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Reporter gets sick misses big news

When a country sends a single reporter to cover event, then she gets sick and they don't send a replacement, no news ends up being covered. That's what happened here in these olympics. A number of big events occured while I was down.

The most suprising was of course the men's hockey team being upset in the quarterfinals by Edward City. The loss was a huge disappointment after the nice win against Liverpool England and cost coach Carlos Kronen his job. There is no explanation as the Gnomes looked to be one of the better sides, and now they're out.

On the other hand the Gnomes advanced to a rematch against Bears Armed in the Gold Medal match of the Curling. They followed up a solid 7-2 win over Dumania with an absolute crushing of Kelssek in the semifinals. They allowed two points in Kelssek's first end with a hammer and then played absolutely perfectly the next nine ends, keeping Kelssek off the board while racking up 10 points of their own. The fans will now be treated to a rematch of the stellar group phase match. Let's see if the Gnomes can get revenge. This will generate a lot of interest as it is almost certainly the last time the Gnomes will see the podium this olympics.

The Men's bobsled also took place where the team's put up solid if unspectacular finishes.

NERANDA GETS THE SILVER MEDAL

Cafundéu got its fourth medal after Eurico Neranda made a good performance in the Freestyle Skiing, winning the silver medal.

He said to the media: "Oh, I'm very happy. I couldn't imagine that I could win a medal, but I never give up. Thanks for my trainer and for the supporters!"

After a small thunderstorm knocked out power to some of the venues, and race officials received many bribes for the men’s 500 m short track race, day 15 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12040667&postcount=29)

The missed scorination at 06:00 today will be made up at 00:00 on Thursday.

From MSPN --

Our Men's Nordic Ski team continues its dominance, taking gold the Team Nordic Combined, beating out 2nd place Anastasiania by 2:01.7. Our Men's Ski Jump team is 1st after one round of the team LH, Fred Johnson was 17th in Men's Biathlon 15k Mass Start, and Helga Bjornsdottir was 10th in Women's 1500m Speedskating. Our medal count is now 15: 5 gold, 5 silver, and 5 bronze.

(From the sports pages of 'The Bear Necessities'...)

Bad storms have been continuing to impede flights, this time by making landings in eastern Mikitivity too risky to be considered, so that — again — we have had to go for several days without coverage of the Winter Olympics because the reports from our journalists there simply weren’t reaching us: We now have four days’ worth of results and details to give to you…


Day 11

Another Medal!

Our athletes have added another ‘Bronze’ medal to their total: This time it’s the one for the ‘Women’s 4x5km Relay’ race in the ‘Cross-Country Skiing’ section of the games. (First place in this race went to the team from the Maineiacs, and the ‘Silver’ to the team from Edward City.)
“We originally signed up for this event without really expecting to do very well against our human rivals over such a relatively short distance,” said those skiiers’ spokes-she Sunnana oGreenwood, “because as we were all going to be here anyway there seemed no reason not to try it, but after Irritti managed such a creditable fourth place in the ‘15km Pursuit’ race our chances looked a bit more hopeful so we made a serious effort.. and here we are.” She smiles. “ Of course, the fact that there were only five other teams involved probably helped us a bit too...”
“Next time the Silver, or maybe even the Gold,” Irritti herself chimes in, “for us, and for me when I’m running solo too!”
(Pictures and more interviews, page 30.)
In the ‘Men’s 4x10km Relay’, however, our team finished in ninth & last place, almost six full minutes behind the winners (who were from Edward City).

And in the ‘Men’s 10’000m’ race over in the ‘Speed Skating’ contest Borrin o Greenwood got off to an uncharacteristically slow start so that although the 13:27.51 he finished in was a personal best — and an Ursine record — it was still only enough to put him in 5th place at over 10 seconds slower than either the winner of the ‘Bronze’ (Bas Cuypers, from Ropa-Topia) or the athlete in 4th place (Phillip Worcoat, from Kelssek) – almost 13 seconds behind the ‘Silver’ (Mike Leisten of Jasi’yun) – and almost 14 seconds behind the overall winner Jörgen Sundlund (of Anastasiania): He would need to improve his time by at least 16.97 seconds in order to beat the current Olympic record… On the other hand, he was 18 seconds faster than the slowest competitor who finished the event (Vic Stanley, from Wentland, in ninth place) and at least he did finish it unlike Drew Harris (Okielahoma) & Jason Sherman (Quakmybush) who were both disqualified…

Onwards and Upwards!

Our ‘Women’s Curling’ team achieved yet another victory, beating the team from Kelssek 6:4 in their Quarterfinal match: They will now play Ropa-Topia in the Semi-finals.
(Further details, page 31)

Our ‘Men’s Ice Hockey’ team also won another game, too, beating the team from Oliverry 4:1 in their Quarterfinal match: They will now play Maineiacs in the Semi-finals.
(Further details, pages 33 & 34.)

Round and Round and Round

Over in the Figure-Skating arena, the situation in the ‘Ice Dancing’ contest remains little-changed now that we’ve seen the ‘Original Dance’ stage as well as the ‘Compulsory Dance’: Thunarr Thuleann & Silver remain in third place, several points ahead of Garron & Harrlo… although, above both of those pairs in the current rankings, the Kellehers (from Maineiacs) have risen from 2nd to 1st and thus swapped places with the Buitendams (from Ropa-Topia) whom you will recall have already won Gold in the ‘Figure Skating (Pairs)’ contest... And the other Maineiacs entry Evan Podgar & Shawna Vickers, are in 6th place with a score so far that’s worryingly close to Garron & Harrlo’s…
(More details on page 32.)


Day 12

Still Onwards!

Our ‘Men’s Curling’ team achieved yet another victory, beating the team from our near neighbours Malabra 6:4 in their Quarterfinal match: They will now play Oliverry in the Semi-finals.
(Further details, page 31.)

And our ‘Women’s Ice Hockey’ team won their Quarterfinal, completing the set, by beating their rivals from Ropa-Topia by 3 goals to 2 in a very evenly balanced match: They will face the team from Spindomia in the Semi-finals, and although those opponents are much more experienced than our team the She-Devils’ captain Borra o Redwood expressed guarded optimism about their prospects. “Not many people thought that we could get this far,”[/i] she pointed out, “so why should this be our limit?”
(Further details, pages 32 & 33.)

Bronze Again!

In the concluding stage of the ‘Ice Dancing’ contest, the ‘Free Dance’, Garron & Harrlo finally showed what they could really do: They increased their score dramatically, overtaking Thunarr Thuleann & Silver… but still fell quite a bit short of either the Buitendams (who stayed in 2nd place overall) or the Kellehers (who gained the Gold medal), so that what they added to our tally was a fourth Bronze. Thunarr & Silver did, however, manage to remain ahead of all the remaining pairs so that if this contest had been held under our own rules they’d have been awarded the ‘Wooden’ medal…
(Further details, pages 35 & 36.)

Also…

Ilga Troutcatcher, who was our only contestant in the ‘Women’s 5000m’ race over in the ‘Speed Skating’ — ‘One’ being the maximum number of entries allowed per nation in that event — did not fare as well as those of our other athletes who competed this day: She came in in sixth place, out of seven racers, more than 12 seconds behind any of the medal-winners. The Gold went to Marie Harrison, from Anastasiania, who set an new Olympic record at 7:03.10.


Day 13

And Still Onwards

Our ‘Women’s Curling’ team has continued its run of victories, having beaten the team from Ropa-Topia by 6 to 4 in the Semi-finals, so that it now goes on to face the Spindomians — who beat the team from Quakmybush 7:6 — in the contest’s final match to determine who gets the Gold medal and who “only” gets Silver instead.
(Details on page 33.)[/ii]

[b]But Not For Everybody…

The ‘Ice Devils’, however, will not now be contending for Gold or Silver. They went into their Semi-final game against the team from Maineiacs with what may have been a touch too much confidence, but that mood was quickly broken when their opponents scored the game’s first goal only two minutes into the game. Their captain Harroh Thuleann was then sent off for seeming to threaten the referee during a disagreement about the legality of that goal, and during his absence the Maineiacs scored again… The Devils settled down, and fought back bearfully, but were unable to regain the lead or event to draw level as the score went from 2:0 in their rivals’ favour through 2:1, 3:1 & 3:2 to a final total of 4:2 against our males… This means that the Devils will now play against the team from Edward City, who lost their own Semi-final match (which was against Kelssek) by 2 goals to 3, for the Bronze medal.
Amongst the audience for this match was retired ‘Ice Rugby’ star Urrgoran ‘Ripper’ o Redwood, whom I’m sure you’ll all remember from the days when he captained the ‘Mighty Redwoods’ through their record-setting run of five seasons as undefeated both at the top of the League and in the Arctian Cup. After the Maineiacs second goal he encouraged our team’s struggle to regain control of the game by roaring out “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over!” (a phrase associated, of course, with the near-legendary coach Karramarsar ‘Yogi’ Berra), but less than twenty minutes after that — when had Harroh only just failed to equalise the score at 3:3 — he suffered a severe heart attack… and he died in hospital, two hours later, without having regained consciousness. So, as the ‘Ice Devils’ go forwards to their last chance to salvage the situation and bring back a medal, we implore them to
[i]“Win this one for The Ripper!”
(Match details on pages 34 to 36. Obituary of Urrgoran ‘Ripper’ o Redwood, page 17.)


Day 14

Keep On Curling

Our ‘Men’s Curling’ team fared better than the ‘Ice Devils’ had done, by winning their Semi-final match: They beat the team from Oliverry 10:4, and so now go on to the final — for Gold or Silver — in which they will play again against the Gnomes of Az-cz who were the other team to advance from the same group as ours… These nearly beat our lads when they met back in the qualifiers, and who won their last match (against the team from Kelssek) 10:2, so our Curlers realise that they face a tough challenge here.
“They’re very good,” says Curlers spokes-male Algarrn Silverstreak, “probably the toughest opposition that we’ve seen here, but we should be able to beat them if all goes well. The fact that we use stones at the upper limit of what’s allowed in these international contests, whereas they favour lighter ones, might give us a slight extra edge, too.”
(Details on page 34.)

She-Devils Win Again!

And the triumphs continue: Our ‘Women’s Ice Hockey’ team, founded only two months ago, has confounded many people’s expectations by its run of winning matches during this contest… and now the Ladies have won their Semi-final match, too, to go into contention for the Gold medal. They beat the team from Spindomia by 7 goals to 3, in a game that they controlled with seemingly effortless ease through until the last quarter-hour which was when their opponents finally managed to re-group and start scoring too…
Now for Quakmbush, and a match that might be a bit more difficult…
(Details on pages 35 & 36.)

Fine Figures
The last of the ‘Figure Skating’ events, the contest for individual females, got off to a worryingly shaky start for our entrants: When the marks for its ‘Short Program’ were revealed Harrlo was only in fourth place, at five points behind the next skater up the list and almost ten points behind that stage’s leader, whilst Ismarra was eighth and Denna only thirteenth. This means that they have all qualified for the next stage, and Harrlo has been known to rise up from lower positions than that in contests back home so that we certainly wouldn’t write her off yet, but we were hoping for better positions at this point…
(Details on pages 32 & 33.)

So Far, So?

So, where does this leave us in the Medals Table? We’re still in a relatively low place so far at 24th jointly with our good friends from ‘Mikitivity’, but then there are still seven of the thirty-six nations involved whose athletes have yet to acquire any medals at all… and of course several of the finals for which we’ve had the highest hopes are still to come… and winning just one single ‘Gold’ could, all else being equal, move us a full ten places up the table…

RM: Hello I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: and I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Lunch Hour.

WR: There were some bad storms again, this time knocking out power to some stadiums. This postponed a few events.

RM: No to the results.

WR: In The Men's 15km Mass Start Biathlon Julien Fecteau finished 10th.

RM: Also in the Biathlon, Raimund Woesler finished 11th.

WR: While Bernard Bowman finished 19th.

RM: The Women's Curling Team came up just short of a Bronze Medal, they lost 10-4 to Ropa-Topia.

WR: In the Men's Short Track 500m, Daniel Ramsey advanced to the next round.

RM: Also in the 500m, Patrice Neufville did not advance.

WR: After the first round of the Men's Team Ski Jumping, the team sits 3rd.

RM: In the Women's 1500m Speed Skating Jeanne Stewart finished 12th.

WR: Also in the 1500, Jane Benson finished 15th.

RM: Quakmybush sits 2nd in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 9 Silvers, and 4 Bronzes.

RM: Well, we are out of time.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn, be sure to watch tomorrow.

Back up the slope

After days of disastrous results, the Ariddian delegation began to shine again yesterday when Jean-Michel Chang won a spectacular gold medal in speedskating, smashing the standing Olympic record. Many hoped his success would spur on the entire delegation, and those hopes now seem to have been answered.

In bobsleigh, Jean-Charles Marchand and Osvaldo Gomes finished surprisingly well, in sixth place, with E Au and Joseph Horn fairly close behind in eleventh. In the women’s figure skating, meanwhile, Ariddia had three representatives. The Ariddian Bénédicte Steinbauer narrowly missed out on a qualifying spot, finishing twenty-sixth, but West Ariddian Amandine al Rashed came a reasonably satisfying sixteenth, and is through to the next round. More impressive yet, the dazzling Adèle Wood, North-West Ariddia’s only solo athlete in these Games (all others being part of tri-State teams) finished ninth, impressing the judges with her grace and skill.

But it was today that the Ariddians truly woke up to perform in style. In the biathlon, in the men’s 15km mass start, Aeropag bronze medalist François Riverdale set out with determination, along with Benjamin Rogers and Jorge Tavares, West Ariddians who have proved themselves in earlier biathlon events. As always, few were expecting miracles. . . but it truly was a miracle which Riverdale delivered.

Adding up perfect scores, he forged his way ahead, slowly but steadily overtaking his opponents and never losing ground. As tired as he appeared towards the end, he kept a solid pace from start to finish, and there was an expression of disbelief as, breathlessly, he crossed the finish line – in first place. That expression of disbelief soon turned to one of stunned amazement, then to joy.

He had just won his country’s fourth gold medal of these Games. . . and by far the most unexpected.

“An Ariddian biathlete gold medalist!” he exulted after the medal ceremony, during which he had proudly stood listening to the national anthem. “It makes no sense at all, but it’s absolutely wonderful!”

Rogers finished ninth, and Tavares fourteenth.

But the surprises were not over yet. Keen to redeem themselves after poor performances in short track, Ariddian ladies Linda Uosh and Jessica Silversmith lined up for the women’s 1500m in speedskating. An event they will be competing in again shortly in Anastasiania after these Games. The two Ariddians were seen conversing pleasantly with Anastasianian competitors Jane Edwards and Marie Harrisson before the events, but once on the ice all that mattered was getting to the finish line first.

As it happened, the gold was taken by Commerce Heights JSY’s brilliant Nancy Willis, who set a new record with a time of 1:58.00, but the battle for silver was between Harrisson and Uosh. Finally, the Ariddian outshone her Anastasianian opponent, who took the bronze. The two ladies shared a friendly hug on the podium during the medal ceremony.

It was Uosh’s third medal in Keto, after her gold in the 3000m event and her bronze in the 500m. She is now being hailed as one of Ariddia’s greatest athletes.

“Well, it’s nice to have one in each colour,” the Indigenous lady said modestly, looking almost embarassed at her success. . . but very, very happy.

Tiny nation’s last hope holds on

The royal family of the minuscule (http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8046/testsa51yg5.jpg) nation of San Adriano (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/San_Adriano) were once again in attendance in the V.I.P. box to watch and encourage their country’s only athlete at the Keto Games.

Thomas Peruzzi (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Thomas_Peruzzi), a star in his home nation and a grocer when not competing on the world scene, was taking part in the quarter-finals of the 500m event in short track. He went in the fourth and final race, against two skaters from Quakmybush, Kelssek’s Nathaniel Waters and the Mushroom Kingship’s Aerieion Doss. Wearing his red and green aerodynamic suit, Peruzzi looked perfectly focused.

Which he needed to be. A loss here would mean the end of San Adriano’s participation in the Keto Games.

Quickly overtaking Ramsey and Neufville of Quakmybush, Peruzzi also soon skated past Waters, moving neck and neck with him at a fast pace, battling for a qualifying spot. As the seconds flashed away quickly, and Doss remained in the lead, Waters cut in close across Peruzzi’s path, causing the Sanadrianese to stumble, falling to one knee before scrambling back up. In the seconds remaining, he was able to overtake Neufville once more, but – with Waters disqualified – Ramsey was through in second. Tense, trying not too appear too agitated, Peruzzi had to wait several moments longer before being informed that he was entitled to advance to the semi-finals. There was applause from Sanadrianese supporters.

“Mr. Peruzzi is an excellent athlete,” Her Royal Highness Princess Serena (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Serena_Eu) said later. “He has earned his place in the Olympic semi-final, and he’s doing his country very proud. All of San Adriano fully supports him.”

In the tiny village-nation, the Princess and Mr. Peruzzi are acquaintances. Her Royal Highness is known for doing her own shopping, and can regularly be seeing shopping at Peruzzi’s grocery store.

PIKA CITY PIONEER
Day 14 and 15 at the 2nd Winter Games

Due once again to bad storms in the area, We could not receive the Day 14 scores until now. Sorry for the inconvience.

DAY 14

Bobsleigh—Two-Man—Heat 2

McCoy and Kirk continued to unimpress as they finished with a time of 56.89, keeping them at the bottom of the standings.

Women’s Slalom—Run 1

Qazox' Rene Potluck finished her 1st run with a time of 50.03, good enough for 8th place, Her sister Denise Potluck finished 31st with a run of 53.04.

Bobsleigh—Two-Man—Heat 3

McCoy and Kirk improved their run time a bit as they finished with a time of 56.52//2:50.86, as they climbed up to 38th out of 41 teams.

In the 5th place Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom race, Jennifer Banks easily dispatched Gertrude Caldwell of Quakmybush by over 4 seconds to claim 5th.

DAY 15
Women’s Slalom—Run 2

Rene Potluck had the best time of the 2nd runs, but was edged out by 11/100th of a second, preventing her from becoming the 1st Qazoxian athlete with 2 gold medals, but she did become the 1st solo athlete and the 1st at one Olympics to win multiple medals. Her time of 48.31//1:38.34 was good enough for a silver. Her sister, Denise finsihed in 29th overall with times of 52.66//1:45.70.

Bobsleigh—Two-Man—Heat 4

The final run of these Bobsliegh legends, McCoy and Kirk saw them finish in 37th place overall with a final run time of 57.05. 3:47.91 was thier total time, over 3 seconds behind their previous slowest time.

Men’s 500 m—Quarterfinals (Short Track)

Jacque Strappe continued his run to the gold by winning his heat by over 3/10th of a second, or by about 35 feet. He now goes to the semifinals, where it is expected that he'll advance to the medal final.

DAY 15 UPDATE

These results just came into our offices, just before press time, so here they are:

Women’s Giant Slalom—Run 1
Denise Potluck was taken to a local hospital after falling during her 1st run at the Women's Giant Slalom. Her injuries are not severe, but may keep her off the slopes for the Super G. Rene Potluck, was visually disturbed by her sister's fall, but still managed to finish her run with a time of 1:16.70, placing her 4th. Will Denise's fall weigh on Rene's mind as she attempts to become the 1st Qazoxian athlete to win 3 medals ever and at one Olympics?

Men’s 500 m—Semifinals
Jacque Strappe's time of 42.233, his slowest so far, was still good enough to win his heat, and he'll advance to the finals as the prohibitive favorite.

In Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom—Qualification
Alberto Ramierez smoked the field, qualifing in 1st position, almost a full second ahead of anyone else. Francisco Rodriguez finsihed 9th in qualifing, but Fernando Rodriguez didn't qualify. Times posted below.

Alberto Ramierez (QZX) 34.10 34.80 1:08.90 Q

Francisco Rodriguez (QZX) 35.61 35.88 1:11.49 Q

Fernando Rodriguez (QZX) 37.19 36.83 1:14.02


That's all for now, for more results as they happen, go to www.QSPN.com keyword:Olympics. (ooc: plese note NOT a real Website.. ty)

Day 15.5 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12043985&postcount=30)

From MSPN --

Two more medals for Maineiacs, if not quite the ones we were hoping for. Our Women's team held on to the silver in the Women's Nordic Combined, but Our Men's Ski Jump team did not perform up to the level of the first round, and took home the bronze in the Team Ski Jumping LH. Liz Cushman and Courtney Rogers both skated well in the long program, but neither could make up enough ground to medal: Cushman was 4th, Rogers was 6th. Theresa Miller was 17th, Mary Donaldson-Shorter was 19th and Miranda Lopez was 24th in the 1st leg of the Women's Giant Slalom; Calvin Erlich failed to advance from the semifinals of the Men's 500m Shorttrack, and Terry Sampson missed a gate and was disqualified from the Men's Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom. Our medal count is now 17: 5 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze, and our Men's Hockey team remains as our best chance at a medal; they will get at least the silver. Bears Armed won the bronze medal match 5-2 over Edward City.

OOC question: Do only the medalists perform at the skating exhibition, or do the 4th place finishers also?

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Late Night.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: In the Women's Giant Slalom, Phyllis Hamilton sits 5th after on run.

WR: Also in the Slalom, Marian Pierce sits 6th.

RM: While Virginia Wilson sits 11th.

WR: And Angela Patterson sits 25th.

RM: In the Men's 500m Short Track semifinals, Daniel Ramsey qualified for final B.

WR: In the Men's Team Ski Jumping, Quakmybush won a silver medal.

RM: In The Men's Parallel Giant Slalom, Timothy Garner advanced to the next round.

WR: Also in the Slalom, Carl Swanson advance.

RM: As well as Andrew Norris.

WR: Quakmybush sits 2nd in the medal standings.

RM: They have 9 Golds, 10 Silvers, and 4 Bronzes.

WR: Well that is all the time we have. I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn, be sure to watch Olympic Lunch Hour.

Day 16 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12045587&postcount=31)

TWO GOLD MEDALS TO CAFUNDÉU

In less than two days, Cafundéu was able to win two more gold medals, making the people proud of their athletes.

The first medal came with the Ski Jumping men team, composed by Romergleydson Silvério, Vânderson Usado, Ânderson Jaçanã and Bruno Junqueira. After a good day, they won the gold medal. Romerglaydson said to us: "In the individuals I lost, but with the help with these three great partners, I was able to win a gold medal. I would like to thank them and to say that I'm really happy with this."

The second gold medal came in the Alpine Skiing with Fabiana Lacriva. She defeated many great women and won the gold medal. In a telephone interview, she said: "I was hoping to win a medal, but I couldn't imagine that I could win the gold. It's great!"

Cafundéu's emperor send a letter to the winners congratulating them.

From MSPN --

Ariana Smith won an unexpected bronze in the Women's Biathlon 12.5k Mass Start, bringing our total to 18 with 5 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze; teammate Hillary Holden was 11th. Miranda Lopez finished 13th in the Women's Giant Slalom, while Mary Donaldson-Shorter missed a gate and was disqualified. Our 4-man bobsled team stands in 8th after one run, our Women's Ski Jump team is 2nd after 1 jump on the Large Hill, and Carla Chapman qualified for the "B" final in the Women's Cross-Country Sprint. Skeet Shorter was 21st in the Men's 1000m Speedskating. We will have more from the Olympics here in Jasi'yun later, including live coverage of the Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game, the Figure Skating Exhibition, and the Closing Ceremonies.

Biathlete surprise

After François Riverdale’s shock gold medal in biathlon, there was slight disappointment when Amandine al Rashed and Adèle Wood finished fifteenth and seventeenth respectively in figure skating. A few imperfections and slight errors left them some distance from the podium.

“I don’t think we did too badly, but some of those other girls were simply amazing,” al Rashed explained. “Well done to them.”

In bobsleigh, Ariddia’s novel four man team (E Au, Joseph Horn, Jean-Charles Marchand & Osvaldo Gomes) briefly lost control of the sleigh, careening into the side and almost upturning. They were able to regain control, but by then had lost precious seconds, and finished last with a time of 1:00.01.

But Ariddians had not seen the last of good surprises at the Winter Games. It was the women’s turn to shine in biathlon, with the 12.5km mass start event. Her time of 42:57.8, enabled Emily Sands to finish in an impressive tenth place, but she was outshone by the almost flawless performance of her team mate Michèle Jatta, who with a time of 41:28.2 took the silver. . . almost a minute ahead of Maineacs’ bronze medallist Ariana Smith.

Her performance stunned supporters, coming so soon as it did after Riverdale’s. Ariddians are not used to doing well in biathlon, and Jatta’s success has boosted the nation’s pride in its abilities.

Like all West Ariddian medallists, Ms. Jatta can now expect financial rewards from her sponsors, and lucrative deals to represent various large companies in adverstisements in her home country.

Lastly, Ariddia won a new medal in speedskating, obtained by Derek Riise in the one kilometre event. Riise took silver, with a big smile and a time of 1:09.47, giving the Ariddian Isles their eleventh medal of these Games.

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Lunch Hour.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: In the Women's Giant Slalom, Marian Pierce won the Bronze Medal.

WR: Also in the Slalom, Phyllis Hamilton finished 6th.

RM: While Virginia Wilson finished 8th.

WR: And Angela Patterson finished 12th.

RM: In the Women's 12.5 km Biathlon, Nikolaj Sergeevič finished in 4th.

WR: Also in the Biathlon, Jesse Owen finished 6th.

RM: While Jannis Ober finished 19th.

WR: After the 1st run of the 4 Man Bobsled, Quakmybush 1 sits in 11th.

RM: Daniel Ramsey finished 3rd in Final B. He finished 7th overall in the Men's Short Track 500m.

WR: After the first round of the Women's Team Ski Jumping, Quakmybush sits 3rd.

RM: In The Men's Snowboarding Giant Slalom, Timothy Garner advanced to the next round.

WR: Also in the Slalom, Carl Swanson also advanced.

RM: And Andrew Norris advanced as well.

WR: In the Men's 1000m, Jason Sherman finished in 5th place.

RM: Also in the 1000m, Dustin Strickland finished 6th.

WR: While Marc Francis finished 10th.

RM: Quakmybush sits 2nd in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 10 Silvers, and 5 Bronzes.

RM: Well, that is all the time we have.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn be sure to watch Evening at the Olympics.

Bronze glory

Having advanced to the semi-final of the men’s 500m short track competition, Sanadrianese athlete Thomas Peruzzi sailed through confidently into the final, to the cheers of a tiny number of supporters. He achieved a time of 42.418, enabling him to finish second in his semi, barely edging out Commerce Heights JSY’s Cornelius Baloch.

A few hours later, he was back on the ice for the final, against Ropa-Topia’s Isaac England, Commerce Heights JSY’s June Marshall, and Qazox’s Jacque Strappe. Peruzzi had admitted earlier that his one great concern was being disqualified. . . or impeded by a fellow competitor. This was not just any event for the Sanadrianese nation: It was their one and only opportunity for a medal.

Seconds before the beginning of the race, however, Peruzzi appeared calm. He set out confidently, maintaining a solid, steady pace. . . and, in a smooth race without incident, finished third, his time 42.583.

Back home in San Adriano, the entire village-nation was cheering. It was the third time the minuscule country had won an Olympic medal, after Peruzzi’s silver in Aeropag and swimmer Sabrina Vannucci’s gold in the Casari Summer Games.

“I’m very happy, because we now have medals of all different colours, and we have the best athletes in the world!” one small schoolboy in San Adriano said proudly in reaction to the news.

Peruzzi himself looked absolutely delighted, although he contained some of his enthusiasm decorously, given the presence of Sanadrianese monarch Princess Serena at the event. He shook hands warmy with his three fellow-finalists, then looked particularly proud when Her Royal Highness was the one to place the medals round the necks of the three athletes on the podium. Princess Serena congratulated June Marshall of Commerce Heights JSY and Jacque Strappe of Qazox, the gold medallist, almost as warmly as she congratulated her own fellow countryman Peruzzi.

Thus ends San Adriano’s participation in the Keto Games, having gone from the disaster of two consecutive disqualifications to the triumph of an Olympic bronze medal.

Day 16.5 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12047220&postcount=32)

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Evening at The Olympics.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: After the second run of the Four Man Bobsled, Quakmybush 1 sits in 15th place.

WR: In The Women's 1000 Short Track quarterfinals, Stella Waters failed to advance.

RM: Also in the 1000m, Anne Tessier did qualify.

WR: While Lea Voisin did not qualify.

RM: After the final round of the Women's Team Ski Jump, Quakmybush finished 5th.

WR: In the quarterfinals of the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom quarterfinals, Carl Swanson did not win his race.

RM: Also in the Slalom, Timothy Garner won his race.

WR: While Andrew Norris also advanced.

RM: Quakmybush now sits 2nd in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 10 Silvers, and 5 Bronzes.

RM: Well, we are out of time.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn, be sure to watch Olympic Morning.

From MSPN --

Our Women's Ski Jump Team nearly blew it; but not quite. Coming into the second and final round of the Women's Team competition in 2nd place, none of our team had a particularly good 2nd jump, then sat and watched as the team from Anastasiania did well enough to pass them. The team from Kelssek jumped very well. Would it be enough to knock our ladies off the podium? It very nearly was, but the Kelssek Lasies had too much ground to make up, our our Women walked away with our Nation's 19th medal. Elsewhere, we are 9th in the 4-man Bobsled, but did worse on the 2nd run than the first, and have little chance to medal. Carla Chapman was last in the "B" final of Women's Cross-Country Sprint -- 8th overall. We hope to see you at our next update.


OOC: I really need an answer on my question about the skating exhibition. I have some ideas I'd like to RP.

Day 17 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12048433&postcount=33)

OOC question: Do only the medalists perform at the skating exhibition, or do the 4th place finishers also?
The top five finishers perform at the exhibition.

From MSPN --


Toby Meyers is currently 6th in the Men's Slalom, .53 sec. out of a medal: difficult, but not impossible to overcome; Graham Pollard seems to have caught the team affliction: he fell, and did not finish the race. Our 4-man bobsled team made up a bit of time on the 3rd run, but remain .57 sec. away from the bronze. And Sheila Smith was 9th in the Women's 1000m Speedskating. Of course, all of Maineiacs is anxiously awaiting, in just a few more hours, the Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game against Kelssek, as well as tonight's Skating exhibition. Pres. Harrison has declared tomorrow a holiday, so that everyone can stay home to watch the game, which will be carried live on MSPN.

In the Olympic Village:

"So, you guys are going to try out "Pink" at the exhibition, eh?" asked Courtney.

"Yeah, we were worried about how a foreign audience would react to it, it is pretty racy, so we didn't do it for the Long Program. But now, we figured 'what are they going to do? Take the medal back? Not bloody likely. Not invite us back to the next Olympics? No problem, we're retiring. So why not go for it'?" said Sophia.

"I can understand that," said Courtney. "I haven't decided yet whether I'll be back next year. Has Tom said anything to you guys about what his exhibition will be? He's being awfully mysterious about it. All he'd say was it would be 'special'."

"No, he hasn't said a word." replied Sophia, fighting very hard to supress a grin.

"Hmmph." said Courtney.


OOC: thanks for clearing that up.

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Late Night.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: After the third round of them 4 Man Bobsled, Quakmybush 1 sits in 14th place.

WR: In the Women's 1000m Short Track event, Anne Tessier advanced to the final.

RM: In the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom, Carl Swanson will race for 7th place.

WR: In the Women's 1000m Speed Skating, Vanessa Allen finished 23rd.

RM: Also in the 1000m Jessie Christensen finished 24th.

WR: While Wendy Little took a fall and finished last.

RM: Quakmybush sits 2nd in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 10 Silvers, and 5 Bronzes for a total of 24 Medals.

RM: Well, that is all the time we have.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn, be sure to watch Olympic Lunch Hour.

(From the sports pages of 'The Bear Necessities'...)


(Day 15)

Win It For The Ripper!

Well, the ‘Ice Devils’ have won their final match in these games and beaten the team from Edward City, so that after a brilliant start — with an undefeated, and unmatched, five victories out of five games in the contest’s ‘group’ stage — they’ve ended up in third place overall and won the ‘Bronze’ medal. They started this game in a slightly more cautious style than their previous ones, in response to their Semi-final defeat, but after managing to attain a 2-nil lead during the first period anyway they regained their confidence and went over to a more aggressive style: The final score was 5:2 in their favour.
“It’s almost a miracle,” said their coach Olaf Gundersen. “The team only started practising this sport ten weeks ago, after all, and even though all of the players chosen had already proven themselves on the ‘Ice Rugby’ pitch nobody really expected them to get this far in an international competition — against teams with far longer histories—so soon.” Mr Gundersen is, as we reported in our original article about the team’s foundation, a human from fellow IDU-member ‘Ceorana’: He was one of the hardy individuals who chose to remain in their old homeland when the government and most of the population relocated themselves southwards after the terrible radiation accident that devastated that country not long ago, but couldn’t stand the gangs who seized power there and so led a group of like-minded families overland through the mountains to reach safety in Clan Thuleann’s territories… He and his wife Sonya, who is the Coach for our Women’s Ice Hocky team, have recently been offered and have accepted citizenship here.
(Further details, and interviews, on pages 33 to 36.)

Round and Round and Round

There was disappointing news from the ‘Figure Skating’ arena, however, as the end of the ‘Women’s Individual’ saw all three of our entrants finish unplaced: Harrlo slipped eight places down the list as a result of her performance in the ’Free Skating’ stage, to end up 12th of the 24 finalists which was just behind both Denna (10th) and Ismarra (11th). The Gold medal went to Katrina Schwartz, from our neighbours Mikitivity, with skaters from Kelssek taking the other two prizes. Harrlo herself attributed her loss of points to an upset stomach, due to bad sushi eaten the night before, having affected her balance… but Denna suggested that there had been an element of ursophobia behind some of the judges’ decisions and, in her Ostborran accent, quoted a remark that had already been heard from other people before this during these Games: “Is Outrage!”
(More details, interview and pictures, on pages 31 & 32.)

More Bronze!

And our athletes have added yet another ‘Bronze’ medal to their total: This time it’s the one for the ‘Men’s 15km Mass Start’ race in the ‘Biathlon’ section of the games… Barrin o Westwood narrowly scraped into third place, although colleagues Urrgan o Wildwoods and Largan o Westwood were only 21st & 24th. (The first place in this race went to Francois Riverdale, from Ariddia, and the ‘Silver’ to An Sin-Bi from Jasi’yun.) Honestly, what is it with all these ‘Bronze’ medals? Some kind of mystical affinity based on the letter ‘B’? Where are the ‘Gold’ ones?
(More details, and interview, page 30.)

And So…

With more medals having been won by other nations, our position in the Table has dropped slightly: We’re now at 25th (out of the 29 nations whose athletes have won any medals at all so far, and 36 nations in all), whereas our good friends from ‘Mikitivity’ — with that ‘Gold’ from the ‘Women’s Figure Skating’ added to their tally — are now up in 17th place…

Day 17.5 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12051945&postcount=34)

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Late Night.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: After the final run of the 4 Man Bobsled, Quakmybush 1 finished 9th.

WR: In the Women's 1000m Short Track event, Anne Tessier won the Bronze Medal.

RM: In the semifinals of the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom, Timothy Garner won his race and will advance to the final.

WR: In the other semifinal Andrew Norris came up a bit short and will battle for Bronze.

RM: Quakmybush slid to third in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 10 Silvers, and 6 Bronzes for a total of 25.

RM: Well, that is all the time we have.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn, be sure to watch tomorrow.

"OK, as the shootout continues in the Men's Hockey gold medal game, Maineiacs leads 3-1, Kelssek up next. They need to score with their next two men to stay in the game. Their LW takes off; he means business as he flies down the ice, right at L'avoie. A hard slap shot, aimed high... A spectacular glove save for L'avoie! MAINEIACS WINS THE GOLD! MAINEIACS WINS THE GOLD! MAINEIACS WINS THE GOLD! What a game this has been! Maineiacs shows the world that they are indeed the best at our national sport. That's all for now, we return to our Olympic HQ."


Well, there you have it, folks another, and some would say the sweetest gold for our team, bringing our total to 20, with 6 gold, 6 silver, and 8 bronze. In other Olympic news, Toby Meyers improved his time dramatically in his 2nd run, but finished 4th, missing the bronze by .04 sec. Our 4-man Bobsled them finished 7th, and Carla Chapman was 9th in the Women's Cross-Country 30k Freestyle Mass Start. We will return later tonight with live coverage of the Figure Skating exhibition.

As promised at the end of Fordavians olympic participation the Fordavia Journal has stayed on in Keto to witness the Finals of the Ice Hockey.

Fordavia departed the competition in the group stage but can hold their heads up high after winning 1 game and drawing 1 game and due to the fact that the two finalists both came from Fordavia's group and Kelssek were held to a draw.

Edward City, Bears Armed, Kelssek and Maineiacs won in the quarter finals to advance to the semi's

And then Kelssek and Maineiacs won to put them in the gold medal match.

Edward City and Bears Armed competed for the bronze with the medal going to Bears Armed afer a 5-2 win.

In the gold medal match neither team could get the better of the other and it went all the way to a shootout with Maineiacs emerging triumphant in a 3-1 victory.

In the Womens Event spindomia, Bears Armed, quakmybush and Ballclampistan made up the last four.

Spindomia and Ballclampistan were both defeated and took part in the bronze medal match which was won 5-2 by Ballclampistan

The Fordavia Journal will remain to watch the Gold Medal match between Bears Armed and Quakmybush and then will return to Fordavia after recent events involving some unwelcome visitors to The Zaar Alam islands.

Through us Tasug Keergh (Leader of Fordavia) wishes to take the chance to thank the hosts Jasīʼyūn and all the nations involved in The Keto Winter Olympics for making it a memorable event.

Fordavia looks forward to taking part in future winter olympics and perhaps if resources allow, sending a bigger olympic team next time.

"Hello, Maineiacs and Welcome! I'm Rick Dutton, and along with me tonight is Polly Franklin, former 3-time Ladies' National Champion."

"Thank you, Rick. Well, with the Country still riding high on our Hockey team's gold medal this afternoon, we thought a perfect way to unwind from the excitiment was to showcase our skater who are participating in tonight's exhibition. The pressure is off now, and they can just skate and have fun."

"That's right, Polly. Now, if you've just joined us, we just watched the 4th place finishers in Pairs, Garron and Ismarra of Bears Armed. A very interesting program, wouldn't you say, Polly?"

"Oh, yes. They seemed very fluid and graceful tonight. Honestly before these Olympics, I wouldn't have thought bears could be that graceful. But up next is our own Liz Cushman, 4th in the Ladies' category. She'll be skating to the old John Lennon classic "Imagine" in what she described as a tribute to the people of Earth NA that have been caught in the chaos in the aftermath of the collapse of several nations. But in a larger sense, this is tribute to people from all across the Multiverse whose live have been torn apart by violence and civil war. Let's watch."

*Liz flowed gacefully across the ice as the lyrics came in*

"Imagine there's no Heaven, it's easy if you try."

*"A lovely double-toe, double toe"*

"No Hell below us, above us only sky"

*"She reaches back, and into a Bielmann Spin"*

"Imagine all the people, living for today..."

*"Oh, very nice footwork. Well, tonight she's not being plagued by the inconsistency that kept her from taking the National Championship, and from getting a medal here."*

"Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do."

*"A magnificent triple toe-double salchow."*

"Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion, too."

*"That line has to bring back painful memories of losing her uncle in the Fundamentalist Uprising of 2109. Liz was just six, and had to watch him be executed."*

"Imagine all the people, living life in peace..."

*"A triple lutz, then a Hammil Camel"*

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

*"Another brilliant double-double"*

"I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will be as one."

*"Great footwork, there."*

"Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can."

*"Triple Salchow"*

"No need for greed or hunger; a brotherhood of Man."

*"Wow, a triple toe-double lutz."*

"Imagine all the people, sharing all the world"

"Some more footwork, then she glides across the rink, hand grazing the ice in the "Charlotte" position"*

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

*"Double lutz..."*

"I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one."*

*"and into a tight spin. What a beautiful performance."*

"You're absolutely right, Rick. That may be the best I've ever seen her do."

"Well, taking the ice next is our own Tom Bellamy, 4th in the Men's competition. Tom has hinted at something special for tonight, but we haven't been able to find out what it is."

"Well, call it woman's intuition, but it may involve his girlfriend, Courtney Rogers, whom you can see in the "kiss and cry".

"I wouldn't be surprised, Polly. OK, he's ready, and he'll be skating to "Everlasting Love" by Carl Carlton"

"Hearts go astray, leaving hurt when they go."

*"nice tripple toe"*

"I went away, just when you needed me so."

*"Great spin sequence"*

"Filled with regret, I come back begging you"

*"Nice triple lutz- triple Salchow combo"*

"Forgive, forget. Where's the love we once knew?"

*"And he nailed that quad!"*

"Open up your eyes, then you'l realize
Here I stand with my everlasting love"

*"More great footwork"*

"Need you by my side, girl to be my bride
You'll never be denied everlasting love"

*"Oh, you don't suppose..."*

"From the very start, open up your heart, be a lasting part of everlasting love."*

*"Triple lutz"*

"When life's filled with woes, no one really knows, till someone's there to show the way to lasting love."

*"What's he doing"
"He's going over to drag Courtney out of the 'kiss and cry'."
"He wants her to join him on the ice"
"Poor thing, look at her blush."*

"Like the sun that shines,
Endlessly it shines
You always will be mine, it's eternal love."

*"Hey, you know, maybe the should go pairs. They skate well together."*

"When other loves are gone, ours will be strong,
We have our very own
Everlasting love."

*"After a very well executed death spiral, he skates away from her"*

"Open up your eyes, then you'll realize
Here I stand with my everlasting love."

*"Courtney's trying, but she's obviously flustered."
"If I'm right, Rick, she's about to get even more flustered."*

"Need you by my side, girl to be my bride,
You'll never be denied everlasting love."

*"He's reaching into the pocket of his costume, and skating towards her again."
"I knew it! He's asking her to marry him!"*

"From the very start, open up your heart,
Be a lasting part of everlasting love."

*"She's stunned, she can't believe it and neither can I."
"She's finally collected herself enough to say yes, and they leave the rink, still in an embrace."

Later that evening...

"And our last performers tonight are Warrenand Sophia Kellerher, gold medalists in Ice Dance. They be dancing to the routine that got them their 5th straight National title, Aerosmith's 'Pink'."

"Warren and Sophie are in the costumes that they made to go eith this number; Warren in leather and denim, Sophia in a bright pink dress, and even a matiching ribbon in her hair."

"Pink, it's my new obsession
Pink, it's not even a question,
Pink on the lips of your lover,
'Cause pink is the love love you discover."

*"She literally slinks down the ice with a 'come hither' look on her face."*

"Pink as the bing on your cherry,
Pink, 'cause you are so very.
Pink, it's the color of passion,
'Cause today, it just goes with the fashion."

*"Whenever these two skate, you can see the obvious passion they have for each other"*

"Pink it was love at first sight,
Yeah, pink when I turn out the light
And pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be alright
No matter what we do tonight."

*"See how they dance with her cradled in his arms. There's a lot of sexuality in this routine, which is why they were hesitant to use it in their Free Dance."
"Well, it's also, I think, because, well, Sophie is a bit 'better endowed' than a lot of women in figure skating, and she's not at all afraid to use her figure to her full advantage."*

"You could be my flamingo,
'Cause pink, it's the new kinda lingo
Pink, like a deco umbrella
It's kink, but you don't ever tell her."

*"And these aren't exactly subtle lyrics."*

"Pink, it was love at first sight,
Pink when I turn out the light
Yeah, pink gets me high as a kite,
And I think everything is going to be alright
No matter what we do tonight."

*"Some lovely side-by-side moves."*

"I want to be your lover
I want to wrap you in rubber
As pink as the sheets that we lay on,
Pink is my favorite crayon"

*"And even in this number, they can still find a way to do the ballroom style that has become their trademark."*

"Pink, it was love at first sight,
Pink when I turn out the light,
Pink, it's like red, but not quite.
And I think everything is going to be alright
no matter what we do tonight."

*"Very enthusiatic applause, and they skate off the ice. Well, that wraps up tonight's exhibiton, Olympic coverage resumes again tomorrow. I'm Rick Dutton, and for Polly Franklin and myself, good night."*

PIKA CITY PIONEER
Day 16 and 17 at the 2nd Winter Games

We here at the Pioneer, would like to apologize for our last edition, as there were some mistakes. Denise Potluck was not the injured skiier, as reported. She in fact finished with a time of 1:22.25. Her jersey number was similar to another skiiers, and names got confused. We here at the Pioneer sincerly apologize for our error and take full responsiblity for our mistake.


DAY 16
Women’s Giant Slalom—Run 2
Denise Potluck didn't crash on the 1st run, but on run 2, her sister did, costing the gold medal. Rene Potluck was on pace for the gold, when her ski clipped the 3rd to last gate, sending her down. He is fine, but lost out on a chance at a 3rd medal. Denise finished with a time of 1:18.68, and her overall time of 2:40.93 was good enough to place her 18th.

Bobsleigh—Four-Man—Heats 1 and 2.
The team of Fine and Howard times 3 finsihed the 1st run at a record pace of 55.29, easily placing them 1st overall. Their 2nd run time of 55.39, was just off thier record, but was still good enough to keep them in the lead.


Short Track—Men’s 500 m—Finals
Jacque Strappe set a new Olympic and World record during the finals of the 500m with his blazing time of 42.006 seconds. He easily outpaced the runner up by over 1/4 of a second, which equates to 50 feet. Jacque becomes the 3rd gold medalist for Qazox at these games.


Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom—First Round
Francisco Rodriguez advanced to the next round when his opponent deliberatly took a swipe at him during the 2nd run. His time of 1:10.52 was one of the faster during the round. His teammate Alberto Ramierez, also advanced with his winning time of 1:09.24, which beat his opposition by almost 3 seconds.

Women’s 1000 m—Quarterfinals
Linda Pepper advanced to the Semifinals of the 1000m, as she easily finshed 2nd in her heat. Her time was 1:34.99, almost 1.5 second ahead of 3rd place.

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom—Quarterfinals
Francisco Rodriguez just barely made it to the semifinals edging out Miguel Canja of Cafundeu by .23 seconds. He was trailing by .36 seconds after the 1st run, but a slight slip by Canja allowed Francisco to advance. Alberto Ramierez won his heat by a shocking 8 1/2 seconds over Carl Swanson of Quakmybush. The Teammates will both advance to the semifinals, so Qazox is assured of at least a bronze medal.

DAY 17
Men’s Slalom—Run 1
Paul Rubens had a great run, setting himself up for another medal with a time of 53.28, placing him in 4th. Walter Asimov had a good run also, finishing 7th with a time of 54.19. With decent runs in the 2nd run, Qazox could find themselves with 2 medals in this event.

Bobsleigh—Four-Man—Heat 3
The Team of Howard, Howard, Howard and Fine find themselves in 2nd place despite 3 great runs. The Team from Wentland has set new records each of the last two runs, and now lead by .12 seconds. Can the defending Gold Medalist in this event get that one last great run to win the gold?

Short Track—Women’s 1000 m—Semifinals
Linda Pepper dominated her semifinal heat winning with a time of 1:32.681, which was also the best time in the semis. She now advances to the gold medal heat as one of the favorites.

Men’s Slalom—Run 2
Walter Asimov is ok after a horrenous crash during his run. His ski caught the first gate and he tumbled 500 feet into the saftey netting. Paul Rubens his teammate was next int he dock, and his time of 53.65//1:46.93 was good enough for bronze, making him the 2nd Qazoxian skiier with mutiple medals.

Bobsleigh—Four-Man—Heat 4
So close, yet so far, as Qazox will have to settle for Silver in the 4-man as the time of Fine/C. Howard/M. Howard/S. Howard was good, 55.28//3:41.30, but good enough as Wentland had a time of 55.18 to clinch the gold.

Women’s 1000 m—Finals
Linda Pepper's shot at gold came close, but she was edged out by Gi Çā-hu of Jasīʼyūn, 1:34.265 to 1:34.479.

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom—Semifinals
Francisco Rodriguez' surprising run of 1:09.38 will take him to the Gold medal finals, as he beat Andrew Norris Quakmybush, who was DQ'd on the 1st run for missing a gate. The penalty time was basically the differnece. Francisco will take on Timothy Garner also of Quakmybush who edged out favored Alberto Ramierez int he other semifinal 1:09.76 to 1:09.98. So Qazox is now assured of at least a silver and possibly could pick up 2 medals tommorrow.

That's all for now, for more results as they happen, go to www.QSPN.com keyword:Olympics. (ooc: plese note NOT a real Website.. ty)

Day 18 results are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12054262&postcount=35)

The Wentland Olympic Team ended their media ban, after the reports of tension between Peter Tarff and Scott Stoddard arguably cost them a medal, to report on the sixth gold of the Games. The four-man bob did what the two-man could not and took the top spot.

Bob Turner, multiple Grand Prix winner and World Championship runner-up, was suavely pleased. In an interview afterwards he praised the organization of the games but expressed a wish to have doors put on the toilets.

"Only problem with this bally cold weather...it's a bit of a rum do to get one's pipe lit..."

His team-mates were equally pleased; they had missed out in the previous games and now had something tangible for their sacrifices. There had been some tension at Turner being parachuted into their foursome when Stoddard was moved to the 2 man but Turner proved to be a natural at steerage.

RM: Hello, I'm Ron Mclearn.

WR: And I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: Welcome to Olympic Late Night.

WR: Let's get to those results.

RM: In the Men's 5000m Short Track race, Quakmybush won silver.

WR: While Carl Swanson won his Classification Race, he finished 7th.

RM: QUakmybush now sits 3rd in the Medal Standings.

WR: They have 9 Golds, 11 Silvers and 6 Bronzes.

RM: That is all the time we have.

WR: I'm Wendy Rogers.

RM: And I'm Ron Mclearn be sure to watch Olympic Lunch Hour.

From MSPN --

Not much to report as the 2nd Winter Olympics wind down. The only action Maineiacs has seen today involved the Men's Shorttrack team, which won the "B" final, putting them 5th overall. The only event left in which one of our atheletes is competing is then Men's Cross Country 50k Freestyle Mass Start, where Paul Xavier will try to bring home one last medal. Even if he does not, the country is still proud of our Olympic atheletes who made a strong showing, bringing in (unless Xavier medals tomorrow) 20 medals: 6 gold, 6 silver, and 8 bronze. All of Maineiacs is still in a euphoria over yesterday's dramatic shootout victory over Kelssek in the Men's Hockey gold medal game. MOC President Luther Goran has announced that our flag will be carried in the closing ceremonies by 2-time gold medalist at these Olympics, Yoshiro Harada. Our gold medalist Men's Hockey team will not attend; they return home today so they can resume the MHL season on Monday.

ANOTHER SILVER

A happy Paula Vital got the second place in the Cross-Country Skiing, winning the fourth silver medal of Cafundéu and the 7th medal counting the 3 golds.

She only told the media that she fought hard to win this medal, as she had a serious injury in the beginning of the year and she could even be out of the Winter Olympics.

The final results (day 18.5) are up. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12056946&postcount=36)

From MSPN --


Welcome to our final Olympic update. Paul Xavier finished 14th in the Men's Cross Country 50k Freestyle Mass Start; so our final medal count is 20: 6 gold, 6 silver, and 8 bronze. An update on sier Harry Harper: his leg, although badly damaged was saved; he will not need to have it amputated. The Closing Ceremonies were as visually stunning as the Openinig Ceremonies, and we thank our hosts here in Jasi'yun for their hospitality. MOC board members will meet Monday to decide whether to send a delegation to the upcoming Summer Olympics. We once again congratulate all of our atheletes on a fine performance.

PIKA CITY PIONEER
Day 18 at the 2nd Winter Games

The FInal day of the 2nd winter games, saw Qazox pick up its 10th and 11th medals of these games, easily outdoing the 6 aquired in the 1st Olympics. The last Medal came from Francisco Rodriguez who won the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom in Snowboarding when his competitor, Timothy Garner of Quakmybush was Disqualified on the last run for missing a gate, giving Francisco the gold. In the Bronze medal race, his teammate Alberto Ramierez, won both of his heats against Quakmybush's Andrew Norris, to win the bronze.


Overall thses Olympics were very successful for Qazox. At the 1st, we came home with only 1 gold and 6 total medals, This time we have 4 golds and 11 total medals. We'd like to thank our wonderful Hosts here in Keto for putting on such a wonderful event.

“Very satisfying” performance

With the Keto Olympics now over, a look back at the final hours of events.

In bobsleigh, Ariddia’s four-man time was, as expected, unable to make up for its first run error, and finished last overall, refusing to bow out of the competition despite unsurmountable odds. Their final time was 3:47.41, two and a half seconds behind their closest opponents. In short track, there was disappointment once more as Jessica Silversmith failed to advance from the quarter-finals of the women’s one kilometre event.

She more than made up for it, however, in speedskating. In the one kilometre race, it was she who had set the Olympic record in Aeropag, at 1:17.18. Thus her aim in Keto was not only to win, but to remain the Olympic record holder, preferably by improving her own standing record.

Mission accomplished, on both counts. It was a fast-paced race, but the Ariddian anthem rang out one last time in Keto as Silversmith finished half a second ahead of Commerce Heights JSY’s Nancy Willis, her time 1:16.31 – a new record. Compatriot Linda Uosh was nineteenth, while West Ariddian Ivy Chan finished fourth. Anasastasiania’s Jane Edwards was sixth, while Piiri Uttrinen was seventeenth and Susanna Lurdal eighteenth. Athletes from these two nations will be meeting again very soon in Anastasiania for a new speedskating competition.

At final count, Ariddia is in seventh place on the medal chart, with thirteen medals, of which five gold. This is significantly better than in Aeropag, where the Ariddians had won seven medals, of which four gold.

“I think this qualifies as a very satisfying and successful performance,” C.O.A. President Eo Sheh said. “I’d also like to thank the Games’ organisers, on behalf of Ariddia, for smoothly and efficiently run Games, and for their efforts in making this an enjoyable experience for all.”

Meanwhile, the Archregimancy…

The Archregimancy, as you may recall, had sent a delegation of only two athletes to Keto. We saw Fr. Andrew the Seeker After Truth compete a few days ago, and witnessed Fr. Vasily’s outrage at the conditions in which the competition was held. Well, the country’s second athlete, Fr. Michael who Endureth Much, finally made his appearance today, for the very last day of the Olympics. He was going in the men’s 50km mass start Cross-Country Skiing event.

“Is outrage!” MOCTA spokesman Fr. Vasily ( http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Fr._Vasily_the_Heavily-Accented) complained, much to everyone’s delight. “Monastic supporters had to wait till very last day to watch important event with Fr. Michael. Is discrimination! Is insult for Monastic delegation! Is designed to destabilise athlete!”

This time, however, Fr. Vasily was not able to protest about sinful displays of naked flesh. Athletes and spectactors alike were wrapped up warmly, as the former set out bravely for their fifty kilometre trek through the snow. To encourage Fr. Michael, some supporters (presumbly not actually citizens of the Archregimancy) waved the now popular ( http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11999683&postcount=153) “Outrage” shirts which have been selling well in Keto over the past few days.

And, enduring the frigid temperatures and exhaustion of the endless race, Fr. Michael succeeded in placing his country on the medal table on this very last day. He crossed the finish line in third place, with a time of 2:06:40.0, taking the bronze. Supporters cheered.

“Is outrage,” Fr. Vasily commented happily, looking very pleased with the result.

The Archregimancy finishes in joint 29th place on the medal chart, along with Capitalizt SLANI and San Adriano. Anastasiania tops the chart with 39 medals.

Five-Mile Woes
Anastasiania Round Off On Top

Despite the medal rush largely drying off towards the end of the Olympic Games, Anastasiania still finished on top of the medal standings, with a whopping 14 gold medals amassed during the Games. Jasi'yun and Quakmybush, the other two nations with large delegations, follow in the next places, but Anastasiania have established themselves as the world's leading winter nation - a useful status to have, as Heino is considering applying for the next Olympic Winter Games in four years.

The concluding 50 km free style went pretty appallingly for Anastasiania; in a big field Klintby and Bergström were completely off the pace, finishing 22nd and 24th, and behind Okielahoma's footballing-winter-sports-star Drew Harris, even. Sigurr Thuleann, of the Armed Bears, won the gold medal in style, while Noremark took silver and fourth place. The Archregimancy won their only medal as Friar Michael pipped Niels Slavko to the finish.

Allenby Times sum up the games thusly:

Alpine skiing

Medals shared out here, with no real dominating nation. Liverpool England medalled in both the combined and the downhill, but Qazox topped the medal standings with four medals; Rubens won bronze in slalom and silver and giant slalom, while Rene Potluck medalled in slalom and super-G, where she shared the gold with Ballclampistan. Anastasiania's women won two medals; Greta Hammar, aged 19, established herself as a world-class alpine skier with a combined silver and 9th place in the specialists slalom. For the men, Nick Brumby came closest to the medals with fourth place, while Ilpo Hukka's four starts only reaped a 10th place.

Overall grade: 6/10 - stiff competition means two medals is not bad; Sirkiä can retire with two bronzes, a solid career.
Overall outlook: 7/10 - Brumby and Hammar both impressed on their first appearance.

Biathlon

An Sin-Bi of Jasi'yun took four medals, but faced stiff competition from Quakmybush' Fréchette in being the athlete of the Games. Tomas Svanstedt only started twice, but impressed, taking two fourth places; the remainder of the Anastasianian men's team should really retire. In the women's competition, the results were much better; Jasi'yun and Anastasiania split the gold medals, but Wang In-won rates higher owing to two golds and one silver. Ariddia, Edward City, Maineiacs and Quakmybush maide rare visits to the podium, but Anastasiania still dominated.

Overall grade: 7/10 - the women exceeded expectations, winning three golds and two bronzes, but the men need to build something around future star Svanstedt
Overall outlook: 8/10 - Rebecca Wicks did well enough on debut, and the women's relay team improved. Tomas Svanstedt also impressed.

Bobsleigh

As the other sliding events, this was dominated by Wentland, who won two gold medals. They were unlucky in the two-man bob, however, where Michigan-Superior and Quakmybush took the medals. Anastasianians were there to make up the numbers, finishing 12th, 14th and 15th.

Overall grade: 5/10 - as expected.
Overall outlook: 2/10 - grim, but no one really cares.

Cross-country skiing:

Another event with heavy traditions in Anastasiania, which yielded four gold medals; the most for any other nation was two. Sara Tillwald was the athlete of this event, winning three gold medals and a bronze in her five starts, and only let down by her team-mates in the relay. For the men, Sebastian Anders of Noremark won four medals; Jan Bergström won three, though of nobler value than Anders. Impressive was also Thuleann in the long free mass start.

Overall grade: 9/10 - four gold medals in twelve attempts, well above what could realistically be expected.
Overall outlook: 8/10 - Sture Tönder showed potential but waned, but did a good relay stage. For the women, Kristina Ullegård should ease into Tillwald's role come the next Games.

Curling

The Armed Bears dominated, winning both the men's and women's events. Anastasiania failed at the last stage, and their teams were cruelly knocked out, finishing 9th and outside the quarter-finals in both events.

Overall grade: 4/10 - bit of a choke at the end.
Overall outlook: 4/10 - both teams are retiring after the Games.

Figure Skating

The Buitendam couple from Ropa-Topia won two medals, as they did a rare double of ice dancing and pairs. Both Bears Armed and Kelssek won three, but it was an event where the medals were reasonably evenly shared. Rakesham and Wren were the best Anastasianian performers, finishing tenth in the ice dance.

Overall grade: 5/10 - the Jämtin siblings were sent due to lack of anyone else. Reasonably good couple results though.
Overall outlook: 1/10 - very, very bleak.

Freestyle

Peter Alpin won a bronze medal in a surprisingly good Anastasianian discipline; however, it was Quakmybush (two golds, one silver), Rorysville and Cafundeu who domined the result lists. Anastasianian athletes placed five times among the top eight.

Overall grade: 8/10 - surprisingly decent results, with even a medal to add to the 38 others
Overall outlook: 7/10 - the women's squad looks to have some considerable talent, and Kari Ojala is considering returning for the next Games

Ice Hockey

Bears Armed had good control over the team events, winning silver and bronze. Maineiacs won the blue riband event after a shootout against Kelssek, in a highly entertaining finale; Anastasianian teams finished with reasonably decent results, taking 9th (women) and 13th place in an unfamiliar sport.

Overall grade: 6/10 - satisfactory
Overall outlook: 4/10 - not enough money being invested to compete at a high level

Luge

Wentland once more. Two golds, two bronzes, and a silver from nine possible medals. Of the other four, Anastasiania took one, as Sharon Williams improved two spots on her Aeropag finish. She may still return to lead the lugers one more time.

Overall grade: 7/10 - no one can beat the street lugers of Wentland, among the others Anastasiania weren't too bad
Overall outlook: 6/10 - Crick looks promising

Nordic combined

Anastasiania dominated the combined once more, winning ten of a possible 14 medals. James Gourdin won a full set of medals in the men's events, while Harada of Maineiacs impressed sufficiently in the Gundersen to win the most important event. Anastasiania filled the podium in the men's sprint and women's Gundersen, though, and also won the women's team event by three minutes. Kelssek won two medals, gold and silver in the women's sprint.

Overall grade: 9/10 - domination
Overall outlook: 9/10 - dedicated athletes in a sport with little competition

Short track

Jasi'yun impressed on home soil, winning a total of five gold medals in eight attempts, which is rather remarkable in a sport with such huge participation numbers. Baloch won gold and bronze for the men, while Gi Ca-hu won gold and bronze for women; in addition they won both relays and the 500 through Gan Ta-la. The other medals were mostly taken by Qazox (two golds) and Quakmybush (three silvers), though there was a sunshine story in little San Adriano claiming bronze through Thomas Peruzzi. Anastasianians were close to medals in the 500 and 1000 for women, with Bettina Svantesdotter collecting 7th and 8th place (after falling in the 500 semi-final).

Overall grade: 6/10 - making up numbers well enough
Overall outlook: 7/10 - the ASF are serious in their short-track participation, and with Svantesdotter (24) and Näckvik (22) heading the squad, they could be competing at the highest level in four years' time

Skeleton

Yet again Wentland. Three medals from a possible six, and two gold medals. The Anastasianian participation is easily summed up in the word poor.

Overall grade: 2/10 - as said.
Overall outlook: 2/10 - no one really wants to slide down head first.

Ski jumping

Antti Hyvärinen impressed, in everything but the men's team event, where he fluked two jumps of 85 and 98 metres as Anastasiania crashed to fifth. They still won three medals for men, Jens Falk clinching bronze in the men's large hill while Hyvärinen won two individual medals, and two women's medals (one team and Jeanette Stjärnèr in the normal) completed the set. The women's results showed that female ski jumping had come on far, however. Cafundeu won the most gold medals in this event, with two.

Overall grade: 7/10 - a slight setback, but Antti Hyvärinen was mostly dominant. A little weak on the team front though.
Overall outlook: 4/10 - Hyvärinen is 32 now, and considering his future. New skiers Björn Falk, Uddard and Oggskur did not impress

Snowboarding

As expected, Anastasianian athletes did not do much on snowboards. Quakmybush won six medals, Kelssek five, and Qazox and Elves Security Forces two; the Anastasianians made up the numbers, with Hermanni Arkivuo's tenth place in the parallel giant slalom the best result. The halfpipe dominance from Kelssek was shattering; they finished 1-2 both for men and women.

Overall grade: 4/10 - surely you can stick a snowboard on some poor alpine skiers and do better than this?
Overall outlook: 4/10 - let's hope they follow the plan above.

Speed skating

Anastasiania v Ariddia. That's the national match which will be held in Heino Ice Rink in a week, though the count has been going steadily in Keto for two weeks now; Ariddia eventually won 4-3, with Jessica Silversmith's sprinting capabilities giving them the edge. Jasi'yun also won two golds and a bunch of silvers - Jane Hopkins took three by her own - but the big story with Anastasianian eyes was the rebirth of Jörgen Sundlund as a world skater. Two gold medals and a silver means he's a heavy favourite for the allround title - IF he can get his 500 sorted, as Jean-Michel Chang, his main competitor, is a world-beater on the distance. Interesting, Quakmybush dominated the team pursuit, with a silver and gold.

Overall grade: 9/10 - from one to three gold medals, and most importantly, in the distances Anastasianians care about. Also a bunch of other medals - two silvers and two bronzes. The Ariddian 4-3 win prevents a full score.
Overall outlook: 8/10 - Ben Dulwich and Susanna Lurdal leads the undergrowth of Anastasianian skaters.