon-Bush royal family has failed in his pursuit to bring home a medal for West Phoenicia in the Biathlon—Men's 10 km.
His hopes now lie with the Men's 4x7.5 km Relay where he has a second chance to walk away with a medal around his neck, as long as the other members of the team step up to the challenge.

The competitive Crown Prince hit national headlines back during the XI Aeropag, Paripana Summer Olympics where he pulled in a bronze medal in the Men's 50m Pistol. He returned to the Summer Olympics in the Free Republics where along with teammate Sapphira True-path, pulled in another bronze medal for the mixed trap event. However he has not had the same success with the winter events, that has frustrated the Crown Prince, especially when his younger siblings and cousins have pulled in medals.

The two shining examples for these winter Olympics have been, Prince Manasseh Bush, a cousin though his uncle Prince Gai Bush. A family that was rocked with scandal when Prince Gai Bush's first wife, the beautiful Princess Royal Rosalind Italia, of the Kingdom of Prestonia after given birth to three strong sons was sent into exile on the grounds of adultery. It was not long after Gai Bush remarried, this time to Duchess Margaruite de Senegalli, of The Kingdom of East Ivory. Who brought with her as part of her dowry two ruby mines and an emerald mine.

Manasseh was the first West Phoenician to score a medal at these games in the Cross-country skiing—Men's 30 km skiathlon, where some swift skiing moves towards the end of the race netted him a bronze medal.

The other royal to have scored a win for West Phoenicia is Prince Glenton Gryphon-Bush IV Soter. A figure skater, it was his free skate and technique on the ice which greatly helped the nation secure gold in the figure skating-team trophy event and is looking to pull another medal in the Men's figure skating during these games. The younger brother has found more success in the Winter Olympics pulling in a silver medal at XII Winter Olympics-Prescott, Electrum. Since those games he has been able to perform flawless triple axels, where his landings are no longer shaky upon landing.


Children of the Emperor and members of the Royal Family have been shining examples stepping up to participate in international sporting events. A long standing tradition where they are encouraged to excel in sports, the military and diplomacy. If West Phoenicia wants a nation of champions, it needs to start with its own current leaders and leaders of tomorrow. With so many more events planned, there is an abundance of opportunities for other West Phoenicians to step up and make their dreams come true.


In other Winter Olympic news Carolyn Denervè, has scored a photo finish win in the Cross-country skiing—Women's individual sprint classical to take out the bronze medal narrowly ahead of Madoka Takahashi of People's Republic of Xabia.

[Fujai]

DU-UKH, UUK – Keiserholde, Fujai — Heya folks, this is Berit coming to you from DU-UKH, Den Blå Duken, UiKeiserholde's officially unofficial student radio. It's the fourth day of the Winter Olympics and do we have a doozy to tell you! Huanna Genso, cross country skiier and ski jumper won gold in nordic combined normal hill/10 km!! [air horn sounds play with the Fujansk anthem in the background. The anthem continues softly as Berit continues] I'm sure you already know this because of the parties in the streets—there are only six million of us after all and this is a big heckin' deal!! My dear associate Jens is down at Stortorget right now and they'll give you the run down on the festivities.

[a very loud feed is spliced in, seemingly from a party of some sort]

Hi Berit, I'm sorry for the noise but holy hell is this a party! Half the Byråd is here and the other half is down the street at Nykanalparken, so you know it's a good time. There's maybe a couple thousand people here in Stortorget, and most streets in Sentrum have some sort of party going on. I've lived in Keiserholde all my life and I've never seen people this happy, not even when Solbakken beat Bruland in the cup final, and we all know how much cleanup there was the— [a screech is heard as something bumps into the microphone] —hey buddy, watch out we're broadcasting! Sorry bout that Berit, anyway it's pretty sick down here, everyone's in awe over the whole team and Huanna's win is honestly the icing on the cake. Now, I hate to go but I have some business to attend to!

[the loud broadcast cuts off, returning to Berit]

Well that was a lot. So, in summary: holy heck Huanna Genso is a national hero, and we bet you'll be telling your grandkids where you were when you heard she won gold. Tomorrow will see how things continue to shake out for Fujai's breakout Olympic debut, see you then!

[Cocoabo Forest]

XIV Winter Olympic Games, Yeaddin, Vilita :: The Cocoabo Forest Delegation entered the arena at Yeaddin's famous Lirai Asku Castle to cheers from the crowd who were, of course, cheering anyway but the Cocoabo fed off the energy regardless. There was plenty of energy and warmth in the stadium but the Cocoabo were embarking on new frontiers making their second appearance at the Winter Olympic Games and with the largest delegation they had ever entered.

It would also be the first time the Cocoabo Forest team had entered the Ice Hockey Competition with entries in both the Men's and Women's competition. Of course, there is a good reason why the Cocoabo Forest had never previously entered an Ice Hockey competition - they simply don't have an Ice Hockey team. Ice sports in general were never on the original list of projects for the Cocoabo Enrichment and Enhancement Program (CEEP) to develop and refine Cocoabo athletic skills in. However, individual events such as the speed skating disciplines became a natural fit for the Cocoabo once the trainers had gotten them used to the skates and being on the ice. In fact they had become so quick to adapt that Cocoabo #W24 stunned the skating world by earning the gold medal in the Women's 1500m event during the XIII Winter Olympic Games in Prescott.

Team sports required an entirely different level of dedication and training however. Which is the exact opposite of what the Cocoabo Forest Ice Hockey teams had coming into the games in Yeaddin and Neverend.

Instead of spending years developing skills as they had for some of their other Winter Athletes, the Cocoabo Enrichment and Enhancement Program personnel decided at the last minute to enter their Men's and Women's Football squads into the Winter Olympic Ice Hockey tournament. With the current run of form at the internationstatal level of Turori's National Citizen Squad, there was no apparent path back to the top of their sport for the Cocoabo Squad. Of course, they couldn't impart years of training into a new squad of Cocoabo overnight - but the Cocoabo Enrichment and Enhancement Project personnel at Cocoabo Park wondered if they could teach an existing team - already familiar with playing together at a competitive level - a new sport.

Of course, Step 1 was getting them familiar with being on the Ice. Step 2 was learning the game and step 3 was executing their new found skills. A conservative assessment was that the Cocoabo Squad was somewhere between Step 1 and 2 by the time the groups were drawn for the Winter Olympic Games and no one really could predict how things would go on the Ice for the Cocoabo Squad, but odds were it wasn't going to go particularly well.

[Kriegiersien]

Imoen and Tim were watching Alpine skiing in the Neverend Ferrandieu Ski Resort.

„Ok, I wanted to do some hiking and you said Yes. But now we are watching sport again“, sighed Tim.

„And we will do some running around in the snow and admire the landscape, but first I need an autograph from the winner of the Men‘s combined“, said Imoen.

„How many have you collected already?“

„5!“

She jumped up and down, changing the picture of a face on a piece of paper in her hand, fitting to the current leader of the competition.

„What are you doing? Are you using magic?“, hissed Tim.

„Only harmless tricks. I bet the technicology of the muggles here could do that, too.“

„Not in that way.”

“Now that you are mentioning it, one of them asked me where I got such a realistic 3D recording of him ..”

“Please stop exposing us to others with stunts like this.”

“Next you tell me I shouldn’t manipulate them to write me a poem with personal inscription on it.”

“You are using mind magic? Are you totally out of your mind?”

“Of course not, I am asking them very nicely. Some of them did write a lot. One even a number.
Yes, Dominik Hirser is first, I want him to win!”

Kjetil Sandström was starting last.

“Did you know that the Kriegiersien skier, Wyatt Connolly, is a dentist? Met him in the Village, he said that I had nice teeth and would like to have a look at them.”

“I bet he did.”

“His chat-up lines are even lousier than his skiing skills. Woo, Sandy nearly missed a gate.. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I would be more excited to see a fox.”

“Don’t they have that in Kriegiersien?”

“Yes, but it is another sort of fox. And another view on things.”


Kjetil Sandström reached the finish with best time, getting gold.

“Aww, I guess I am taking now two autographs, one from Dominik and then from Sandström. Wait for me.”

She stormed down to the finish line, leaving Tim behind.

Tim shook his head, took out a paper map, looked around and tramped on through the snow. He probably would haven been off better with his hiking adventure alone anyway.

[Vilitan Union]

Heartbreak for Slidbaa, Malza in Women's Luge Finals

Parra Kala Sliding Complex, Parra Kala Mountains, Yeaddin, Vilita :: Vilitan Men's slider Osterrazi Onalinto set the Parra Kala Mountains alight on Day 2 of the 14th Winter Olympic Games in Yeaddin and Neverend by defending their lead atop the Men's singles Luge standings and becoming the first Vilitan athlete to ever win a gold medal in a Vilitan hosted Olympics. Two days later, a pair of Vilitan Women's sliders were trying to repeat the feat as both Izcy Slidbaa and Freni Malza advanced to the final run of the Luge competition by placing inside the Top 20 after the first three runs.

Slidbaa entered the final run in prime position being placed third and just three tenths of a second behind the leader Jasmina Tallinski of Mattijana. After a slow first run, Slidbaa had been on pace with the fastest times on Runs 2 and 3 and knew that with a strong performance on her final run she would certainly be assured a medal and could even move up into the Gold or Silver position. For Malza the path to the podium would require a best career slide down the Parra Kala Course as she entered the final run just under a second behind Tallinski's top time but only 6 tenths behind Slidbaa in the bronze medal position.

With the sliders going in reverse order of the standings for their final run, Malza took the course with the 6 leaders still to go. The crowd could feel the energy of the Vilitan's run as her split times were consistently three tenths of a second better than any other sliders on the 4th run. She would stop the clock in a time of 46.89 to become the first slider under 47 seconds on Run 4 and her best time of the Olympic Games. After Malza was Vekaiyu's Selvala Akayemestri who's 47.55 was certainly not good enough to stay in front of Freni Malza who stayed in the top spot. Liljan Mogen was next and put up a solid 47.15s run but still her overall time was greater than Malza's who remained in top spot with just four sliders to go.

It was at that brief moment that Malza had begun to wonder if she could slide in and steal a medal. Unfortunately, it would not happen as New Englander Lucy Welt Marx time of 47.08 was enough to bump Malza off the top spot. At that point there would have to be a catastrophic error from one of the top 3. Unfortunately the only error would come from Malza's teammate Izcy Slidbaa who put in her worst run of the games at 47.36 to fall behind the New Englander. With Tallinski and the Cocoabo holding serve on their runs it meant the ultimate disappointment for the two Vilitans as they would finish in 4th and 5th place the first ones out of the medals and unable to celebrate in front of their friends and family who were, at least, there to console the duo who came so close but felt so far from achieving their Olympic dream.

[Liventia]

(OOC: These elections are set during the recent Aquatics World Championships hosted by Kelssek, and before the Winter Olympics. Just tying up a loose end from before.)

ELECTION RESULT: Morgan returned as PM in huge win for governing coalition
OREAN— Prime Minister James Morgan has won a comprehensive general election victory, with his Social Democrats gaining 28 seats for a total of 130 and their main coalition partners, the Democratic Liberal Party, gaining five for a total of 76 MPs.

The Social Democrats and Democratic Liberal Party previously relied on the National Christian Democrats (NCD) to govern, but the prime minister called the early election based on recent strong polling hoping he could drop the NCD from his coalition.

He appears to have been proved right, as the result means Mr Morgan, who previously also relied on the not-always-present support of the NCD, can proceed with his legislative plans without worrying about having enough numbers as the NCD can now be excluded from the government.

The NCD and Democratic Liberals formerly formed the National Centrist Bloc, but the NCD had increasingly opposed Mr Morgan's legislative business, and contested the last upper-house Chamber of Deputies elections separately from the rest of the National Centrist Bloc.

Trinity-Jane Smith's NCD lost seven seats in the country's 352-seat Common Parliament, with Mrs Smith announcing her resignation as party leader following the developments that the NCD will no longer have a role in government. Edwina Joseph, who was State Secretary for Transport in the previous Cabinet but will now lose her role, is tipped to replace Mrs Smith.

Elsewhere, the Conservative Party gained three MPs in the face of opinion polls suggesting they would lose ten. The Tories remain the largest opposition party with 73 seats, while the two Green factions — which previously had 70 MPs between them — have been big losers.

The Greener Society Coalition, which previously boasted 50 MPs, now has 41, while Environment First Commerce Second — the party most loudly opposed to the return of the forthcoming Winter Olympics to Liventia — has been thrashed at the ballot box, losing 15 of its 20 MPs including leader Tim Randall.

In his concession speech given at party headquarters, Mr Randall admitted his party had "misjudged the mood of the nation" in its ferocious anti-Olympics campaign. "We recognise that major sporting events are a source of national pride, and we clearly got it wrong, and it's cost us," he said.

Another significant development was the far-right Liventia Forward Movement losing three seats when forecasts had suggested they would gain the same number; James Dolen's group now has just four seats. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Progressive Communists won two new MPs.

With a raft of new legislation relating to the upcoming 14th Winter Olympics jointly hosted by Neverend on the table, the election results pave the way for the government to push through its legislative aims without any significant hurdles.

Full results:
Social Democrats 35,094,534 votes (24.1% of legitimate nationwide votes) 130 MPs (previously 102)
Democratic Liberal Party 23,198,188 (15.9%) 76 MPs (prev 71)
Conservative Party of Liventia 23,032,357 (15.8%) 73 MPs (prev 70)
Greener Society Coalition 22,862,935 (15.7%) 41 MPs (prev 50)
National Christian Democrats 13,755,190 (9.4%) 17 MPs (prev 24)
Environment First, Commerce Second 9,102,585 (6.2%) 5 MPs (prev 20)
Progressive Communist Party 4,472,166 (3.1%) 5 MPs (prev 3)
Liventia Forward Movement 4,800,287 (3.3%) 4 MPs (prev 7)
Others/Independents 9,376,172 (6.4%) 1 MP (prev 5)