Games of the XVI Olympiad - RP Thread

[Banija]

OOC Note 1: NSFW
OOC Note 2: English Translation of "Omugabe" is "Prince."

Omugabe Kato and Omugabe Ssemanda, waking up at the PlayToy Mansion, at 7:30 AM, 4 hours before their Round of 16 match in the Olympics in 3x3 Basketball is supposed to start

Omugabe Kato sat there, rubbing his eyes, feeling perfectly fine. A night of drinking and partying hadn't stopped this young Prince from feeling energized. My my, the college days. It was a good thing, being an athlete at the actual Olympics. You can enjoy yourself to your fullest off the court, while still being able to give it your all, aka 110%, while you're on the court.

On the ship, where he had slept every single night since his arrival in the Twin Cities, had a nightstand right next to him, with a Busukuma AC branded alarm clock. But when he looked to his right- he saw a sleeping woman. And to his left, he saw another sleeping woman. His first hint to...

"HOLY SHIT!" Omugabe Kato yelled, springing upwards. The two women in his bed looked up at him, rubbing their own eyes. One giggled and smiled, as the other turned over. Omugabe Kato looked at where his nightstand should have been, and looked at the pink walls of the room. The PlayToy Mansion was one hell of a place. And his heart sank when he realized where he was. The Prince sprang out of bed, brushed his teeth real quick, and then grabbed his phone to call his brother.

He didn't need to, because Omugabe Ssemanda came bursting into his room. "DUDE- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!" Said Omugabe Ssemanda. "Didn't we agree we were gonna get back on the jet at 3 AM? Be back on the ship by 5 AM? What the hell happened to our plan..."

"Dawg, we must have fucking fell asleep." Omugabe Kato said. "Dude, we have a match in four fucking hours and we're 700km away. We need to move. The private jet can make sure we land between 9:30 and 10, and we can get a limo escort. Straight to the arena for us."

"Dude, what's our cousin gonna say?" Omugabe Ssemanda said this, and his younger brother did not answer. They both gulped as they were nearly galloping out of the PlayToy Mansion, calling a rental car to take them to the private airfield, pronto. When they finally got into the rental car, they saw the usual army of police officers camped out at the PlayToy Mansion, on Her Imperial Majesty, Christine II's, orders.

"Alright, here goes nothing." Omugabe Kato got out his phone, and started dialing. Couldn't suspend a member of a 4 man team when it's only 3v3, right? "Hey, cuz...."

The Peerless Princes, 24 hours before the events above

Omugabe Lallo had ended their film session early, at 10:30 AM. He was a player-coach, a rare thing at this level of competition, no matter what the sport was. In fact, in Prescott, they had an actual coach. But when Head Coach Nwoye Onyekachi retired after those Games, because he felt he couldn't 'control his players' (read: too much partying), they decided to control themselves. It is hard to establish authority over players when you are just a regular civilian, and your entire roster consists of literal Princes, of course- one of whom is destined to be a future King.

So they just put the oldest of them on the team as the captain and coach. And Lallo had done a good job. While all three of his cousins were ahead in the line of succession, he was indeed the oldest among them, so they accepted his authority, more, to a degree. "Ok, we did good today. The knockout stages, of course, start in 25 hours- we've got the early game, at 11:30." Omugabe Lallo told his three cousins. "We're gonna take the rest of the day off. Relax and recover as you wish. I, for one, am going to go hang out with my lady, Johannie." And with that, Omugabe Lallo was off.

That left the three brothers, the three sons of the heir to the throne- Omugabes Ssekamanya, Ssemanda, and Kato. "What are you guys gonna go do?" Said Omugabe Ssekamanya.

"Ahhh, I'm gonna hit up our spa on the cruiseliner." Ssekamanya said. "True recovery." Ssekamanya was much more of an introvert, which was a rare quality in this Royal Family. Filled with extroverts, which was a good fit- a life for the public spotlight. "See ya guys." He didn't even give his brothers a chance to follow, as he was gone.

"What are we gonna do?" Asked Kato to Ssemanda.

"Well, remember when Amadou Secka hit us up?" Ssemanda said. And they remembered. The night was supposed to be basketball night at the PlayToy Mansion. Obviously they had told Secka no, they had somewhere to be, film at night, early bed, and game in the morning.

"I mean... We could make it." Kato said.

"Should we?" They both wanted to go, but both were too nervous. "Man, it's a 6 hour train ride away."

"The next train leaves at 11:30. We're in the city by 6. At the mansion by 6:30." Kato said.

"But we've gotta get back, don't we?" Asked Ssemanda.

"No." Kato replied. "I mean, yes. But we can get the private jet flown from Banija to Quebec while we're there, and then get it to fly us back to the Twin Cities. We leave at 3 AM."

Ssemanda thought about it- but then realized, you only live once. "Yeah, fuck it- let's go." The brothers grinned, fist pounded, and flew into their cabins, grabbing their stuff so they could leave. They would have one hell of a night at the PlayToy Mansion...

[Chromatika]

Office of the Chromatik Sporting Council
Office of the Chromatik Olympic Committee

Marcus Santos sighed as he looked at the latest results from the Sixteenth Olympic Games being held in Electrum and Quebec and Shingoryeo.

If there had been anyone else in the building, they may have wondered just why he was sighing. Chromatika had outstripped all expectations, set the record for the most Golds and most medals in an Olympics, and looked slated for a Top Ten finish in total medals. Sure, the athletics events were just starting off, and Chromatika wasn't historically good at those, but the vibe around the entire event was golden. So, what was the problem?

For Santos and a few of his contemporaries, that success itself was the problem.

If you build something up too fast due to a flash in the pan performance, if you don't take the time to build up from the foundation, it's impossible to build something that will truly last.

How did Chromatik archery and fencing build up to the level of success that was obtained in these Olympics? Because they took the time to make it happen. They crossed the t's, dotted the i's, and let the domestic scene catch up to the demands. By doing that, Chromatik archery and fencing had reached the current levels.

However, deep at the core of his being, that was not the biggest reason.

As Chromatik sports continued to grow, as the different disciplines started to make their mark, money would be an issue. Funding would have to come from somewhere, and with just so little to go around...

Chromatika would run into a wall soon. And only those like him could see it. Why did that make them the bad guys?

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

OOC: Good time to finally put an update (or one could possibly say, a coda) on Rebecca James. Some of you may remember Rebecca James, a poster girl of Schottian delegation's famed swimming program, and few RPs Schottia had written about her.

It was RP'd in past that James, after her retirement following Centralis-Nassau Bay X, ended up transitioning into a successful coach after retiring early at age 22, with one, somewhat detailed piece done in past. It was there she eventually got married and had two daughters in Mara and Hannah. Mara was a former athlete, a friend of few known names among those familiar with Quebecois sports (Heo-Conavacio duo of women's basketball team among them), while Hannah, who is younger than Mara by a decade or more, is a prospect.

As Centralis-Nassau Bay X was my first Summer Olympics, and the Rebecca James's situation long discussed with Schottia the user over the years he was active on NSSport, I felt that this would be a good tribute and an update to an incomplete mini-saga. I hope he will, one day, be able to read this too.

Cheers.

Family.2 - Aquatics

From a draft, the Narrative Board of Hall of Memories and Achievement, the RQOC

Fear of repeating the disastrous performance in Bunjil may have been properly extinguished for the Quebecois swimmers today, as Hannah James-Yim came out strongly with the nation's first swimming gold medal in twelve years. In women's 400m Individual Medley, where all four strokes are competed out in the pool, the 19-year old native of Perce, Acadie, came out on top with a 4:29.44 finish to finish ahead of Antoinette Durand of Britonisea and Megan Siosal of Kelssek.

In her young career, one that to many people in both sides of the Blood Sea separating Anaia and Rushmore, many likely saw the repetition of history between her and her mother, legendary Schottic Olympian Rebecca James. The sixty-year old, who was once the flagbearer for the Schottians on the Terranean nation's debut in 2014 Kytler Bay-Zube IX, was a name best remembered for being the Schottic swimming icon with two silver medals on her own right. But the South Berwick native, while failing to stand on top of the podium as a swimmer, landed even bigger legacy as coach herself after a sudden retirement. Her students with the Univ. de Gaspe, the IRSEA (back in their Saclay days pre-return from retirement), and the national team, are numerous in both freestyle and other strokes, with some of her disciples being Arlene Lafontaine, Lucas Song, Gabrielle Laperriere, Hong Woo-Rahm, and now her own daughter, Hannah James-Yim..

'There's the final spurt! She's holding on! Holding on! Holding on! GO-GO-GOLD IT IS FOR HANNAH! Hannah James-Yim, ladies and gentleman. She's done what many on both sides of the ocean had done, both in South Berwick and Perce, had hoped for, and it is to finish the decadeslong chapter to the storybook of the career of Rebecca James, the great swimming coach!'

Hannah James-Yim was feeling the final eighth of the swim come at her like a wave. Not that this was anything surprising after all - being a daughter of collegiate and national team swimming coach, who was a two-time olympian in her own right, had meant that this was inevitable. She had swum in full lengths, and had divided them up in eighths, sixteenths, and however small and detailed of pieces she had to chop in order to make it work. Not exact to the old, naturalistic way of swimming practices and training periods run by the old-world Schottians told by her mother or her friends, but Hannah's childhood, where there existed firm expectations that came from the family, was different to start with.

'Absolutely Red. And there you see, she's finally lifting the goggles and looking up...the moment has yet to strike. But sooner than later it will as you see her name on top of the board...there it is. You see the flag, you see her name, and the time....the fastest out of eight best swimmers on this specific event tonight. A new chapter of history is made - both for her and her family.'

The final stretch of the race went along accordingly. Hannah was only seven when her sister Mara, a longtime member of the swimming team, faltered on the dying stretches of the same individual medley and freestyle events at the national trials. Where her mother or even Hannah - who admittedly had temper issues at times - had succeeded, Mara simply couldn't recover from a major hurdle or two had struck her mid-swim.

Hannah didn't want to repeat that - not with how this was going. The 400m individual medley was the first of six events she, who admittedly never had a strength in freestyle even with familial specialisation in it, and she knew that setting a good background on it, was crucial. So she pushed further and further, hoping that the final stretch's spurt would not be outpaced.

'And there you see everybody....she's crying, a tear of joy. And on the stands you also see about dozens of fans and family for her...cheering. They are embracing....of course you see her parents, Gregor Yim and the legendary Rebecca James. We've seen Rebecca James, a coach known for her patient, positive temper not always found among the coaches out there in the swimming world, celebrate. Her students have made major impact in the history books of Quebecois swimming and we've seen her on stands of Aeropag, and Provinsk...but this hits new, as her return from retirement, all for the chance to coach her daughter for what could be the sixth and last olympics we may see Ms. James here..is remarkable.'

Bam.

Hannah felt her hands hitting the tiles, as she felt her eyes close into the darkness, before looking into the water again. At that moment she felt all the years of practices, swim meets and the trials pass before her eyes like a flash. Everything finally came to hit her with the moment of a first Olympic final. The one that began decades ago when her mother and grandfather had a meeting with her first coach at the club back in South Berwick.

Of course everybody had expected it to end at one point with her mother, likely with a prospective glory and the anthem sung either on the pools of Kytler Bay City or Centralis. But that glory had not exactly materialised and chapters remained unfinished with Rebecca, with those paragraphs unwritten. She didn't give up though, and a marriage and arrival of two daughters, both who had made it far on their own right, had meant that the unfulfilled dreams, one that transcended generations, were given more tries to be completed. And it was complete, at the hands of a 19-year old Hannah.

'And there's her sister Mara, who retired five years ago and actually is coaching here as an assistant coach with the Yongma College Eagles, is raising her hands in the air. She too is crying..What a beautiful sight it is. Twice she came close on the national trials but a series of misfortunes and struggles in her own right, which have been well documented in a documentary "On The Stroke", have unfortunately meant that she was unable to make both Istria or Bunjil teams. It, no doubt, means a lot for the veteran, whose sister has made it to heights she couldn't come to complete...'

Finally Hannah lifted her head out of the water, and she took off her goggles and swimming cap. Well I think it went well, felt good, thought Hannah, as she checked the board. Fortunately she didn't have to take much time looking her own name - Hannah's own name, double-barreled in surname like every other Quebecois you'd meet, was at the very top.

Then the next thing she noticed was her family and friends on the stands. Dressed in a contingent of green shirts, they were far too distinguishable. 'WE DID IT!' shouted Hannah, as 'the kid' pointed back at them with both her index fingers. 'WE DID IT MUM! WE DID IT MARA!'

[New Gelderland]

Terranean Broadcasting Company

---

Tennis: Two Gelderlish teams into Olympic men's doubles tournament quarterfinals

By Zion Berik
TBC Sport in Prescott, Electrum

---

After Andrew Lamar and the doubles partnership of Jill Clarke and Melissa Herbert carried the Gelderlish torch forward on Day 9, both Gelderlish doubles teams in action won their matches in straight sets, although Stephanie Brown dropped the ball (so to speak) in the women's singles event.

Lamar took to the court again today on Day 10 with partner Mark Southgate in the men's doubles. Lamar and Southgate were not regular NSTT partners: Lamar played with Liam Penderyn, who was not eligible to compete for New Gelderland in these Olympics after switching allegiances to Ceni to compete on the NSTT tour again. Southgate, meanwhile, usually plays with Megan Elliot; the duo will compete in the mixed doubles tournament later in this Olympics, where they will look to win a second gold medal on Electrumite soil.

But they didn't look like partners playing their first tournament together as they dismissed James Wales and Dean Yorke from Krytenia, not a noted tennis nation despite hosting the AOpen for some years but an Olympic powerhouse in many other sports. Indeed, Wales and Yorke looked like two fishes out of water as they struggled to respond to Lamar's power from the baseline and Southgate's finesse at the net. On some points, they failed to communicate properly, including one point where Wales served and Yorke moved over to poach — but Wales had also moved forward to take the ball, leading to a rather unfortunate collision. Their return games also looked rather weak, with returns often headed straight to the person at the net.

When all the dust had settled, Southgate and Lamar had bageled their Krytenian opposition.

In the second set, Wales and Yorke appeared to get their game together somewhat, but Lamar and Southgate upped their game as well to match. It was a volleying master class from Southgate, and the normally dour Lamar also started to have some fun, coming to the net more often and even hitting a half-volley tweener for a winner, to the delight of the cloud. On match point, Southgate served an ace, sealing an easy victory, 6-0, 6-2.

Blackwood and Algernon, meanwhile, also looked to be performing at their top level against Helios Norwood and Mehretab Ahmed of West Phoenicia, a nation that did routinely send entries to the NSTT. But they often tended to be journeymen rather than high-level competition, and Norwood and Ahmed fit into this mold as well. They put up little opposition in the first set, winning only one game as Blackwood and Algernon hit highlight-reel-worthy passing shot after passing shot past the Phoenicians' defenses.

In the second set, the Phoenicians played a little better, mustering a few drop volley winners to counter Blackwood and Algernon's tendency to moor themselves at the baseline. But it was all for naught as only one break in the tenth and final game of the match proved their undoing: Blackwood and Algernon led a masterclass in up-and-back tennis, with Blackwood proving a brick wall at the net and Algernon providing the muscle from the baseline. To cap off the game, set, and match, Algernon fired a pretty crosscourt return that just nicked the line, handing the Gelderlish the match 6-1, 6-4.

Unfortunately, Stephanie Brown was not so lucky in the women's singles event, falling in three sets to Allison Deveraux from the Huron League. Brown put up a fight in the second set, but ultimately her aging body gave up on her in the third set as she simply did not have enough energy to compete with the more energetic Deveraux. In the end, she conceded a bagel in that third set, a disappointing end to an otherwise well-fought contest; Deveraux prevailed 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 when all was said and done.

"Well, you win some, you lose some," said Brown, "but it's disappointing that there are no more Gelderlish women left in the women's singles event. We'll just concede more ground to our rivals in the medal table in that event, I think."

On Day 11, both entries still in action will face Electrumite contenders, making prospects dicey as facing Olympic hosts on home soil is always a dicey proposition. Lamar will face Marcus Hathwar, who has done much better than his world no. 86 ranking would suggest; Clarke and Herbert will face Sara Zhuo and Leanne Stewart. Zhuo, the world number two, has been carrying the partnership for much of this tournament, although the two certainly have not lacked chemistry as they used to play together before Zhuo started playing with the Cenian Gyrachor Rentos.

"It'll be a tough task to upset Zhuo and Stewart on home soil," said Clarke. "But New Gelderlish fans will be in attendance in large numbers, or at least we hope so. In any case, we'll try to put on a show for them. Most certainly."

---

Analysis: Britonisea dominating the emerging rivalry with New Gelderland in racquet sports
Analysis by Garo Thule, TBC Olympic correspondent in Twin Cities

Britonisea has certainly made a big deal of its love for racquet sports, with their equivalent of the TBC (the Brityunik Vefecosoin Cairkovoin, or BVC) declaring that Britonisea would be ashamed to leave Prescott without a medal in tennis. Indeed, the BVC (and other voices within Britonisea) have even angled for squash to be added to the Games in order to "give Britonisea and the rest of the Union another edge" in the medal table. I digress, of course, but the point is, Britonisea and the rest of the ABEN Union take racquet sports extremely seriously, and their Olympic committee probably does not take too kindly to upstarts challenging their dominance in those sports.

While New Gelderland has fancied itself somewhat as a contender for the medal spots in the racquet sports, the ABEN Union has emerged on top in the two contests that they've had so far. Of course, Gabina Anderson defeated Zara Pennington in a drawn-out gold medal match in the women's table tennis, giving the constituent country of Nightom a leg up on claims of Britonish superiority. And in the tennis, Jason Gordon ran roughshod over Max Aswick in the Round of 32 on Day 9.

So the doubles match between Jaguar Zenteanite and Zeke Newham on one hand and Blackwood and Algernon on the other will be another litmus test of this emerging rivalry. Given the high Britonish expectations for at least one medal — if not multiple medals — in tennis, it seems like Zenteanite and Newham will go into that Day 12 contest with the expectation of victory. But given how well Blackwood and Algernon have been playing, the Britonish's overconfidence may cost them.

---

[Alezian Union]

Countries Featured : Kelssek, The Licentian Isles, Electrum

STORY
The Licentian Isles and Electrum both won gold medals in Men's Vault! Good for them! But it comes at the cost of Alezians losing a silver, and one particular member is not very happy about it, and decided to do something...

DISCLAIMER
No Fictional Countries were hurt in the creation process of this comic.
Any mishaps are for comedic purposes only and not for malicious intentions.
I seriously love each and every one of you!

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

Here is the Day 11 Cutoff.

The next cutoff will be in two days' time.

[Waisnor]

One medal is guarenteed, only we don't know which one

Waisnor once again got themselves a medal, but there is a twist to it - no one knows which one it will be, but it will be no less than a silver one. Aside from our finalist, Waisnor is also having another person who still continues his performances in the games, and his victory was no less impressive:

Our finalist is boxer Alexey Matyush, who after defeating his oppoent in the quarter-finals guaranteed himself a medal, at least the bronze one. But it seems that Alexey certainly wasn't going to stop just at bronze and bring a more significant medal to Waisnor. And after defeating all his opponents before semifinals with some pretty nice performances Matyush was billed as one of the biggest favourites for the gold medal in men's lightweight discipline. Matyush was sure that he was able to pull it off and the perfect chance to prove that to the whole world was in the semifinal against Dimitar Obetkovski from Mytanija.
Waisnorian boxer had the upper hand in this meeting from the start of this match. After the battle Matyush shaid that he was preparing for it pretty intensely, watching previous fights of Obetkovski at the Olympics and learned many things about his tactics and so, he managed to make some ways to counter his attacks. And it seems that Dimitar didn't change his tactics for this fight, which was a great opportunity for Matyush to test out his own tactics, meant to fully counter any attempts of Obetkovski to get some points from the juries. And in the beginning this tactic was working pretty well - Alexey was holding out against all attacks of Dimitar without much work, and his own attacks were very sharp and almost always successful. And so, after such strong showing in the beginning of the match Alexey was now pretty much an undisputed favorite of the match, which he would win only if he would royally screw up, basically giving away all the successes he accomplished previously.
In the later rounds Dimitar seemingly understood that Alexey knew about all his tactics and he certainly needed to do something about it if he wanted to have at least some chances at winning. And so, pretty soon after that boxer from Mytanija was pulling off some pretty nice tactical flexibility. And even though Waisnorian boxer didn't really know what to do about all the new punches and combinations, he still was holding on, and, after getting accustomed to the new tactics and soon enough again began attacking, once again proving that he was a favorite to win this match and no one could say that he would still lose after that. And finally, when the battle ended, juries opinion was unanimous - all 5 juries said that Matyush was stronger, giving him the pass into the final and at least silver medal. But there still would be one battle for Alexey, possibly the most important one in his career - against Jandiyuha Tangaroha from Pemecutan, against which Alexey would try to pull off same "watching his previous matches" tactic as with Obetkovski, as he said before the match.

As for the other one Waisnorian athlete participating at that day and getting some good results was tennis player Ivan Belorosorochko, who already showed some pretty nice results before getting into round of 16 of men's singles tournaments, but now he was facing an opponent which was stronger than anyone of them - Jack Ho from Electrum. He is pretty well-known to those who follow NationStates Tennis Tour and he advanced into the late rounds of several tennis tournaments, reputation which was far more imposing than once of Belosorochko. But still, Ivan was ready for this battle, thinking that he was just another opponent like the others and that he had certainly had his weak points. The point was just how to find them and exploit them.
And in the beginning of the match Ivan seemed to find this weak spots, defeating Jack several times when Ho was giving out the ball first. But still, Ho was holding on pretty nicely, using mistakes of Belosorochko too, and so, first set was done in the atmosphere of pretty intense competition. Finally, Ivan managed to break the game of Ho and nicely execute his own, and so, first set went to him with the score of 6-4. In the second set Waisnorian tennis player faced much more troubles as Ho came to his senses and was giving out the play he was best remembered for. Even though Belosorochko was still trying to use some mistakes of his opponent and sometimes successfully so, that wasn't enough to turn the sides in this set at least, as second set was won by Electrumite, once again with the score 6-4.
The deciding thir set was on, and it seems that the defeat in previous set flared Ivan up, as he was executing his shots near perfectly and was playing with extreme precision, leaving pretty much zero chances for Ho to hold out and catch up to him in terms of games won. As for Jack, he now simply couldn't contain the sheer power of Ivan's shots and was allowing more and more mistakes to happen, which Belosorochko used without any remorse. Thankfully, Electrumite managed to win one game, so he didn't leave with 0 games behind his name in third set. But still, Ivan won resoundingly in the third set with the score of 6-1 and so, advanced straight to the Olympics quarterfinal, result which not every critis could have expected from him before the Games began and Ivan came to that court.

OTHER RESULTS
Anna Suvorova and Arina Berg placed 6th in technical routine in artistic swimming woman's duet
In round of 16 in men's basketball competitions, Waisnorian team lost to Chromatika 77-81
Alexander Khatkevich placed 15th in men's 109kg competitions in weightlifting
In athletics, Denis Zayats placed 3rd in his heat in 8th overall in men's 1500m heats, Dmitry Cherkas placed 73rd
In women's long jump qualification, Taisiya Rybakova placed 43rd
In men's modern pentathlon fencing round, Dmitry Breschenko placed 42nd
Larisa Tumanskaya finished 81st in women's park qualification
In taekwondo, Daniil Barkalov was defeated by Christopher McGee from Britonisea in repechages of men's 80kg tournament

Random Waisnor things: Little crazy trip to WPR's parliament
We once again will have a talk about Waisnorian People's Republic, only now about when this nation actually exicted, if it could be said about WPR, it we count that it wasn't a real country. But still, government and officials believed in realness of this country, and were pretty serious about many affairs of it. Very soon, Rada of WPR was established, holding meetings in local theatre in the absence of suitable building for the parliament. By the way, something that could resemble parliament house would appear only in Soviet times, so Rada of WPR wouldn't have the chance to reside in it. But it's not like they really thinked about in which building they would get their affairs, they were more preoccupied with the main troubles of the day. Or more accurately, who to beat up over them.
Many things should have been established - constitution needed to be written, ministries to be founded, as the army too. Plus, WPR still needed to prove that they were really independent country, not just some strange thing which appeared in the chaos of Russian Civil War and dissolved just as fast as it was founded. Only when Rada got together to discuss this issues, they were mostly squabbling with other, sometimes devolving into full-out battles, likes of which Waisnor wouldn't see until Battle of the Legislators in 2008. The parliament was just too diverse for anyone to get along - democrats, conservatives, nationalists, socialists, even anarchists found their way into the Rada, and so, they all were preoccupied with making sure their voice was the loudest and weren't really into the situation in the country. Thus they didn't notice how WPR was still not really a country, and that it would stay in this state for the rest of its existence.
But there would be a scandal to overshadow them all in Rada. At some point somebody wrote a letter to the German Kaiser, asking for alliance and even saying that WPR would be a vassal to Germany for help from them. Nobody really knew who wrote that letter and there was no answer from the Kaiser, but the mere existence of this letter, which was unauthorised with the leaders of WPR was seen as treason. All the political forces of the country instantly started blaming each other for writing this letter and for basically everything bad that happened in WPR at this point. And so, in this atmosphere of mutual destruction WPR finished it's existence when the government went into exile. Many deputies of Rada followed them to Canada, exept for some socialist and communist deputies, which decided to move to Soviet Union.

[Sargossa]

It was possibly a slow day over at the Foreign Ministry. Which is a tad odd considering how little they’d had to say about recent regional events. Little things like Graentfjall's invasion of Jabal Akhdar, Ceni and New Gelderland forming the Confederacy of the Afanc Strait and Dagan incursions into the territories to their north and the subsequent pushback from the inhabitants there. Nery a word on any of the above. But one minor story emanating from one rather major local event seemed to have caught the eye of a low-level functionary, who, without a head’s up to the minister, the communications team or anyone really, immediately called together a gaggle of equally bored media types to announce it.

‘It is important, in these times we live, to set an example for nations who are perhaps a little backward in comparison to our great and noble Republic. We, a tolerant, liberal, left-leaning autocracy must offer the hand of friendship to those who need it most. Even if their own governments, those they depend upon to protect them, will not.

‘Which is why the Greater Republic of Sargossa is offering political sanctuary to gold medal winning Leona Stewson. It is with great sadness that we see the oppression she faces in her native Eura. While we may not wholly agree with her gold medal winning lifestyle choices, ours is a nation where she would be free to make those gold medal winning lifestyle choices. Provided it’s behind closed doors and out of sight of our impressionable youth. And if, in four or so years, she happened to repay our kind, generous and benevolent gesture by donning the darker blue and winning another of those lovely gold medals that wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

‘And would you be making this offer if she wasn’t an Olympic gold medallist?’

‘Don’t be crass. Obviously, we’d make the same offer to anyone, even if they’d only won a silver medal.’

‘What about bronze?’

‘Let’s not go crazy. It was golf, not Shot Put.’

[West Phoenicia]

WP||West Phoenicia Global News

Sports || Health || Technology || Gossip || Domestic Politics || International Politics || Entertainment || World || Religion || Weather

Drama in West Phoenician basketball.

Basketball West Phoenicia is the governing sporting federation that is responsible for the development and promotion of men's and women's basketball, wheelchair basketball, 3x3 basketball, deaf basketball and water basketball.

In an exclusive interview with West Phoenician News Corp which includes Purple and Gold, the official West Phoenician Olympic Sports channel. Stephen Lang, current President of Basketball West Phoenicia announced a major shake-up in the coaching lineup as both national teams finished in third place ending their run at the Olympics and upsetting fans who were left devastated in the stands.

Present at the interview were Declan Donaldson, the men's head coach and Tuesday Nightingale, the female's head coach. Both appeared solemn and upset standing beside their respective managers as they listened to the joint statement addressed by Stephen Lang.

"If Basketball in West Phoenicia was ice cream it would be vanilla. Never as popular as Baseball, Water Polo and Cricket. The sport struggled outside of the domestic league to make a mark on the international stage. No matter how much funding the Basketball West Phoenicia and Sports West Phoenicia threw at the sport, it didn't seem to boost either team's performances.
The nation competed in several International Basketball Championships in which the nation failed to progress into any finals, no matter how loud their loyal fans screamed support from the stands. The players' hearts were in the game, but the opposition was more skilled on the courts.

At the end of 2018, Declan Donaldson and Tuesday Nightingale were hired to boost the team's performance. Both pledged with new players and additional training both basketball squads could finally enjoy some time in the sun and start placing on the world stage.
Both coaches blamed years of infighting, injuries and politics that destroyed any chance to reach the upper echelon of competition.

The hiring of new coaches and support staff did appear to revive some life in the sport for a short period.

A silver medal in the RCN regionals back in 2019 was the first sign The Scorpion team had improved.
The drought resumed until 2022 when the Scorpions, the men's team, did gain confidence and recognition in the lead-up to the Olympics.
The Scorpions placed first in the Oatland Basketball Tournament, their first international win. The joyous celebration was short-lived.

For the women's team, the highest achievement for the Black Widows was a bronze in the RCN regionals, since then like the men's team they have also been in a drought with no rain clouds in sight.

On an Olympic level, neither the men's nor women's sides are ever in medal contention. While both teams did put up a good fight in these games, both finished third in their pools. The most devastating news for the men's team was losing out in a head-to-head points difference with the nation of Juvencus.

This needs to change as Basketball West Phoenicia wishes to see the sport expand beyond the domestic leagues, which is profitable and brings in the fans during basketball season. We want to make a bigger mark on the world stage. While fault can be found in the players who play the game, the way players are selected for international tournaments and competitions will be re-examined to ensure the best are chosen.

While correcting players and building up their skills we need to take into account the people who train and manage the national teams.
While we don't like to use the word blame, managers and coaches are responsible for the grooming and growth of a team. They are the gardeners watering and pruning the rose bush so it can bloom. So unfortunately Basketball West Phoenicia has decided to part ways with team coaches Declan Donaldson and Tuesday Nightingale who have both handed their letters of resignation to the Federation.
Following in their footsteps, Nathan Montgomery and Kylie Fox, managers of both teams have also handed in their resignations believing fresh blood is needed for both teams to grow. While both have impressive resumes, both decided it was time to move on for the sake of improvement in the sport. All four will be missed and we wish them all great success in their next endeavours.
With their departure, opportunities now arise for other people to step up and lead basketball in a new and improved direction. Applications are open to all interested parties who have the right skills to lead a national team and get us out of this rut. Hopefully, new management and fresh new players mixed with seasoned players can lead to a more positive chapter in West Phoenician basketball.

This news will send shockwaves through the West Phoenician sporting world. It may even open the eyes of other Federations, giving them also an opportunity to remove those managers and coaches who are not helping their teams improve before they face similar actions.
Sports West Phoenicia has declared it is putting its foot down wanting to see a vast improvement across all team sports where West Phoenicia appears to be at its weakest.


In other news:

• Former XV Summer Olympic Games; Terranean; Electrum women's Shot Put bronze medalist Bernike Khan outdoes her previous appearance to win Gold at these Olympic Games

•Magnus Haile secures bronze in the Taekwondo- Men's 80kg after a defeat in the semi-finals sends him to the Bronze medal match
.
•A late run in the 9th inning sees West Phoenicia lose to Electrum in the Baseball pools. West Phoenicia secures a spot in the round of 16 where they will take on Vilitan Union. West Phoenicia, a fixture at the World Baseball Classic, is looking to breathe life back in the team after dropping in world rankings in the last couple of year. A win at these Games will definitely boost their self-confidence.

• Medal hopefuls Women's Tennis doubles Tiffany Love and Kim Bong-Cha brilliant performance on the courts ends with a loss against Komang Antari Kadek Andreawati of Pemecutan.
Both women vow they will be back for the next Olympics as Tiffany Love; a former Gold medalist at the Olympics vows she wants to go out on top by winning another Olympic medal before she retires.

• Triple Jump finalist Dimitria Nikolaou failed to bring home a medal, finishing in 5th place with a best score of 15.37, whixh while a good performance for Team West Phoenicia was not good enough for Dimitria.
Adding to her 5th place finish insult was an ynfortunate hamstring injury after an awkward twist during her 5th attempt.

[A Kea]

KTV

And finally, in our second Olympic participation, we celebrated a gold medal and heard our national anthem playing. Kean rowers showed that our island is a power to be taken into account in every water related sport, having won medals in most. A day after the bronze in men's quadruple sculls it was up to three rowers to try and get more medals for our nation. Manos Hatzis unfortunately was unlucky, almost capsizing his boat and finishing last with a big margin and his worst time in the competition. On the other hand, Christine Salvakou and Speranza Isidorou, who didn't ace their heat and had to make it all this way via repechage, not only managed to get their best time, but won our first and only gold for now, easily leading the entire race and leaving St Kristofian Democracy's Nikokira and Nixopodi in the 2nd position. Like this, those girls wrote history in our country's sports.

We had a very good start, and that was detrimental to our success. In the heats we were nervous and not as well prepared, but after seeing the guys winning a bronze we knew we should get everything on point for the final race, we didn't make it all this way for nothing.

says Christine

Yeah, coordination is everything, we had to get everything right for the last race, and thankfully we did it. Once we started perfectly we just had to maintain the rhythm and watch out for anyone else trying to overtake us, it was easy this time. We were lucky to have everything on our side. Finishing first with an almost 10 second difference, that was far better than what either of us could've asked for.

Said Speranza, whose picture crying while hearing the national anthem went viral shortly after the medal ceremony.
But that wasn't our last success, Morgana Kassiopi, who didn't fare well in her previous olympic participation, her peak being 45th in the heat of 100 meters, now managed to exceed all expectations. She did not only qualify for 100m final, but finished second, securing our 7th medal and 2nd ever in athletics after Kofa's bronze four years ago.

I spent all those 4 years training for this, it's so fulfilling seeing your hard work paying off. 11.40 was my best time last time, 11.39 my worst now, I only wanted to improve my time and get into a further round than the heats, but this I really couldn't even dream of. I hope Keans are as emotional and proud as I am right now. Being here and even becoming a medalist is such a unique experience I'll always treasure.

In team events, Keans still succeed. Our basketball team managed to outscore the Abovian Union and is now off to the quarterfinals, where they'll clash with Juvencus. Men's volleyball team, having just eliminated Kelssek, is going to have to face the hosts, Quebec and Shingoreyo, the very same team that eliminated us in the round of 32 four years ago. Will we manage to take revenge or history will repeat itself?
Lastly men's water polo team easily made it to the quarterfinals over Huron league and will now face off Kelssek. We beat them in voleyball but polo is another thing with both teams pretty good at it.

As for tomorrow's events, we got the 100m finals were Evangelos Pithagoras Scorsone will compete for another medal. Boxer Mihalis Sanatas has already secured a medal, what's left is to determine if he'll stick to the bronze or fight for the gold. Since Keans love boxing fights they better tune in for tomorrow's detrimental one.

[StrayaRoos]

Athletics
Jeff Kal has done it,and is into the 100m Sprint Final tomorrow night,and set a new National record of 9.94 Seconds to Qualify into the final by Virtue of Finishing as one of the Fastest non-direct Qualifiers and 6th fastest overall and is one of the Major Medal Chances for us Tomorrow
Aquatics
Alex Fiqul and Luci Ajui did well in the Technical Routine with a score of 87.5333 and 17th Place
Baseball
Not the Greatest warmup for the 55th WBC,but considering we had Quebec and Banija in our Group,it was respectable
Basketball
Our 3x3 Team beat Britonisea 14-12 in the Round of 16 with Pemecutan to play in the Quarters,which will be not ideal for us
Goalball
Absolute Disaster,top of the Group with 1 game to go,then we miss out on the Quarters

[Sargossa]

‘Good morning everyone and welcome to Day 11 of these, the 16th Olympic Games. We’re live once again from the Habpo Convention Centre in Twin Cities for what should be another fantastic day of action. And what a lot we have going on for you today. In a moment we’ll be going live just across the road from here, to Habpo Commons, for the Women’s Beach Volleyball. Where Rosita Velasquez and Tonia Sarinana will be in last sixteen action against Lisanne Faubert and Anni Moyen of Kelssek. On SargoSport 2 shortly you’ll be able to enjoy the opening heats of both the Men’s and Women’s Sprint Canoeing, from Redford Lake. And on the blue button service there’s plenty to keep you occupied with Basketball, Football, Boxing, Tennis and much more besides. We shall see medals handed out today in Cycling, Equestrian, Skateboarding, Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Weightlifting and Wrestling. Before we end the evening at the Northcote Oval, where five Athletics finals will take place. Including the crowning of the fastest woman in the sportiverse, in the final of the Women’s 100m. But first, here’s all the headlines from Day 10…’

* * * * * * * * * *

‘So that’s job down there, all three Sargossan women safely through the 200m preliminaries. Xènia Carrizales is the fastest of them, through in fourteenth place. But the placing doesn’t really matter at this stage. Certainly Talía Espinar looked to be holding something back. And who could blame her? She has a rather important engagement this evening in the 100m final. Jessenia Diaz also through, she’ll be delighted with that. So looking good on the track at the moment, but it’s a little dicey out in the field. Tell us about it Jordi.’

‘Thanks Roberto. Welcome back everyone. Unfortunately I can’t bring you much good news from this Hammer Throw qualification contest. Seventy three meters fifty is the qualification line and currently, deep into this contest, only Ula Korosec has hit that mark. So the Mytanar the only automatic qualifier so far. We’d already lost Marta Durazo, who faulted her final attempt which left her well shy of the leading pack. And we’ve just seen Gabriela Tejera finally register a legal attempt, but it was well short of were she needed to be. Thera Manriquez’s second round effort of seventy one thirty one had her well placed. But she’s gradually been edged out of the top twelve. Here she is now with her third and final attempt. At this stage I’d say something in the region of seventy one fifty would get her into tomorrow’s final. Her she goes, through the routine. The release is good! But she doesn’t look impressed. And yes, that’s shy of the seventy meters mark. That won’t do it I’m afraid. And Sargossa’s women will not advance in this event.’

* * * * * * * * * *

‘… gliding round the turn. He’s still looking so fresh. Getting a little deep into that jump but jumping back out of it without an issue. Here’s the trio of fences now. So cleanly done and it must be such a relief to get through there without the awful sound of one of them crashing down behind you. And if you’ve timed one wrong, invariably they all will go. What a performance this is from Ada Alguacil and Vivar, we thought she was good earlier but she’s showing nerves of absolutely steel in this jump-off. Cleanly over another. Pressure? What pressure? One more jump to go for what could be a golden run. And she’s over! A huge smile on the face of Ada Alguacil. She leans down to kiss Vivar on the neck. He looks entirely unfazed by the whole thing. Her teammates are punching the air. A huge marker has been laid down to the rest of this jump-off. That could be the run of an Olympic champion.’

‘What an amazing performance that was at Prescott Racecourse. It’s been eight years since Sargossa won an Equestrian medal, that was a silver for Bella Escribano in the same event, and we’ve never won a gold. Could Ada Alguacil be about to make a little bit of history? We shall be right back to the Jump Final in just a moment. But first here’s an update from Tito at the Northcote Oval. Tito?’

‘Where it’s not good news. All three Sargossan competitors drawn in Heat 5 of these 1,500m preliminaries. And in what was a pretty quick heat they finished seventh, eighth and twelfth. The Men’s 1,500m challenge has been wiped out in the space of one heat.’

* * * * * * * * * *

‘I’m delighted to be joined in the studio by an actual history maker. For the first time Sargossa has a team in the Skateboarding events. And Ismael Covarrubias took on the world in the Men’s Park event and only went and won the gold medal. How did that feel?’

‘Amazing. I’m still in shock now. To see that score after my first run was something that will stay with me for a very long time.’

‘I bet it will. Tell me though, for those of us unfamiliar with the sport, there are two different skateboarding events in the Olympics, what are the differences?’

‘Well in the park event, that’s my event, your have the vertical sides and the bowl shapes on which to perform your tricks. As if you were in a skatepark back home. In the street event, the other event, you're doing tricks on items you might encounter on your everyday street. Benches, railings and the like.’

‘I see. Forgive me, but you don’t sound like I’d expect a champion skateboarder to sound.’

‘I know, weird isn’t it? It’s almost as if the doughy, middle-class, thirty something from the Home Counties who is currently writing this has absolutely no frame of reference to draw upon.’

‘I see. So, we should probably stop there I guess.’

‘I would.’

* * * * * * * * * *

‘… and another one finds a way though. This is an absolutely stunning performance. The seconds are ticking away and Mía Morterero is in full control of this bronze medal match-up. 10 – 2 she leads in this third round against Juvencus’ Francesca Pia Cremonesi. There doesn’t look any way back for her opponent, that semi-final defeat seems to have taken it all out of her. There’s no fight left. Oh! There it is! A spinning kick finds the side of Cremonesi's helmet. Beautifully executed and four more points for Morterero. There’s seconds to go. Cremonesi’s attempt at an offense is fended off. And there it is! Mía Morterero, you’re an Olympic medallist! She throws her helmet in the air. She’s come through the repechage to win the nation’s first Taekwondo medal in sixteen years. What a run.’

‘That was a little while ago, a terrific effort there from Mía Morterero. That’s a second medal of the day for Sargossa, after Ada Alguacil’s gold in the Individual Jumping. And further medal chances to come in both the Boxing and Athletics. Now, if you’ve joined us for the Athletics, that’s now on SargoSport 2. The schedule is always a little fluid when it comes to the Games. Instead, we’re going live to Daehakro and the Yongma College Aquatics Centre. We’ve spoken before about the improvement we’ve seen in the Diving contingent in these Games. And today there was a hope that either Gonzalo Perez or Rodrigo Campa could continue that improvement by qualifying for the final of the Men’s 3m Springboard. Well, they’re currently both pulling out the performances of their careers. After three rounds they are first and second in the semi-final. So we’re going to join them. Taking you through the rest of the action it’s Christian Loera and Clara Mondego.’

* * * * * * * * * *

‘Huge noise as Ada Lim gees up the crowd. Fifth attempt for the Electrumite in this Triple Jump final. Currently sat in fourth place. Here she comes. It’s got good distance! Oh, but it’s also got a red flag. A shake of the head from Lim. No change for her yet.’

‘Thanks Jordi, that Triple Jump will continue but we’re going down to the track for the big one. It’s the final of the Women’s 100m. The fastest woman alive will be crowned tonight at the Northcote Oval. Talking you through all the action will be Tito Santana.’

‘Welcome back everyone. The atmosphere in this arena is electric tonight. Here are the women in tonight’s final. Katrine Oates goes in lane one for Brookstation. Like all but one of these women she was in 200m action earlier today, making it safely though into the first round. And here’s Talía Espinar next to her, in the familiar dark blue of Sargossa. National champion over this distance and gold medallist from the Global Athletics Tour Final in Orean. Continuing the Rushmori theme is the great Euran hope, Amber Keane. A silver medallist in the 200m four years ago. She needed a fastest qualifier spot to advance in the 200m earlier, having finished fourth in her heat. Perhaps holding something back for this. Listen to the ovation as the camara stops on Jarrah Belmonte. The home favourite and fastest qualifier into this final. She crashed out of the earlier 200m, but she’ll have a huge change to make amends here in her stronger event. In line five it’s Marya Halm representing the ABEN Union. She should be fresh, as the only one of this field not to have run in the 200m this morning. Pemecutan’s Dewa Ayu Wiranti runs in lane six. Mia Morton, the second of the Eurans is next. The Eurans always strong in the sprint events. And A Kea’s Morgana Kassiopi completes the line-up.

‘A hush descends upon the Northcote Oval as they take their places in the starting blocks. And they’re away first time. Great start from Belmonte but not from Keane. Espinar in the mix too. Belmonte and Kassiopi. To the line! Oh wow! That will need some sorting out. There’s a lot of anxious faces looking at the big screen as backstage the officials with be looking at the hundredths of seconds. Belmonte and Kassiopi were in there to the death for gold. While anyone of five women may have taken the bronze, including Talía Espinar. These will be long moments for these athletes. But the roar from the crowd tells you everything you need to know. Electrum’s Jarrah Belmonte is the Olympic champion! It’s a huge silver medal for Morgana Kassiopi and A Kea. Little emotion shown from her, as you’d expect. But Talía Espinar leaps into the air! The tiniest of tiny margins separating her from Oates and Wiranti, but there it is for all to see. It’s a bronze medal for Talía Espinar and Sargossa!’

[Pemecutan]

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Soma Umanis Wuku Medangkungan, Pawukon 1783

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Introspection for Gymnactics

Twin Cities - Gymnastics, is not a strange word or sport for Pemecutanian. Although it is still less popular than aquatics and athletics but it's getting more and more noticeable. The reason, their Olympic medal winning in trampoline. However, in this edition, trampoline failed to give them medal. Weda Putri Purnami unable to reached her performance like she used to when she surprisingly win a medal. But the other disciplines have not performed better too.

At their first participation in the XIV edition, gymnastics was not counted as medal contenders sport. And it can be seen from the result. None of them reached final. And gymnastics brought home a zero medal. They were once again tested at Games of the Melayu Olympiad where Pemecutan become the co-host. The result was impressive. The athletes even won several gold. But still, the competitiveness of the event was far lower than Olympics. The team gets their second chance by entering the XV edition. It resulted in the first medal from gymnastics. What makes it even more surprising is the medal was a gold. Artistic discipline also made a breakthrough with Made Dwi Andika were able to reached 2 final events. Although his final performances were not as good as the qualifying which makes Andika failed to win any medal. The rhythmic however still without any progress. While in this edition of Olympics, the athletes once again failed to impressed. Even the medal is failed to defend. With only rhythmic left, could they make another surprise?

Pemecutan Gymnastics Association (PGA) as the governing body is still proud of their athletes. The association spokesperson notified Made Dwi Andika and Jonathan Yowana who were success to reached in more final event. Although their performance were still lower than the other finalists. This is something to be noted. The progress that they've made is need to be improve again in the next edition. However, they also take a note with the failed trampoline. It is an unfortunate result. The spokesperson said that they would evaluate the results after they back to the country. When they were asked about the rhythmic chance, the spokesperson said they don't give any target. "It doesn't mean that we are hopeless about them but we don't want to give more pressure," said the spokesperson. The rhythmic discipline is begin their events on the 14th day. So they are still have plenty of time to prepare their performance.

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Other News

• ARTISTIC SWIMMING, Putu Ayundari/Yulia Widarsih success to scored second best in their technical routine.
• ATHLETICS, First 4 athletes to reached final are unable to optimized their opportunity.
• BASKETBALL, The men's 3x3 team success to defeat Hannasean Federation team with only 1 point to advance to quarterfinal. Waisnor is waiting for them in the next round.
• BADMINTON, Vina Prajoso/Lidya Wedari prepare for their semifinal match. Could they make a surprise?
• BOXING, Targaroha success to reached final for the second consecutive time.
• CANOEING, One canoeing team failed to reached semifinal while the other three success to advance.
• CYCLING, The track team preparing for their events. One medal is their target.
• DIVING, Komang Yudha Trisnanda failed to defend his medal after he failed to qualify to the semifinal round.
• GYMNASTICS, Artistic failed to win a medal after Jonathan Yowana and Made Dwi Andika unable to perform better in their last medal events.
• TAEKWONDO, Silvia Yanuri made breakthrough after losing in repechage round. Hopefully, her success could inspire the other athletes.
• TENNIS, Putu Adi Palguna and double pair, Putu Listya Dewi/Putu Ayu Maherani lost in Round 16. Tennis medal race is now in the hand of Dewa Putu Adrian Putra and double pair, Komang Antari/Kadek Andreawati.
• WEIGHTLIFTING, Sulistyo Hadi Purnomo success to add another silver for the country and 4th medal in weightlifting.

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Honorable Mention Day 11
Putu Darma Ginada
Finalist - Men's 10,000m (Athletics)
Putu Arya Putra
Finalist - Men's High Jump (Athletics)
Dewa Ayu Wiranti
Finalist - Women's 100m (Athletics)
Sandra Apsari
Finalist - Women's Shot put (Athletics)
Jonathan Yowana
Finalist - Men's Parallel bars (Gymnastics artistic)
Made Dwi Andika
Finalist - Men's Horizontal bars (Gymnastics artistic)
Kurimila Duwanimara
Semifinalist - Women's 3000m Steeplechase (Athletics)

[Kriegiersien]

Kriegiersien games are coming to an end.

After the last final in Kriegiersien Football, where the Schoenwetter Capitals beat the Scorpion City Patriots with only two dead, one of them a spectator, the competitions are done.

After that a massive party with too loud music and drunken dancing ends the event.
The spectacle ended with 3000 trophies and 9001 medals given away and multiple new records, like in the ‘100 km run with beer barrels' or ‘Speedoversleeping the event’.
“In my time”, local resident Scrooge Humbug told an annoying newspaper reporter “we didn’t make silly parties after useless sport events. We worked our asses of to work even harder later. We even did win some wars at the time. Now every one is just having fun. Disgusting.”


Tomorrow the athletes will, as tradition demands, clean up the mess and the whole facilities.

Mirya Bratwurst, former Olympic Curling Champion, starting here as Disc Jockey (playing Discgolf on a horse) and the Goalkeeper of the Schoenwetter Wasps, who had a clean sheet in the Scorpionballfinal, are seen as favourites for this.




Meanwhile at the Olympics the men’s Waterpolo team needed an Overtime to beat Quebec and Shingoryeo and reach the Quarter-Final against Juvencus.

As predicted the Kriegiersiens played with excessive violence and lost any rest of affection of the neutral viewers, while the home crowd rampaged about the behaviour of the Kriegiersiens.

When Quebec scored the equalizer short before the end, everyone was happy and hoped for a better end for the host.
But against the rules of karma the Kriegiersien team scored the decisive goal in Overtime thanks to Kiaan ‘The Butcher’ Alexander.

While no one was happy about the outcome outside of Kriegsieren, the nations Killerwaterballcommunity at the TVs at home was, after the women didn’t made it out of the Group stage, satisfied.


Other ball playing teams left from Kriegiersien are the title defending Baseball team playing against Liventia in the round of 16, the women’s Handball team, who also as Gold medal winner dismantled Brookstation 34–24 and are now facing Mytanija in the round of 8 and the men’s Volleyball team who had an absolute thriller against The Sarian, beating them in the fifth set 19-17 and now playing against Chromatika.

Birgit Berlin and Adriana Nederland, who ended only third at the Kriegiersien championships and were knocked out in the Group stage as last of their group in the International Beach Tour, were surprisingly able to reach the quarter finals in Beach Volleyball, after beating Corbadzic/Arzic from Mytanija in two straight sets.

“Since we are not living together in Schoenwetter anymore, we were able to improve and enhance the team spirit”, Adriana Nederland said, who had left to Beach City in the south after an argument between the two friends about tooth paste had gone out of hand.
“We are not in the same rooms here either, that helps a lot”, confirmed Birgit.


There was also the first bronze medal in boxing after Juliette Ulan was pummelled by Josipa Opacak from Mytanija so hard that she couldn’t be glad about her medal for hours at all, Ephrael Sankt who won bronze in Taekwondo and Strong Soldier with silver in Equestrian, Individual jumping.

Like in gymnastic, were multiple times athletes had the same scores and got the same medal, here 7 Equestrians had the same score, two of them Kriegiersien ponies, all with zero mistakes. Ingeniously in this sport the time decided who would win what medal and who would win nothing.

After a short period of waiting, with tension like in the final of a beauty contest in the air, because the official time display was broken, it was Myst Flicker who was declared fifth getting nothing, while Strong Soldier had won Silver, patting and rewarding his fellow weight on his back.



At last the women’s goalball team made it out as first in the group stage and are now facing Eura in the quarter-final.
For the young team, that last year started in their sport at the Kriegiersien Games, where half of the squad won the title with the Schoenwetter Moles, this is the maybe unique chance to win an Olympic medal and may it be just in a demonstration event.

[Brookstation]

One for the nation
Part-11

by Jeremiah Rhodes

STILL GOOD WITH RACQUETS
NICK ADAMS CONTINUES TO DELIVER, PLATZER AND VOGELS FAIL TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY

Racquet sports have always held a special place in Brookstation. Be it tennis, table tennis or badminton,all these sports have held a higher value in Brookstation. Apart from the popular mainstream outdoor games, these racquet sports make their spot next in the most popular sports in Brookstation. Thus it is safe to assume that there has always been some hopes in these sports. The previous edition saw Brookstation win a silver in badminton and things were just made better after Brett Vogels' and Anne Platzer's gold. However, Brookstation's hopes of getting a second medal in table tennis were shattered after a disappointing double exit by both the men and women's team. Hank Nesteng and Brett Vogels had done a pretty good job when it came to fighting against the Juven team and the match continued at a pretty smooth rate until the fourth set where the Brook team completely blew it up. The team from Juvencus easily dominated the game with Paquito Lecce playing a crucial role in helping his team gain the win, especially with his more creative backhand shots. Nevertheless, instead of crying over split milk, we should instead appreciate the efforts of the table tennis team in making it this far.

Even if the table didn't favour us, the lawn did. Tennis has been one of the most rapidly growing sports in the nation and the fact that Brookstation's overall record in tennis bettered by the day meant that there were hopes of a medal in the sport. As things stand right now, competition has become more focused around Alexios Lakovakis as Georgios Tiskas had to bid goodbye to the Olympics after a close matchup with Giampaolo Del Río of Juvencus where Del Río ended victorious after gaining a slight advantage over Tiskas in the final set. To cover up for Tiskas however, Alexios continued with his streak after yet another closely fought battle with Putu Adi Palguna of Pemecutan. Alexios, a player who specializes in grass faced some disadvantage playing in the indoor court since the beginning of the tournament but he seems to be improving every time. Palguna was not an opponent to be underestimated in any way whatsoever and as Alexios admits himself, it was one of the most difficult matches of his career. Palguna displayed dominance in the first set, allowing Alexios to win only 2 games compared to his 6. Alexios however made a comeback at the proper time to save the day for himself after reversing the scoreline. The final set succeeding two largely biased sets was imperative to be very intense. Both Lakovakis and Palguna fought till their last breathes and all of Alexios' backhands were easily reflected by Palguna making it more difficult for Alexios to stay on the court. Alexios' only advantage in the game was his mental advantage over Palguna due to which Alexios was able to read most of Palguna's following moves. After a intensely fought third set and over two hours of play, Alexios finally emerged victorious. Alexios, who has been eliminated from the doubles (something that was considered his strength) will now seek to cover up for his disappointment in the singles category.

On the other hand, the women continued with their dominating performance as Xanthou and Kelesdou cruised past Alezian Harina Maqqitani and Draga Artanova after another easy win. The match under discussion was the most high scoring match of the day and thus it provided wholesome entertaiment to the viewers. The Brook pair was again put to the test after being defeated in the first set by a narrow margin. But both Xanthou and Kelesdou bringing a lot of experience with them, made a comeback like Alexios and managed to get the second set to their name. The third set however displayed teamwork at it's best as I happened to witness one of the most one sided sets in my career. 10-1 is not an ideal score in any sport and speaking of such a score in tennis would basically be a massive hoax. But Mirella and Styliani's professionalism on the court made it possible for them to end in style to advance one step nearer to a medal.

Nick Adams displayed another beautiful performance over Krytenian Christian Stone to make it to yet another quarter finals after making it already to the doubles semi final. Adams wasnt bestowed with the same luck last time and the singles event had been a pretty disappoitning one for the best badminton player of Brookstation. This time however, Adams had come prepared with a lot more effort invested in himself. Adams simply cruised past Stone, winning the first and third games with relative ease by a pretty large margin. The second set would've also gone in Adams' favour had it not been for Stone's last moment comeback to get a narrow advantage over Adams. Adams will now face Aleksi Marttila of the Alezian Union and making it past would Marttila would more or less consolidate Adams' chances for a medal. Adams will play his semi final match along with Gary Hefferman tomorrow and hopefully the pair can make it to the final and guarantee Brookstation another medal.

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Tomorrow is going to be one of the busiest days for Brookstation with the day filled with events where Brookstation has a chance of grabbing a medal. Starting with the 3000 m steeplechase where both Tai Shan and Stephan Reinold will be competing for a medal followed by the women's discus throw event which has become one of the biggest hopes for the nation following an amazing set of results from both Niki Green and Sarah Juric. Canoeing also has become a sport where Brookstation has done way better in the qualifications than expected and hopefully a new sport will be added to the list of medalled sports for Brookstation. Following a heartbreaking exit of the men's football team after an extra time loss to the Vilitan Union, the women's team will take on Darmen to hopefully cover up the dust spread by the men's team.

Apart from Adams and Hefferman, two other Olympic medallists will make their appearances tomorrow. Mary Briggs, Brookstation's most successful boxer who won bronze last time will make her comeback in the semi finals and hopefully this time make it past to the finals to get something better. Klaus Fischer, Brookstation's only candidate in wrestling last year who made it all the way to the finals to gain silver will return tomorrow to fight in the men's 57 kg wrestling category. With one of the most exciting days ahead of us, I leave you all here. Signing off, Jeremiah.

[Hannasea]

What’s hot and what’s not for Team Hannasea at the 16th Summer Olympics?

SCORCHIO!

This has been the most successful Olympics ever for Hannasea's divers. After Hannah Price and Skye Berry took gold in the 10 m platform synchro, Rose Wallace followed it up with a bronze in the individual 3 m springboard, with a sensational reverse 2½ somersault on her final dive to climb into medal position. Rose's performance was especially remarkable as she is not actually an Olympic diver, merely an incredibly clumsy spectator who repeatedly tripped and fell off the diving board (in heats, again in semifinals, and again in the final) while walking past the pool.

Boiling

Vanessa Aguirre is quietly climbing the charts of all-time top scorers at the Olympics. The Black Sticks midfielder scored 4 goals in the rout of Natanians and Nosts, with three trademark penalty corners plus a well taken field goal. Emilia Tanner scored twice, Kassy Abraham converted a penalty corner during an Aguirre substitution phase, and there were goals for Niamh Murphy and captain Bethany Cook, but it was the electric left midfielder who starred. Aguirre, Hannasea's top scorer at the previous two Olympics, admits this may be her last tournament, but appears not to be done scoring, having guided the team to a round of 16 playoff game as they fight to defend their gold from four years ago.

Hotter than that one scene in The Bling Ring

Nathan Harper is no longer Hannasea's leading Olympic medallist, having been overtaken by gymnast Lily York as she defended her floor crown, but the butterfly king can still look back on a highly successful Games, with two individual gold medals and a relay bronze. Harper's prodigious wingspan has made him a viral hit during the Olympics, with Hannasean fans clustering in groups for him to put his arms around for a selfie: his current record is 8 adoring TeamHF supporters from fingertip to fingertip.

Bit chilly

Flag bearer Cora Davidson finished 32nd in the qualifying for the women's skeet and did not advance to the final. She is proud of a "very successful" Olympics because she didn't accidentally shoot anyone in the face, which given how poor Hannasean shooting has generally been is something of a win. A heavily limping Emily Palmer, wearing an enormous bandage on her foot, couldn't report quite such success in the 25 m pistol event.

Brrrrrrrr

Not the best preparation for decathlete Tom Nicholson, who has been busy in training for his event. Sources close to the Hannasean camp say that while he knew he had to compete in ten disciplines, he hadn't been told which ten events and had spent all his time practising ping pong. One hasty pole vaulting lesson later reportedly has Nicholson reconsidering the wisdom of his event choice.

Absolute brass monkeys

Continuing the theme of a disorganized lead-in to the track and field, historically a sport Hannasea has not done well in, Charlie Andrews is said to be under investigation by anti-corruption authorities for attempting to bribe judges in the men's hammer throw competition with gifts of nails. Andrews was selected for TeamHF after bribing selectors with similar gifts of bags full of nails, but there's some suggestion cash might have been better received. "Well, when all you've got is a hammer..." says Andrews.

[Vilitan Union]

Golden Shot: Brinto Omniron claims Second Gold of XVI Games
Shooter becomes first Vilitan athlete to win 2 individual Golds in a single Summer Olympiad

Monument to Pacifism Centre, Prescott, Electrum :: The name Brinto Omniron has long been associated with outstanding marksmanship in the Vilitan Union. As a young athlete competing at the 12th Summer Olympiad in Kelssek and Vekaiyu, Omniron became the first multi-event shooter to represent the Vilitan Union at the Olympic Games taking part in the majority of the competitions from Pistols to Rifles and even the Trap competition. While Omniron was best known for their skill with a Pistol - in particular the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol discipline, limited space in the team dormitory's and limited support for shooting as an Olympic discipline within the Vilitan Union would result in just 9 Shooters being invited to contest 20 different events across the Men's and Women's Competitions.

Men's 10 m air pistol

1 Brinto Omniron (VLT)
2 Mathis Maillot (LFD)
3 Konstantinos Avgerinou (AKE)

Men's 25 m rapid fire pistol

1 Brinto Omniron (VLT)
2 Anidor ben Adrastos (IOU)
3 Preston Rodgers (EUR)

Omniron's first ever appearance in Olympic competition would come in Kelssek in the 10m Air Pistol and it was a fantastic debut. After missing a handful of shots in the first two series, Omniron was a model of consistency over the final stretch never missing by more than a single ring from center. The Vilitan Union shooter had narrowly made it through in the Top 8 to advance to the Final in their first ever Olympic competition. Unfortunately the pressure of a Medal Final on their first day of Olympic Competition was ultimately too great and Omniron finished 8th of the 8 Finalists.

From there, Omniron's grueling Olympic Schedule took them to events which were not their specialty with a poor showing in the Air Rifle competition and an absolutely abysmal performance in Mens Trap - at least compared with the world class athletes they were going head to head with. It was all just a distraction, however, for the real competition that Omniron was there for - the Men's 50m Pistol.

Once again it was a slow start for Omniron - perhaps the distraction of the additional events on the schedule or once again just feeling out the environment, Omniron's first series was by far their worst and it was a real exhibition in shooting from then on, posting the highest score of any shooter over the final five series to qualify second overall behind Quebecois shooter Thanh Ahn Vu.

While Vu ran off to a seemingly easy gold medal in the Final, Omniron kept their wits well enough to advance to a silver-medal shoot-off with Elosqir nos Vandriel. While Omniron's single-shot narrowly missed the center ten, the Bronze medal earned was still enough to make them the first ever Men's Shooting Medalist for the Vilitan Union.

Omniron's second Olympic Games appearance came in the Free Republics at the XIII Olympiad but the shooter failed to adapt as well to the more militant environment in Republica where the top spots were filled with local Colonel's and Major Generals of the Republican Order. Omniron did not advance to a single final and had the in-distinction of finishing dead last in the Men's Trap competition. After the thrill of medalling in Kelssek, Republica was a massive let-down for the entire Vilitan Union shooting team. The team would train hard to improve their form for a return to the games in Orean and Istria for the XIV Olympiad. Right from the start, Omniron was strong posting scores of 99 in four of the first five series in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. Unfortunately the field was extremely strong and a single wayward shot in the final series was the difference between advancing to the final or not as Omniron fell to 12th in the standings right at the end. It was a similar story in the Rapid Fire 25m Pistol where once again Brinto started out with a 99 but struggled late in the session to fall 3 points short of the Final.

Despite not making the Final during any events at the XIV Olympiad, Omniron was boosted by their competitiveness and would work hard on consistency moving into the XV Games in Electrum. After a poor showing in the Air Pistol, however, the pressure was on in Rapid Fire. Once again, Omniron was in a qualifying position but faltered in the last series - falling one point short of the Top 6 as both Omniron and teammate Matse Izlstarina tied on 588 - a single point outside the Final. It was a devastating blow to the Vilitan Union shooting team with both of their star competitors so close yet so far to reaching a medal final. With the Vilitan Union now having been shut out ever since their first Shooting Medals earned during the XII Games, many wondered if the Olympic Shooting programme in the Vilitan Cove should be continued any further.

Despite being threatened with reduced funding and even elimination from the Vilitan Union Olympic Catalog, Omniron and the Vilitan marksmen pressed on with their training for the 16th Summer Olympic Games. Thanks to some campaigning on twii.tur, the team earned the support they needed from the Vilitan Union Olympic Committee and sponsorship from the Vilisorma Beverage Company's latest product: Vilaye BOOM!. Omniron and team Vilitan Union arrived in Prescott ready for action and it showed. The extra preparation was visible from the outset as Omniron sat just out of the Top 8 heading into the final series in the Men's 10m air pistol. While historically Omniron struggled to keep their composure over the final 10 shots, this time - Brinto Omniron was perfect. For the first time at the Olympic Games the scoreboard flashed 100 for Omniron who climbed from 14th place up to second - advancing to the Final for the first time since their debut at the Olympic Games.

With the stakes raised and the measurements cut down into tenths, Omniron was nearly flawless scoring 10 or higher on every individual shot taken - the only athlete to do so. Completely in the zone, Omniron would breeze through to the end of the competition head to head with Lacfroid's Mathis Maillot for the Gold. Omniron was already ahead on total points but outshot Maillot regardless to claim the Gold Medal. It would be the first ever Gold Medal not only for Omniron, but also for any Vilitan Union men's shooter at the Olympic Summer Games.

With the confidence of a Gold Medal winning performance behind them, Omniron would shift focus to what many believed to be their best competition - the 25 m rapid fire pistol. It was more about consistency than pizazz for Omniron this time out - narrowly advancing to the final over The Sarian's Finn Kindvandafyd. Once there, however, Omniron was once again on the top of their game. This time, Omniron had to come from behind and climb above each of the shooters that came before them - successfully doing just that in eclipsing Ioudaia's Anidor ben Adrastos with consecutive perfection in the final two series. Omniron would become the Vilitan Union's first ever multi-gold athlete in shooting and just the 15th Vilitan Union athlete of all time to win multiple gold medals in any discipline, across any length of time and the first ever Vilitan Union athlete of any discipline to earn two individual Gold Medals in a single Summer Olympic Games.

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[Britonisea]

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OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT (LIVE INTERVIEWS ONLY)

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Today At The Games
Games of the XV Olympiad
Day Eleven

The opposite to "At The Games: Sunrise" is this show, which will be presented by Nicky Samuels and Sandra Nicholls. Nicky Samuels is one of Britonisea's biggest news presenters and a highly popular figure amongst younger people in the country. With a large online presence of over 1.5 million subscribers on Instagram alone, she definitely has a loud of appeal, probably done to her humour and the warmth that she gives off - but can also get into the nitty-gritty of an issue to find out a solution to it. She will be bringing that to the Olympic Games in Electrum and Quebec & Shingoryeo as they analyse the best performances from Britonisea and the wider ABEN delegation and also the performances that didn't quite live up to standard. Joining her Sandra Nicholls who is a talented presenter with lots of experience behind her.

The studios of Today At The Games is in Doportedas, Britonisea.

Today has been another riveting day at the ABEN Union's most successful Olympic Games (so far). Directly comparing the Games to last editions, the Union is two gold medals ahead of its XV Games total and around 7 medals in total ahead. With ABEN knocking on 30 medals' door and with a week left to go until the closing ceremonies, there is a lot of excitement about how far the Union can go. The ABEN Union's medal target is 14 golds - and the Union is nearly there at 11. There's another target of 38 medals in total and the Union is only nine medals away - thunder and lighting, it's getting exciting! The Union has seen two silver medalists for Estogium, which was needed considering they haven't won a silver medal yet. While there were some bad results for Britonisea, including Marya Halm finishing penultimate in the Women's 100m and Britonisea's amazing 3x3 male team being beaten by StrayaRoos, the country could celebrate Charley Alexandria's bronze medal in the BMX Cycling especially after the sport's funding was cut following his and Jojo's poor result at the Games prior. Jojo finished in fourth place, thus missing out on the opportunity to get on that podium. Britonisea's poster boy for Olympic sport and flagbearer, Ivor Watkins, wins himself his second ever gold medal - but now in the Men's parallel bars with a score far ahead of the rest of the field. With Britonisea feeling immensely proud of the achievements of Watkins and Alexandria at these Games, the studio was feeling light and upbeat today!

Live from the back of some random pub in Electrum

Sandra Nicholls: Right, so today we're going to have some live interviews outside of the arena - yes, that's something we don't do too often, do we! BMX Cycling is a sport on the rise amongst young people across Britonisea and two of those youngsters are Jojo Johnson and Charley Alexandria. It's been quite a fantastic day at the BMX track today with Jojo and Charley coming first and second in their semi-final. It meant that Britonisea was the only nation to have two men in that final and would you look at that one of them got themselves on the podium. I am joined today but our superstar upstart, live from Electrum - it's Charley Alexandria! Hello, how are you doing?!

Charley Alexandria: I am doing great, I'm so happy to have done well at these Games!

Sandra Nicholls: I am happy for you too, Charley! Congratulations. Now I wanted to bring you back a year. Day 10 of the Games, we showed you on the show Mission: Aurum as one of the hopefuls for the XV Olympic Games in Electrum. We knew to keep an eye on you because we were sure that you were going to do great things for Britonisea and look at that - you are now an Olympic medallist! Could you put into words how you feel about your journey over the past year to get to this point?

Charley Alexandria: Yeah, I mean. Leaving Electrum at the last Olympics left a bitter taste in my mouth. I loved being in Electrum and the people were great and whatever but at the same time I honest thought that I was going to do much better than I did, you know. I had unfinished business in this country! Perhaps that was the pressure that I had, especially because I knew that funding could be cut - it was a long time since Britonisea had gotten a medal from BMX and I couldn't perform as well as I did. I've been working really hard to make sure that I made the podium or at least got to the finals alongside Jojo and from there it was a matter of who was the better man.

Sandra Nicholls: You spoke about Jojo and the relationship that you have with him. Obviously, a lot of pressure must've been felt on him, especially on his birthday week! He did really well during the Semi-Finals and came first in the second race, how is he doing and how have you helped one another?

Charley Alexandria: Me and Jojo are cool, he's so happy that I've won the medal and he's okay to say you know...make the best man win. He did really well in the Semi-Finals and that's great, but when it came to the final race, I was on the ball. I already came third three times so I knew how to come third and did just that in the final! Throughout the year me and Jojo have been supporting each other mad. He's been my rock especially because we had shared experiences from, you know, being knocked out in both our semi-finals last Olympics. It's great that were able to both make a Semi-final.

Sandra Nicholls: How do you think Telm City is celebrating your victory?

Charley Alexandria: Well, I hope that all of them back in Telm are having a party in my name haha. I know that my family and friends who couldn't come here are having a big party in Telm and hope that everyone from that city is proud of the medal that I'm bringing back home to them. I remember speaking about Telm last year during Mission:Aurum and that the love I have for that place, at the end of the day it made me who I am and I'm so proud of that.

Sandra Nicholls: And final question for you...how are you going to celebrate, I can see you're already at the pub!

Charley Alexandria: Hahahaha, you know me I love a drink-up, I wasted no time finding the first place to get the shots in!

Sandra Nicholls: Well, I will leave you to it! Thank you very much Charley and I hope you enjoy your drink!

Charley Alexandria: Drinks, plural! I'll see you later!

Sandra Nicholls: (to the camera) quite the camera he is, what an amazing man! Right, let's catch up with the results from the skateboarding - a certain Estogium managed to bring home a silver medal for the ABEN Union and Estogium...let's have a look!

We then saw clips of the skateboarding competition that happened with Gillian Manning and the moment she won the silver medal. After that, we then moved onto the men's gymnastics which had taken place in Quebec and Shingoryeo. Going into the competition, it was somewhat expected that Ivor Watkins would be on top form especially after just missing out in the men's individual final however he was able to bring it home, winning a gold medal with a score of 15.600 almost .600 points ahead of second place.

Live from some posh cafe somewhere in Quebec and Shingoryeo

Sandra Nicholls: Finally, we have a superstar who, in only a couple of hours, has managed to have a wash and get changed to meet up in a posh cafe for a chat. He is the XV Olympic Champion in the Men's Floor Routine and now he's the XVI Olympic Champion of the Men's Parallel Bars - the flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, it's Ivor Watkins! Hello Ivor! Thank you for having a quick chat with us today. You must be on cloud nine, right?

Ivor Watkins: Ahhhhh! Yes, I am having the time of my life, honestly! I've won another gold medal?? At a different Olympic Games?! I mean, I don't know why I'm this surprised like, I've worked so hard to get here and ever since I won gold at the past Olympics in Electrum, I was working so hard to get another medal. I, obviously, wanted the all-around medal and thought I was doing pretty well until the score that we shan't mention. BUT to actually come back from that and do well at these Games...I'm just so thrilled like wow!

Sandra Nicholls: I just want to put this into perspective for you, Ivor, because what you've done is an amazing thing. Britonisea, in the past, hasn't had the best time at the Olympics and so the number of gold medals that we've won...a bit sparse. When thinking about Britonish medals alone, apart from the Men's synchronised swimmers, you are the only Britonish person...get this..to win more than one gold medal at the Olympics... and others have come close...Peter P Larry, gold - silver and bronze...Elizabeth Quehall the same, the men's water polo team too...Bibianna Geronimo...! How does that make you feel?

Ivor Watkins: WHAT! Wow! That's such a great achievement, oh my gosh, that's something that I can tell my friends and family - that's a cute fact! No, really I'm so pleased at that. Again, I really tried to get another gold medal and I'm well happy that that's paid off really. I hope, though, some of the gold medallists from the last Games gets another! Come and join the squad...me and the synchronised swimming boys!

Sandra Nicholls: Certainly a squad I'd love to be in! It was only the other day that your Legends Never Die programme was shown on Day 5 - check it out Britonisea if you haven't watched it yet! There, you speak about your relationship with your father, Joseph Watkins...how is he doing?

Ivor Watkins: I worry about my old man's health - the way he's been celebrating! No, he's as fit as a fiddle really. He's so proud of me and it's a great feeling when your father is proud like that...the look on his face when the Britonish anthem was played...he had a tear in his eye and that really proved to me that he cared for me, definitely. I love him and the things that he's done to see me excel in my career, it's amazing. These medals are certainly for him.

Sandra Nicholls: Well, our correspondents in Britonisea will be having a much longer interview with you and fans of you will be able to check that out later when it gets uploaded to our YouTube page! Thank you so much Ivor for the chat and I hope to see you back next year!

Ivor Watkins: Most definitely!

~~

[Banija]

That team sport success- Banijan men's basketball, soccer, lead the ratings as Banijan teams advance in those competitions


Banijan basketball players during a win at the XVI Summer Olympic Games

PRESCOTT, ELECTRUM- It's not the team sports that drive the medal count, that much we know. With those sports being the far less lucrative ones in terms of medal count, and their major world championships being the more prestigious events in many of their sports, the Olympiad can be an afterthought. But what goes against them, also goes for them- at least in Banija, these drive both eyeballs and interest. There's a connection to them, we know their names, we know the players- and we want Olympic success as well as world championship success. And, of course, a little drama filled action on these fields definitely help things along, don't they? Let's start with men's soccer, that is U23+3 at these Olympic Games...

Men's Soccer

Of course, Olympic soccer is quite different than senior level soccer. How do we know, of course? There's only one person on this roster, who made the senior squad for the AOCAFs- and that is Aquila Hongo, the young, vibrant, central midfielder. He's gonna get a ton of caps this summer for country, we're sure that his club, Istria City FC, will be in love with the fact that he's gonna pick up so many minutes. He doesn't necessarily start for the senior NT, however, although that means absolutely no break between the end of the Olympiad and the start of the next club season for him.

Anyways, how have things gone for the Vijana Kadongo Kamu so far? This young team, made up mostly of players that Pam Scott wants to evaluate before World Cup Qualifiers, has conducted themselves well at these Games so far, in Electrum. The vast majority of them putting on the NT shirt for the very first time, responding well to the pressure that comes playing for Banija. We opened the tournament, the group stages of this tournament, with a solid, 2-1 win over Kelssek. A late goal from Oboyo Okombo, off the bench, gave us all three points in that contest. Then, another 2-1 win, this time over Darmen, on the senior matchday. That one was far less dramatic- with both of our goals coming early, and us defending like mad late. While we lost our third group stage match by the same score, and had a 3 way tie atop the group with 6 points each, we went through on Goals For, and went into the knockouts.

All three of our first three games, tight contests. Of course, these Olympic matchups are always chaotic. U23 teams rarely get to meet, and with the Olympics being such a rare occurrence.. Anything can happen on any given day. We were against a fantastic footballing nation of Mytanija, and we had a fierce, physical matchup. High skill and quality across the pitch, both sides looking like they're going to have bright futures. But it was our squad who would triumph. A 77th minute goal by the aforementioned Aquila Hongo was enough to give us a 1-0 win, and put us into the quarterfinals- with Vangaziland as our opponent.

Now this, well- it had all the drama. Vangaziland ran ahead to a 2-0 lead, with only some truly jaw-dropping saves from Obuto Ooro keeping them from running us out of the building. But then, a stunning 57th minute red card, on a crazy challenge by their center back, turned the tide of the game. We were able to put the team on the attack, and that got the squad going. Adama Kusawande opened his scoring account just minutes later, chipping the goalkeeper in the 61st minute, to set up a furious final half hour. It went about as you'd expect- Banijans doing what they can, while what remained of Vangaziland's team just defended desperately. The Banijans were better built for the moment, however, as Academy winger Tamru Zanta scored in the 87th minute to tie the game at 2-2. Neither side could score in extra time, which led to penalties.

Both sides were clinical, with each of the first 10 takers, first 5 from each side, burying their penalties. But it's a youth team- the pressure can easily get to someone. Vangaziland's sixth taker had a weak penalty shot, that Obuto Ooro easily saved. And that meant our center back, and captain, had a chance to win the shootout- and he took it, burying his penalty to put us into the semifinals. "We've never gotten this far in this sport in the Olympics before, which is a great achievement for Banija." Said the senior NT manager, Pam Scott. "I've liked a lot of what I've seen from individuals, and people are certainly doing a great job in their audition for the senior side. But we're here, right- let's go all the way!"

The road only gets tougher from here, as football giants and gold medal favorites Valanora are our semifinal opponent. But hey- if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best, right? And only the best remain- out of the 4 sides remaining in men's football, their senior sides combine for 14 World Cup titles(Vilita 5, Valanora 5, Banija 1, Eura 1, Turori 1). Which nation, with a decorated footballing pedigree, can add an Olympic gold medal to an already shiny trophy cabinet?

Streetball- The Peerless Princes

Who doesn't like the Peerless Princes? They took the Olympiad by storm last time out in Electrum, winning all 6 group stage games just to trip up in the first round of the knockout stages. The Peerless Princes came back, 6 years older, wiser, and still ready to go. Many made fun of them last time, saying that boys raised with such privilege could not possible compete in 3x3 basketball- and the world could not have been more wrong. Many had criticized even their qualification, since referees in Banija had been so unwilling to call fouls on literal royals.

But another stampede through the group stages, this time in the Twin Cities, put to rest any notion that the Princes were simply pretenders. But they wanted more than what they got last time. "To have such a successful group stage, only to be eliminated like we were 6 years ago- well, it was painful." Said Omugabe Lallo, who serves as the player-coach for this team. "We wanted to make sure we could improve upon that, show the world that we are better than they think- that we are capable of winning a medal."

Success from Olympics to Olympics is something that is nearly straight up impossible. The natural chaos of an Olympic Games, all the new nations, the lack of scouting, etc... make success between various Games, at least in the same sport, near impossible. And yet, the Peerless Princes have pulled it off. Not that much success, mind you- but back to back undefeated group stages is cause for celebration. And yet, the team remained hungry. They swept a group that consisted of the StrayaRoos Barrier Islands, New Gelderland, the Coconut Isles, and the Abovian Union. The knockouts arrived, and Tjorl was on the other side.

Now, of course, half the team was unexpectedly sluggish, especially on the defensive end. Omugabes Ssemanda and Kato each probably had their worst games of the tournament. But Lallo and Ssekamanya were dominant. Lallo simply could not miss, going 6/8 from 2 point land, while Ssekamanya, the future King, was 7/7 from inside the arc. That blitzing offensive attack was more than enough to overwhelm Tjorl who, despite getting open shots from picking on Kato and Ssemanda in turn, simply could not get them to fall. The 21-9 victory ended with 2 minutes remaining, as the Princes celebrated going to the quarterfinals. Will Brookstation prove too much for them? Or are the semifinals legitimately in their sights?

Men's Traditional Basketball

Of course, we all know the story here. 4 straight IBC titles. Strike. Haven't been to the last two IBCs. And a special goal to win this competition in the Olympiad, since we won a silver medal in this competition, on home soil, just two years ago. It hasn't necessarily been the smoothest return to international basketball. A buzzer beater to win their first match since IBC 33 was nice, over Huron League in the group stages. But a 3-1 record was enough to get to the knockout stages of this tournament, to finish second in their group.

And who did they face in the Round of 16? None other than Estogium. But the Banijans led from beginning to end, as we blew them out, winning by 15. What a game, what a run. But next. Remember what we talked about, Olympic success being random? Banijan men's basketball has, somehow, made the quarterfinals of the men's basketball tournament for three cycles running. While that is indeed mighty impressive, there is something more that Banijans want, that we desperately grasp at- and that, my friends, is a gold medal.

Are we capable of doing so this Summer? The road to get to it will be tough. We will be underdogs in our matchup against Tjorl, but hey- anything's possible, right?

[Ioudaia]

This is Runcast, and I'm your host, Gabi Charis. This is Edition 18.58 of my video podcast for Day 11 of the XVI Olympiad. We've gotten to the good part of the Olympics, where lots of Ioudaian runners are heading into the finals. Early races are still going on, and I'd like to start with them so they're not forgotten when talking about the fun part.

First the prelims. In the men's 1500, Tal Naser ben Adir ran an excellent race, leading his heat and finishing sixth on the day. Considering he's one of Ioudaia's new crop of runners, he's only 19, and competing in his first major international event, it's an outstanding performance. Tal Naser's strategy was pretty typical, but he pulled it off well. He ran positive splits, running in the middle of the pack, until the start of the last lap. Then he started passing people, and finally with 200m to go, started his kick. He only overtook Darmen's Egbert Jerome in the last 15m or so. Great race, Tal Naser!

I wish I could say the same for Phanias Zephaniah. He seems to have gotten really excited, and started running like a rabbit. He was holding third until midway through the third lap. Up until then, I thought he was doing pretty well, and would take first or second. And then he started to slow... down... all the way to seventh. He did manage a bit of kick, which got him back up to sixth, but he was done, finishing 60th overall. Koral Panaetius finished seventh in his heat, 41st overall. Nothing special to say. He was just slow.

I called the women's 200 correctly: Cilla Beeri just squeaked by, taking the last qualifying slot at 61st, just ahead of Nausicaa bat Arzit in 62nd. Oddly, she was second in her heat. The winner, Brookstation's Caroline Haynes, was just slow. Since Cilla did much better last Games, her first Olympics – 23.03 rather than 23.35 – I wonder if she decided she didn't need to run her best, and just squeaking by was OK. That's a dangerous strategy, if that's what she did, and I hope she runs her heart out from now on.

I also called the men's 400, the one first-round race run today. Only Or-Chai ben Adeimanthos qualified, taking third in his heat, and finishing 17th overall. He ran a good race, but it looks like he faded a bit towards the end. I've try to eyeball some splits every 50m using the slo-mo, and I think that holds up. But without a doubt, at about 30m from the finish, he was almost side-by-side with Banija's Chabba Sarr, but at the line, there were several meters between them. There's two choices: Chabba sped up or Or-Chai slowed down. It really looks like Or-Chai slowed down. Placing 17th overall with a pacing problem doesn't look good for him advancing.

And now the good part: Ioudaia sent all three of its semifinalists to the finals! Misgav the Machine keeps running his high-precision negative splits. He sped up a tiny bit today, with a split time of 56.91, almost a tenth of second faster than yesterday, and a final time of 1:45.46, .3 faster. He's going to need to shift up another gear to have a shot at a medal. Third place finisher Julian Thomas Krytenia was .31 faster still. I hope Misgav can run it his way enough to beat at least five other guys trying to run it their way.

In the men's 400 hurdles, Archilochus Chaim ran a graceful race. It's like everything else up to this point has been practice. This race, starting with hurdle #3, he was just floating over the hurdles, like he was in some wire-fu movie. I've watched the slo-mo, and he puts his feet right where they should be. And it showed: he cut .1 off his time from yesterday. Like Misgav, he needs to pick up the pace, but only by about .2 to medal. I think he's got a good shot at it, because there was one flaw in the masterpiece. Archilochus was a little slow off the blocks, and still behind where he needed to be taking the first hurdle. But that's fixable. I'll give him 50-50 odds.

And last but not least, Sigalit is going to the finals! I'm not as optimistic about her because she was twelveth overall. But her prelim time, if she could repeat it, could put her in medal territory. I think she has a chance, just a chance, to do that. Let's look at parts of her races side by side... well, top and bottom, to see why.

OK, prelims on top, semis on the bottom. Let's start with the third lap. Yup, the whole thing. In the prelim, she takes the takes the second barrier smoothly, and is off and going without a problem. But like you see, she has a bit of a stumble this time. And as we go into the third barrier... yup, a stutter-step, which costs her more time. She cleaned up her stride to take the last barrier without a hitch, and then, whoops! She kinda skids a bit in water jump. Which messed up her footing again for the first barrier of lap four.

Now on lap six, which is where Sigalit made her move in the prelims, she was trapped by Kelssek's Lilian Arno making her move in the next lane. So Sigalit started her kick late, and tried to make up for it by really speeding into it. That did catch her up to Lilian for about a half-lap, but she couldn't hold it, and dropped back.

So, if things like that don't happen the day after tomorrow, she's in good shape. But... things happen, and at the worse time. But on a brighter note, tomorrow's finals have the men's steeplechase, where we'll see if Davidi made that perfect plan, and the women's 5k, where we'll see if Creusa Adamit can pick up another medal. Until then,

Keep on runnin'!

[Chromatika]

A Word on the CCBA
The premier amateur baseball association in Chromatika

So, the Chromatik softball team won their Gold Medal match 2-1 over Huron League, giving the Chromatiks yet another Gold Medal that nobody saw coming. Since then, the Chromatik baseball team won all three of their Group Stage games, making the Round of Sixteen comfortably. Big names like Quebec and Shingoryeo, Banija, Liventia, and Kriegiersien remain, but they'll be a force in deciding who will win the Gold Medal in that sport, as well.

When the Chromatik Olympic Rosters were announced, many thought they'd see the likes of Clara Ayonara and Alisen Mayamoto on the Women's Team and Miles Savey and Gregory Simons on the Men's Team. Instead, they were presented with a roster consisting entirely of players from the CCBA. So, what is the CCBA?

Everyone knows about the CCFA. The proving ground for many players who choose to go through the Collegiate Athletics system of Chromatika, the CCFA has consistently turned out great talent that have gone to impact the Chromatik football team. What many people don't know about, though, is that Chromatik Collegiate sports doesn't end there. There's the CCBA (Chromatik Collegiate Baseball Association), the CCBF (Chromatik Collegiate Basketball Federation), and the CCGC (Chromatik Collegiate Gridiron Conference), for starters. the CCGC does get reported on when the NSCF season is on, but the CCBA and CCBF have also been toiling along, even outside of the limelight. The CCBF has tried time and time again to try to compete in the NSCAA levels, falling short every time; this is the first time that players from the CCBA have received any of the spotlight, at all.

So, what is the CCBA and how long has it been going? Who are the teams to beat?

The CCBA just concluded its eighth season, Z'ai'ai Institute of Technology taking the Collegiate Series, 4 games to 2, against Felswyr State University. Junior 2B Anya Hashataki, one of the key pieces that won the Gold Medal, was declared the MVP. Consisting of two conferences of six teams that play a 32-game regular season (4 times against all teams in their conference, 2 times against teams on the other conference). The top three teams per conference make the playoffs, where the third placed team plays the second placed team, and the winner plays the first placed team. Then, the Conference Champions play each other. The Conferences are decided at random at the beginning of every season. The twelve universities are as follows, including how well they've done:

Chromatik State University - None.
Chromia Central College University - 3-time Champions (S3, S5, S7), 2-time Runners-Up (S1, S2), 4-time Semifinalist (S2, S5, S7, S9).
Eyrods Tech - 1-time Runners-Up (S4), 2-time Semifinalist (S1, S6).
Felswyr State University - 2-time Champions (S1, S2), 3-time Runners-Up (S3, S8, S10), 2-time Semifinalist (S4, S7).
Pria Technical College - 1-time Semifinalist (S10), 1-time Semifinalist (S4).
Pùr State University - 1-time Runners-Up (S6), 2-time Semifinalist (S8, S9).
Southern Chromatik University - 1-time Semifinalist (S1).
Staramara Tech University - 2-time Semifinalist (S3, S8).
University of Myana - 1-time Champion (S8).
University of the Islands - 1-time Runners-Up (S9), 3-time Semifinalist (S2, S5, S10).
Urrheddiao State University - 2-time Semifinalist (S3, S6).
Z'ai'ai Institute of Technology - 4-time Champions (S4, S6, S9, S10), 2-time Runners-Up (S5, S7).

Besides Chromatik State University, everyone else has made the second round, and there have been four distinct Champions. The run that the University of Myana Vipers went on in Season 8 - their only playoff appearance after the first round - was legendary. The Hellcats and Comets have been the most successful, and it isn't even close.

With the folding of the CBL - the merging into the LPB - the CCBA will now become a premier place for young prospects to ply their craft. Expect them to start churning out the best prospects into the LPB.

And, perhaps, win some more medals along the way.

[New Gelderland]

Terranean Broadcasting Company

---

Olympics: Day 11 roundup

By TBC Sport correspondents
TBC Sport in Prescott, Electrum and Twin Cities, Quebec and Shingoryeo

---

We might have included incredibly jingoistic comments in this space espousing New Gelderland's sporting superiority, but the Terranean Broadcasting Company aims to be a regional Terranean publication, so we'll stop short of doing that explicitly. Nonetheless, welcome to our daily roundup of the major events that took place at the Olympics today:

Hockey: Last-minute goal sees Otters shoot past Sargossa
Three-three. Sixty-five minutes on the clock. Five minutes remaining on the clock. If nobody scores, the game will go to extra time. The ball is in the midfield. Miles Broadbent and Alan Newport catch a moving Rafael Arrabal unawares, allowing Newport to steal the ball and pass it to Broadbent. This throws Sargossa off guard: their team has already started to reposition itself towards the offense. But captain Franco Ruiz has wisely stepped back. He intercepts New Gelderland's drive and passes the ball back towards Arrabal, who has dropped back towards the offense. But Brendan Spencer is in the right position to redirect the ball back towards the offense. The game is still going for New Gelderland.

Spencer passes forward to Percy Ryder, New Gelderland's star forward. Ryder played a large role in winning the gold back in Nassau Bay; he's definitely in search of his second gold. Santino Manzanares is now the first obstacle between Ryder and the goal. He jukes, successfully getting past the ball around Manzanares; Manzanares can't move his stick back and forth fast enough. Ryder is just that good. Now goalkeeper Valentino Manzanedo is the last obstacle; it's a one-on-one between Ryder and a victory for New Gelderland. Ryder feints; Manzanedo reacts. Ryder shoots the other way; Manzanedo cannot react in time. Goal for New Gelderland!

There are still two minutes left. Sargossa can still equalize. But defender Aidan Harris grabs hold of the ball, and it's game over for Sargossa. New Gelderland parks the bus, so to speak, and wastes two minutes passing among themselves. Sargossa can do no more than try to steal the ball in vain. New Gelderland have moved on to the quarterfinals, where they will face Tjorl. Ryder and company hug and cheer.

— Finn Yueh in Mipo

Tennis: Clarke and Herbert upset second seeds Zhuo and Stewart
Electrum and New Gelderland went fifty-fifty in their tennis matchups today, trading an upset for an upset. After Marcus Hathwar upset Andrew Lamar in the men's singles, leaving New Gelderland entirely without representation in the singles competitions, Jill Clarke and Melissa Herbert repaid the favor by upsetting Sara Zhuo and Leanne Stewart in the women's doubles competition — and by an inverse scoreline, too. Lamar lost 6-3, 6-4; Clarke and Herbert won 6-4, 6-3.

While Zhuo has usually relied on partner Gyrachor Rentos at the net, Stewart could not quite pull off the same angled shots and powerful groundstrokes that her usual partner could. And Clarke and Herbert took advantage of that by hitting plenty of dropshots to bring Stewart and Zhuo to the net; they then hit lobs back to catch the Electrumites off guard. Surprisingly, this strategy worked, even though it shouldn't have; Stewart and Zhuo really never could make an effective response.

Clarke and Herbert will now play the veteran team of Komang Antari and Kadek Andreawati from Pemecutan.

— Zion Berik in Prescott

Athletics: Camila Garcia beats Emily Cook in triple jump yet again
In a rematch from the 10th Olympics held in Nassau Bay, Camila Garcia and Emily Cook again faced off for the triple jump crown. Garcia won the gold medal in Nassau Bay; Cook won the silver on home soil. So who would win on neutral ground? In a riveting final, the top contenders were separated by a mere three centimeters.

With a strong 15.42 meter jump on the first jump, Garcia quickly established herself as the frontrunner in the contest, with goals of not only winning her third gold medal in the event but also chasing the elusive world record — which has lasted since the second Summer Games held back in Paripana. On that first jump, though, Cook could not mount an effective response, landing 70 centimeters short of Garcia's mark. Victory in the event would be more than a hop, skip, and a jump away.

On the third jump, the ABEN Union's Recia Willis-Noughton interposed herself in the contest between Garcia and Cook with a jump of 15.41 meters — only a centimeter shorter than Cook's jump. Cook, after having flubbed her second jump, vaulted herself into fourth with a 15.30 meter jump. Medal hopes were still thwarted for the moment, but it bought her another set of three jumps to try her luck.

Garcia, meanwhile, was no closer to the record after two mediocre jumps. Her first jump, though, still put her in the lead.

Cook's fourth jump put her into medal territory as she landed two centimeters shorter than Garcia's mark and one centimeter shorter that Willis-Noughton's. More importantly, though, it put her one centimeter ahead of home hope Ada Lim's mark. She had considered challenging the measurement, but she had two jumps left and the challenge had as good a chance of marking down her score than improving it. And she needed every centimeter she could get.

Garcia continued to get farther away from the record, not closer to it, in the fifth and sixth jumps, while Lim botched both remaining jumps. Recia Willis-Noughton equaled Garcia's 14.67 meters on the last jump, making for an anticlimactic finale to the event. Although it looked close on paper, as it happened, Garcia had it sewn up from the first jump. Willis-Noughton, Cook, and Lim could challenge that result, but they could never overtop it.

Garcia would win an unprecedented third gold: one gold for the hop, one gold for the skip, and one gold for the jump. Cook would have to settle for the bronze.

— Evelyn Smith in Prescott

[Alezian Union]

Countries Featured : StrayaRoos, Banija, Quebec and Shingoryeo (only Quebec in this one), Chromatika, Aboveland (without the penguin for now, the noot noot is spectating from the audience seats, Valanora

STORY
North Alezia met a lot of familiar faces in the 100m Mens! And it looks like A Kea is giving North a massive competition for the final spot

DISCLAIMER
No Fictional Countries were hurt in the creation process of this comic.
Any mishaps are for comedic purposes only and not for malicious intentions.
I seriously love each and every one of you!

[Eura]

ebc.eur/sport/olympics

WHAT IS IT WITH DAY 10?
Repeat of 15th Games as Team Eura benefits from glut of medals

Four years ago at the previous Olympics, Eura had its finest hour on Day 10, winning six medals - including two golds - across four categories of sport. History seems to have almost repeated itself this time around as Eura won five medals on Day 10 of the 16th Summer Olympic Games, and once again two of them were gold.

In athletics, the struggles of Eura’s men on the track continue. Eura are now completely out of the running for the 100 m after Phil Stevens first round elimination, and Euran favourite Huw Carey is out of the 400 m in the preliminary round (Nathaniel Clementine and Jackson Mitchell progressed, the latter surprisingly the second fastest in the heats). Carey and Clementine then ran again in the 800 m first round – and once again were eliminated, wiping out their progress on the first day of track events which had been the only bright spot on the track for Eura’s men.

Long distance walker Ken Jackson returned after he had won an unexpected bronze in the men’s 20 km walk at the previous Olympics, but he was well off the pace this time, finishing 31st and two and a half minutes behind new bronze medal holder Suluwo Dafi of Banija. Harry Myrick, formerly Eura’s specialist in this event, finished 46th.

There was also some disappointment in the field events as Conrad Payne, a promising Euran long jumper, failed to qualify for the final after falling just a centimetre short of the 8.15m qualifying standard. But by stark contrast the unfancied Jayden Hogan and Benza Zito finished second and third respectively in qualifying for the men’s pole vault – both clearing 5.75m six times without failure - raising hope that they may be serious prospects for medals in the final. Henry Holden also made it through, albeit much lower down the order in 32nd.

At least these early let downs were mitigated by Eura’s first athletics medal of the games. Matty Coates had already upset the odds by making it to the final of the men’s discus throw on Day 9, and Day 10 saw him go into the medal event with Team Eura hoping he might be able to do it all again. In the final he started well, throwing to 66.94 metres, putting him second behind Electrum’s Kayne Wilkins, well out in front with a 68.80 metre throw while the rest of the field was stuck on 64-65 metres. This largely remained the case throughout the event – only a couple of other competitors topped 67 metres – making this a two horse race.

Coates’ second throw of 68.20 suggested he might gain momentum and top Wilkins best effort, but he was then struck by a run of three foul throws that failed to score. Wilkins couldn’t match his opening effort, and yet it wouldn’t matter in the end – Coates could only make 66.25 with his final throw, and with that the contest was over. It was disappointing for Coates that a lack of discipline likely cost him gold. However, given that he was consider a rank outsider for the final (let alone a medal), silver must be considered a big success for him.

Eura’s women came to the track on Day 10 hoping to excel compared to the men, just as they had done in the past couple of days. Crucially, after the men’s failures in the high profile 100m, Mia Morton and Amber Keane did what they needed to advance to the finals of the 100m – Keane in particularly looked increasingly dangerous with an 11.01 second run, the third fastest of the semi-finals. Only Kerry Pinewood didn’t make it, dropping off from her performance in the earlier rounds. Keane will now be seen as Eura’s best hope of taking the ultimate women’s sprinting crown, with Morton a wildcard option. Between them, hopefully Eura can secure two spaces on the podium.

Almost as soon as the 100m semi-finals were over, the 800m semi-finals were up and more Eurans got themselves into a medal race. Alena Wade and Mary Shaw both impressed in semi-final 1 to qualify, finishing second and fourth. But all eyes were mainly focused on Euran favourite Jules Howland in the second semi-final. She overcame a slow start to clamber back into the top four of her semi-final, finishing fourth, meaning there will be three Eurans in the final.

The women’s 1500 m was the first event where the Euran women have disappointed so far when it comes to track events. All three Eurans failed to progress past the preliminary round, included the heavily favoured Sandra Mallard who was dealt a shock elimination from heat 4, beaten by Darmen’s Alda McNeil at the line by just 0.09 seconds. In another disappointment in the middle-distance running, Ferrera Stephens was eliminated from the women’s 5000 m, meaning no Euran will be able to recapture the Olympic title that Alexandra Lafferton failed to defend by being eliminated early on.

A really bad stroke of luck hit Team Eura in the women’s 100 m hurdles where Issy Ashton, reigning champion of the 3000 m steeplechase (from which this time she was eliminated in the preliminary round), could not finish heat 4 of the first round after apparently injuring her ankle in a collision with the second hurdle in. She recovered impressively though for her heat in the 400 m event, finishing fourth – just enough to qualify for the semi-finals – despite still carrying this light injury.

The team assured the media afterwards that the injury will not prevent Ashton continuing in the competition, and that she is “back to 100%” ahead of the semi-finals. Meanwhile, teammate Scarlett Kenny won heat 2 and Molly Williams finished second in heat 5, ensuring a trio of Eurans make it to the semi-finals for the event. Meanwhile, in between the boundaries of the track, Rosa Gray was making herself the centre of Euran attention in the women’s discus throw. She pulled off an impressive 62.01 metre third throw to get herself in the mixer for an Olympic final. She advanced in eighth and will surely be aiming to emulate (or go one better) Matty Coates in the men’s event.

The final event of the day in track and field was a big one – the mixed 4 x 400 m relay final, where Euran quartet Kieran Ashton, Jules Howland, Bradley King and Amber Keane sought to defend their record breaking Olympic gold from the 15th Olympiad. They started well in their attempt to do so as once again Kieran Ashton delivered a ferocious start, which was carried on by Jules Howland, and then handed over to Bradley King.

But King was ever so slightly slow, and Eura were now suddenly off the pace of their record run from the previous Games, with the Britonesian and Brookstation teams racing ahead. Amber Keane stepped up to power on and close the gap somewhat in the final leg, but it was not enough, and Eura were forced to settle for a bronze, watching on as the Britonesians became the new holders of the event gold.

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Away from the athletics Eura had other successes to celebrate on Day 10, including a third medal of the day in shooting, where an under pressure Euran team seem to be enjoying a late surge of success after floundering in the earlier events. Preston Rodgers has had some tough breaks in the Games so far; in the final of the men’s 25 m rapid fire pistol things finally went his way, as he delivered a strong performance that saw him lead in the third and fourth shots.

After that he tailed off but did enough to make it to the final three, guaranteeing a medal. Then, his opponents hit form at just the right time, and scored fives with their penultimate shots while he could only manage four. He would have to settle for the bronze medal after a shoot off with Vilitan Brinto Omniron, who in turn would pull off a remarkable turnaround to take gold from silver position with his final shot.

To the frustration of many of the Euran shooting team looking on, their misfortune resurfaced in the men’s 50 m rifle 3 positions, as Elijah Beale and Shawn Knight failed to secure advancement to the final; Knight missed out only on a tiebreaker, condemned by a loose 95 shot halfway through an otherwise strong performance. Nevertheless, Eura have now matched their four medal tally from the previous Games.

Elsewhere, in a surprise result that will once again prompt questions about funding for equestrian events, Eurans Lucian Stone and Kerry Jones performed strongly in the qualifying event for individual jumping, qualifying quite easily. Another unexpected success came along in diving at the aquatic’s venue, where Billy Heath unexpectedly advanced from the preliminary round of the men’s 3m springboard in sixth place. Sadly, there would be no surprises in the women’s water polo, as the Euran team were unable to build on their unanticipated group stage success, losing 7-9 in overtime to Huron League.

This has not been the best Olympic games on record for Eura’s badminton players by any means, but in their one appearance on Day 10 there was good news to be had. Brandon Williamson and Cara Bryant defeated Nick Adams and Petra Bach of Brookstation in straight sets, both going to the Eurans 21-17. This sets them up for a tantalising semi-final tie with New Gelderland’s Jasper Nyseth and Jaina Trossach.

Happily, the Euran women’s hockey team managed to advance from the group stage despite struggling to assert themselves in Group 1. They had to watch on and bite their fingernails as their bye fell on the final matchday. Abovian Union were unable to do them a favour by beating third place Macbon – fortunately, the 2-0 margin of victory wasn’t enough to take second place in the group away from the Eurans. They now face Brookstation in the round of 16. There was also progress for a Euran team from the group stages of one of the demonstration events, lacrosse, where the men’s team beat Coconut Isle to finish second in their group and secure a quarter final fixture against Banija.

There was a missed opportunity for Eura to win a medal in the triathlon mixed relay, adding to the air of disappointment in the sport after Katie Gregory’s failure to repeat her medal winning performance of the 15th Games women’s event. Gregory and her teammates Austin Walker, Derek Pavel and Jenny Burton were competitive and in contention for most of the contest, but they came unstuck in the running segment, losing valuable time that would eventually pull them away from the medal-chasing pack. Eventually the three medals would be bagged by a far-off group of teams (the Licentians, Krytenians and Mytanars), while the Eurans lagged behind in 7th.

Another failure came in the women’s 87kg category of the weightlifting events, where a promising Euran team has so far failed to medal in what will surely be a big red flag for the EOC. Katherine Colt was the latest weightlifter to fall short of the Eurans high expectations; gold was in the picture after The Sarian’s Petra Duveld hit a mighty 124 in the snatch, where only Colt came close to her, with 120. Then she fell to pieces in the clean and jerk, an unkempt routine cutting her down to 123, eventually leaving her well out of the running for a medal as she finished eighth. Sharon Cook, a much less rated and inexperienced competitor in the +87kg category, also finished eighth.

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Despite the disappointments experienced in some sports on Day 10, Team Eura would make it a day to remember in a very Euran setting – combat sports. Eura’s in form boxing team was only represented once as Amy Pickers went in search of a place in the semi-finals of the women’s super-heavyweight category, in which she won a bronze medal at the previous Games. She is still on course to potentially go even further this time around after pulling off a strong victory against Razza Winters of Nightom, knocking down Winters with a blow from which she would not recover.

Taekwondo has become an increasingly popular sport in Eura in recent years and secured a big boost to its funding from the EOC after two medals were won in the 15th Games. Although the average standard has risen, Eura still rely on a relatively small number of top taekwondoin in order to compete for medals, and the two key figures in the sport for Eura were in action on Day 10. It was up to Mason Sharp first in the men’s 68 kg to get Eura on the board, hopefully matching his 15th Olympiad bronze at a minimum.

But he was instead dealt a shock defeat in the opening round of 32, falling victim to a rare disqualification against Diarcesia’s Stephen Rivera after allegedly attacking with his knee. Sharp was furious at the decision and used unprintable language to describe what he called “official incompetence” in a post-fight interview, but even Euran experts in the EBC studio seemed to agree the decision was the right one.

Now it fell to Shannon Hart to make sure Euran taekwondo would have a medal to show for its efforts. The reigning gold medal holder of the women’s 57 kg was somewhat overshadowed by Eura’s mixed relay gold in the track at the 15th Games, despite a tantalising narrative surrounding her; an amateur competition in an age of professionalism, a schoolteacher in her day job, and a wholesome personality that would make her one of the highlights of Team Eura’s Games. This time the narrative had adjusted, and a lot more focus was on Hart from the start.

She’s a professional now and as reigning champion there are an entirely different set of expectations to what she faced four years ago. Eura’s sympathetic underdog was now a hot favourite and carried an intimidation factor with her. This seemed to weigh heavily on her opponents who struggled to challenge her in the early stages. Liventian Anne Lavigne was seen off in the round of 32 and so was Banijan Safiatou Ndiaye in the round of 16, with Hart taking a more offensive approach than she has been known for earlier in her career.

Hart’s first real challenge came against Lacfroid’s Emmy Schmidt in the quarterfinals. She faced a determined resistance from Schmidt, who landed a memorable kick to the head on the Euran, but Hart dealt enough damage to come out on top 11-6 in a compelling contest. Any fears that this bout would sap Hart of the energy needed to keep winning would prove unfounded, but she did adapt after her offensive style almost came apart in the quarterfinal. In the semi-finals she reverted to the defensive style in order to beat West Phoenicia’s Bethany Crowe 6-2, which would ensure she would have the opportunity to defend her title.

Estogium’s Gavina Stacey was all that stood in her way. Hart, her eyes on the prize, locked up on the defensive front and gave Stacey absolutely no opportunities to score. Eventually Stacey grew frustrated and took one risk too many, exposing herself for Hart to take one chance brilliantly; a back kick on the spin that earned three points, the iconic moment of the event at this Games. Stacey now had to recover from 0-3 down but Hart kept her at a distance still, before snatching a point for another, less complex kick.

Eventually time ran out and Hart, improbably, was a double Olympic champion, keeping her first clean defensive record at this Games. It was an exceptional and downright ruthless performance that will truly establish her as a Euran Olympic great. We can only hope she will be back in another four years to make it three on the bounce.

Wrestling has received less attention from Eura over the years despite Eura having a decent record of competitiveness in the sport, and a popular domestic amateur wrestling scene to boast of. Several low-key Euran entrants were in action on Day 10, but the first real medal prospect was about to make herself the face of Euran wrestling, just four years after she participated in a Games where Eura won no wrestling medals at all.

Poppy Davies did not feature much in coverage of the 15th Olympiad, where she failed to make an impression of the women’s 76kg freestyle category. This time around an older, wiser Davies had a point to prove. She set about her first tumble with a swagger and delivered with a fine 8-2 victory over Mytanija’s Saida Rakutinic.

In the quarter finals she was forced to tighten up by Chromatika’s Domen Maiko but executed a fine reversal to break the points deadlock and ended up coming away with a 3-0 victory. She was now well on track for a medal with a semi-final appearance and guaranteed herself silver or gold by beating Vilitan Jii-pobo Coroga in the first semi-final, forcing a decisive fall by her opponent.

The in-form Davies now took on Krytenia’s Belinda Osman for the gold.Osman had been impressing herself in previous rounds and the final was predictably tight. Neither wrestler wanted to give an inch, and neither seemed able to seize control and get the takedown they’d need to win. It became a contest defined by pressure and concentration and avoiding making the one mistake that could decide the result.

In the key moment, fate went Davies’ way; she pressured Osman’s movement and forced the Krytenian into the crucial decisive error, Osman stepping into the protection area briefly and conceding an out-of-bounds point. With only seconds to go, Davies held her ground, and held on for gold.

Eura’s medallists so far in full:
DAY 0:
No medals.
DAY 1:
Women’s 10 m Air Rifle [Shooting] – Sophia Rice – Silver
DAY 2:
No medals.
DAY 3:
Women’s 100 m backstroke [Swimming] – Amy Ellis – Silver
DAY 4:
Women’s 63 kg [Judo] - Eve Schoring-Peters – Gold
DAY 5:
Men’s 800 m freestyle [Swimming] – Steve Lawrence – Gold
Men’s team sabre [Fencing] - Isaac Bell/Aaron Bardsley/Reece Phillpott – Silver
Women’s 70 kg [Judo] – Suranne Lawrence – Silver
DAY 6:
Women’s 100 m freestyle [Swimming] – Taylor Varsen – Silver
Women’s team foil [Fencing] – Rita Jackson/Fran Stewart/Alison Hayward – Gold
DAY 7:
Men’s BMX freestyle [Cycling] – Eden Johnson – Silver
DAY 8:
Women’s golf [Golf] – Leona Stewson – Gold
Women’s 50 m rifle 3 positions [Shooting] – Sophia Rice – Gold
Mixed trap team [Shooting] – Tom Partridge/Hollie Newton – Bronze
DAY 9:
Women’s uneven bars [Gymnastics – artistic] – Madeline Kane – Bronze
Women’s skiff [Sailing] – Jasmine Palmer/Katherine Bell – Gold
DAY 10:
Men’s discus throw [Athletics] – Matty Coates – Silver
Mixed 4 x 400 m relay [Athletics] – Kieran Ashton, Jules Howland, Bradley King, Amber Keane – Bronze
Men’s 25 m rapid fire pistol [Shooting] – Preston Rodgers – Bronze
Women’s 57 kg [Taekwondo] – Shannon Hart – Gold
Women’s 76kg freestyle [Wrestling] – Poppy Davies – Gold

Euran medal tally by sport:
Athletics – 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze)
Cycling – 1 medal (1 silver)
Fencing – 2 medals (1 gold, 1 silver)
Golf – 1 medal (1 gold)
Gymnastics – 1 medal (1 bronze)
Judo – 2 medals (1 gold, 1 silver)
Sailing – 1 medal (1 gold)
Shooting – 4 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
Swimming – 3 medals (1 gold, 2 silver)
Taekwondo – 1 medal (1 gold)
Wrestling – 1 medal (1 gold)

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

Here is the Day 12 Cutoff.

The next cutoff will be in twenty-four hours' time.