In the first AOlympic Games, Pluvia and the Saxean Isles participated in five events: Track & Field, Ice Hockey, Rugby Sevens, Basketball, and Baseball. While not all of those events have concluded, let's take a look at the Magpies/Eagles' progress so far.
Track and Field
Pluvian track and field has never been known as a strength of the country, and the team has not been able to stand out in the competition. In archery, which the relative paucity of wood constrained until fairly recently, the men's, women's, and mixed teams finished between 12th and 15th, not good enough to advance to the finals. Similarly, Gabriel Weiss (shotput), Jamie Knight (men's long jump), the mixed 4x400m relay team, Adrian Kallenbach (men's 200m), Marie Wentz (100m hurdles), Lachlan Martin (400m hurdles), the men's and women's 4x100m relay teams (both of whom failed to finish, the men by dropping the baton and the women when Emilia Hay, the last leg, pulled up with an injury), Ted Shaw (100m, last in the field by 1.3s), and Esme James (100m), all failed to advance in their respective events.
However, Robin Holmes (shotput), Pippa Stewart (long jump), and Ellie Woods (200m) all advanced to the finals of their respective events. Holmes turned in a solid effort, finishing 8th of 12 in the final, while Stewart was eliminated in the first three jumps of her final, finishing 10th. Woods awaits her final, which will pit her against athletes from Valanora, Behetij, Delaclava, Busoga Islands, Squornshelous, Baker Park, and Vilita and Turori.
Still to come: 10,000m, marathon, and decathlon/heptathlon
Ice Hockey
Perhaps an even weaker tradition than track and field is the Pluvian ice hockey team, known as the Ice Eagles. Typically stronger in the northern regions or near the mountains, Pluvian hockey is mostly a semi-professional affair. As such, nobody had high expectations for them. In the competition, the Ice Eagles were routed 5-1 by the Ice Cat Things of Vilita and Turori, nipped by long-dormant Milchama 6-5, blasted 5-1 again by the Euran Oceania Territories, and finally got their first victory, topping newcomer minnows Merulantis 4-3. They finished 1-3, a result which wasn't unexpected, though they probably wished they hadn't lost to V&T and EOT by quite so much. Overall, the victory in their final game salvaged what could have been a very poor trip indeed.
Rugby Sevens
Rugby has a limited following in Pluvia and the Saxean Isles, being more concentrated in the Saxean part of the kingdom than the Pluvian one. Nevertheless, the side sent to compete in the AORC in the Commonwealth of Baker Park expected to hold their own as best they could. In that respect, they disappointed somewhat. In their first two matches, they lost by identical 26-12 scorelines to the hosts (a middling nation by world rugby rankings) and to Siovanija & Teusland, who do not typically compete in world rugby events. This poor start was lightened somewhat by a 27-12 defeat of the pony nation of Equestria, though the ponies are not regarded as a strong team. But following this, they hung tough and came up short (24-14) against Turori, while looking somewhat lost in a 33-17 loss to EOT in their final group stage game. We should not have expected them to win their group, or even really finish in a playoff position, but the 1-0-4 result definitely leaves room for improvement.
Basketball
Now we come to the part of the AOlympics where the Magpies are expected to do fairly well. In two previous Atlantian Oceania basketball competitions, they have gone a combined 5-1, but lost in the quarterfinals each time. This time, in Almintora, Turori, the Magpies repeated some of their group stage success. In game one, Liam Palmer hit 4-6 from beyond the arc, leading the team with 18 points and defeating Geisenfried 83-64. However, the Phoenixes of Delaclava were able to hold the Magpies to under 40% shooting in game two and downed them 72-58. In their third game, a 10-2 run in the third quarter, led by six points from Sebastian Sendler (who scored 14 in the game), gave them an advantage they would hold for the rest of the game, defeating Aji no Moto 76-63. This set up the Magpies for a potential playoff spot, needing only to defeat the Sultanate of Oontaz to advance to the next round. Bruno Strauss, in for a foul-plagued Chris Campbell, hit two huge threes late to propel Pluvia to an 87-79 win over Oontaz and into the playoffs.
Up next are the dominant figures of Banija. Ranked #1 in the world, they are taking these games as a warmup for their IBC title quest. They finished a cool 4-0 in their group, with their closest margin of victory being 18 over Misrantis. There is almost no chance of victory, but if the Magpies can keep the deficit to under 20, it will be a notable achievement.
Baseball
And finally, the baseball team. This is the same team that finished 3-1 in their first-ever AO baseball competition and made a surprise run to the semis, ultimately finishing 4th. This perhaps gave them a little confidence going into Group C in Eelandii, Turori. They led off with a heartbreaking 5-3 loss to the Sultanate of Oontaz, in which Rory Burke walked two and hit a batter in a 3-3 game, which the Oontaz squad turned into two eighth-inning runs to take the first game. Simon Wells helped the team to bounce back, tossing seven shutout innings en route to a 4-0 lead, but he tired in the eighth and a big homer off of Ashton Davies put Tropicorp on top, 5-4. But good small ball, with walks, bunts, and hard grounders led to the Magpies tying the score in the ninth and winning in the 10th, as Davydd Jones and Julian Miller shut down their opponents on the pitching side of things.
When Max Niehaus gave up two runs in the first three innings against Qasden, it looked like the Magpies might be headed for a 1-2 record and a disappointing trip. But over the next three innings, led by Kieran Kelly, Philip Falkenburg, and Billy Bruce, the Magpies scored five runs to take the lead and Wil Lewis doubled home two runs in the eighth for the cherry on top of a 7-2 victory. No extra pitching was needed in game four against Misrantis, as Martin Wuertz tossed a complete game, allowing only five baserunners and one run on 96 pitches. He got plenty of run support, with Billy Bruce's 4 RBI leading the way in a 12-1 victory. Pluvia led 2-1 after six innings, but two runs in the seventh and eighth propelled neighbors Pacitalia over them, 3-2, in the final game of the group stage.
Nevertheless, the Magpies managed to qualify. They will also face Banija in the quarterfinals. This is also a long shot for victory, but stranger things have happened, and Pluvia did defeat Banija in the group stages of AOBS I.