NationStates Jolt Archive

Through January 20th- November 20th 2007 The Bulgislavian government agreed to let westerners in the country for the purpose of making a documentary. The western documentary makers wanted to Follow the lives of some of Bulgislavia's Athletes as they train for importants events

Bulgislavia is one of the remaining nations that still practices the Stalinist and harsh training regimes of thier Athletes for absolute perfection.
Training almost every day for over 6 hours and being housed in advanced sporting academies where contact with family can happen as much as twice a year.
The result of this Stalinist training regime is Robot like perfection by all the athlete's.
Screen opens up with the commentator walking through an open plaza in central Terevesti. Statues of Athletes in each sport line the center of the plaza. Its a cold day as its January 20th.

January 20th.................................................................................
"We are heading to the Bulgislavian National Academy of Sports, This is where the system begins where children as young as 4 are assigned a sport. Throughout the year we will show you exactly what the Bulgislavian atheltes have to go through. I'm your host for the Documentary Cameron Johnston"


The crew entered the Massive Bulgislavian National Academy of Sports
The entrace lobby is filled with photographs of past Sporting hero's, gold medals and trophies are displayed in cabnets.
The camera pans across the wall, a Photograph of a male gymnast in his 20's recieving a gold medal sometime in the 1950's the photo was black and white, faded. The wall was covered in these sort of pictures.
A chatter of voices can be heard in the grand hall through the double doors.

Through the Lobby is a grand Hall. On special occasions the grand hall is converted into a fully equiped Gym, Table Tennis arena or Basket Ball court.
The Hall is filled with small children sitting with thier parents in columns about 500 children are sitting, chatting, sleeping ect. The parents are speaking witht the Academy directors. The crew approach one family

"Luckily for us the Regime has allowed us unrestricted access to interview anybody" The crew move towards a Tall thin man with his wife a short woman with long black hair, They are sitting with a precious young girl no older then 5
"Hello may I have a word with you?" Our Bulgislavian interpereters translate all the parents answers for us
"and Who are you with today?"

The mother speaks up "This is Natalia, she turns 5 next month"

"Your daughter is very precious, which sport do you hope she gets assigned?"

"We only hope she gets accepted into the academy. Any sport she does will make us proud. Its ultimatly up to the Directors to decide" said the father

"And why do you want this for Natalia so much? If she is accepted you may only get to see her maybe twice a year"

The mother speaks up quickly
"If she is accepted into the academy they take good care of thier athletes. a Better life will await her. we are doing this for her, she will never have to deal with the normal problems of life"


We waited around for 3 hours watching children accepted and rejected into the accademy, Finally it was Natalia's turn

One of the academy directors lifted up Natalia's shy face, lifted her arm up then got the small girl to bend over and touch her toes without bending her knees. She passed the test
The academy assigned her to be a Gymnast her training would start immediatly where she would be transported to the Litharisa Gym in Craasi a city to the east of Bulgislavia close to the Black Sea.
Natalia's Parents are from Timesna an industrial city on the otherside of the country. They had used up thier vacation time for this trip to terevesti in whcih they could not afford to do for at least another 8 months

We were taken on a tour of the Academy by an old retired women who was a professional Swimmer. Svetlana was 49 years old and was the head coach for the Bulgislavian Swimmin Team at the Academy of Water Sports down the road from where we were.

"So did you go through the same process as these children when you were introduced to swimming?"

"ah...no...no the same... We have the same system since 1946 but I was choosen for the swimming team..ah... because my coach saw my ability at..ah.. the Public Swimming pools when i was just 12" She spoke in heavy broken english

January 23rd ......................................................................................
We take a drive to Craasi in the east to meet a Gymnast one of Bulgislavia's best prospects for the future.

Teadora Urnesco is only 13 years old. She was introduced to Gymnastics at the age of 6. We entered the Litharisa Gym in total shook at what we saw

In one section of the Gym were small children around the ages of 6 to 7 all in rows of 4 practiceing flips. one instructor was looking over them. with emotionless stairs they looked almost robotic.
In another section of the gym were the new entrance children. Children as young as 4-6. They were being forced to do the splits for the first time as well as other flexable routines. One instructor was pushing the leg of girl up to her head, the girl was in extreme pain and couldnt hold back the tears.

In another section girls in thier early teens were hanging to the wall ladders and lifting thier legs up to their head then repeating the movement.

We walked over to a section where a line of 10 girls in thier teens were dancing rythmetically. the instructor was pacing backwards and forth shouting
"Omasi! Omasi!....AH! LEMESC! DAV!" which translated means
(Harder! Harder!....AH! PERFECT! GOOD!"

We were introduced to the Star of the gym littleTeadora Urnesco.
She had dark black hair tied up in pig tails that hung around her ears. Here eyes were a deep brown colour. Her figure was so small and tiny she looked like she could be 8 to 10 years old and that she could break in her hands but extremely cute and precious.

Once again our interpereters translated the answers

"So what do you want to do when your older, Teadora?"

"I want gold in the Olympics" she reply's innocently

"How many hours do you train a day?"

Teadora holds up 6 fingers

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We watched Teodora on the Unevean Bars, she did it with extreme profession To us it looked like she could of won a gold right now

I got a word in with the head Coach for the Bulgislavian Gymnast Team

"Have any gymnasts been injuered in training?"

"Oh yes it happened lots. Broken legs, wrists... yeah it happens"

"and what happens to them?"'

"Well sometimes they can still come in and practice if thier injuries are not so bad. sometimes we give them a little time off and if it would ruin thier carreer then we must let them go. its sad but we really have no choice"

"Can you name once case where this has happened?"

"One promising student Helena Muresc broke her back in a Vaulting accident. it was extremely unfortunate she had a lot of talent"

"What happened to her?"

"The government give her a flat in Terevesti and looks after her now"

4 hours passed and we continued inspecting the routines and practices of the Gymnasts, then one hour was left of practice and the older woman eneterd probably in the ages of 15-20 in whcih they stunned everyone with thier routines and where they helped the younger children do thier practices by helping them flip and splits and cartwheel.

Practice eventually finished where Teadora showed us her sleeping barracks.
In the youth wing of the academy the Gymnasts are put in Bunk rooms where they share with 7 other girls. The Older girls get thier own bedroom and the Olympic champions get thier own houses provided by the state.
At night is also the time where the grown and older Gymnasts Practice


We interviewed Andruka Mishkov a 23 yearold man who had one 2 golds and 5 Silver medals in his time.

"How old were you when you began this sport?"

"I just turned 5"

"And do you think the training is harsh"

"Um.. well i've had my share of tears when i was young and new to it all but the ends justifies the means i think...I've served my country and made her people more proud...how many people can say they inspire patriotism in the whole country"

25th January ....................................................................................
We then left Craasi to return back to Terevesti to the academy of water sports to meet budding Olympic diver Vasily Vidova


Vasily is a young 18 yearold boy who is currently made the Bulgislavian Olympic team and will head to the Olympics in the Furture. He has competed in National Events before and won high marks and medals. Introduced to the sport at the age of 10 he was, like all athletes trained day and night to perfection

We watched as Vasily trained to do a 5 meter syncronised dive with his best friend into the pool
Succees it was a magnificent dive by both of them with hardly nay splash.
Vasily got out of the pool and dryed himself when the crew speak him. an Interpreter translates all his answers

"Do you look foward to enetring the Olympics"

"Yes ofcourse everything I do if for the Olympics and for my country i cant wait"

"Do you find the training a little excesive or harsh?"

"Well it use to be a lot worse but becuase i am better at it now its not so hard"

"Can you give us an example of maybe how it was quite hard on you?"

"Well one comes to memory straight away. When i was 11 I could not do one dive,i kept failing and we began at 8 in the morning to master it by midday. but i failed. I had to conitue trying and I eventually got it right at 8 at night 12 hours from when we began. I was not allowed lunch break either and the coach used force on me for each time i got it wrong after 5pm"

"Dont you think thats a bit wrong to treat an 11 yearold like that"

"Well thinking back... I needed it. I am the diver I am today becuase of this training, I am looked after, fed they treat us all well if you think about it"

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The state is quite peticular when it chooses people for sports.
Diver must be short with small waists so thier splashes cant be big
For a period in the 70's and 80's gymnasts were given drugs to stunt thier growth. Weather the practice is still continued now it unknown
Basket Ball players were given drugs too, to mak them extremely tall and increase thier growth.




STAND BY FOR PART 2 IN THIS MANY PART SERIES ON THE ATHLETES OG BULGISLAVIA

Back in Craasi at the Litharisa Gym Every Gymnast is practicing a mass routine that will be put on in show to be shown at the Provoçe Games in August.
The Provoçe Games in a mss Gymnastics and Cultural Parade showcaseing the Bulgislavian nations order and discipline. It occurs every August of every year since 1963 and Gymnasts young and Old all put on a grand performance.

The Theme of this Years Mass Gymnast Routine is "At the Beach"

They were Rehersing the Young Segment of the routine first using 6 to 10 yearolds. Dressed in Blue leotards the girls and Blue Gymnast outfits for the boy the children did flips in Unison, splits at the same time and then they would pull out a blue flag from a pocket on thier side in which they would wave them about to a pattern. This was to represent the ocean.

The music was very cheering and the Instructors were extremely harsh

If a child messed up they would have to handstand against the side wall for 10 minutes. if they messed up a second time then they had to do the Wall Ladder Lifts in which they gripped the wall ladder with thier back's to it and lifted thier legs up to their heads. They did this for 15 minutes.

In the other Hall it was Practive as Usual for the other gymnasts. The plan was to practice the gymnasts in thier seperate groups then near the end merge them together to get one grand routine.

Teodora Urnesco was not apart of the "Group Oçne" (Group Ocean, as the children's group was called)

Teodora was apart of the 11-15 year olds "Group Carmeçesne" (Group Creatures, as in the sea life"

They were dressed in Red with pictures of sea creatures on thier leotards and uniforms. thier routine would consist of the males dancing with the Girls by picking them up, forming lines then kneeling down so the girls could flip over them ect.

The Older woman and men would do more advanced movement involding poles, skipping ropes, ribbons and Gym Balls which would be thrown in the air.

They were called "Group Tipeçe" (Group Iceing, as in, the iceing on the cake)

After the days training we saw Teodora in her free time.
She was excited for this years Provoçe games Routine. this would be her 6th year in the games.

She has a small photograph of Provoçe above the headrest on her bunk. She tells us that before she goes to bed she tells herself she does this all for him and her country.

We went to a Terevesti Flat where we are to interview one of the systems victims. Lena Ilescu was a track sprinter from the age of 8 she was trained to become an Olympic sprinter. She is now 28.
During her teenage years the Academy pushed her too hard. She would wake up at 4 am to do her stretches and have an academy sanctioned meal where she would do a 5 km run, return and do more stretches. run on a treadmill and record her days performance. Then do more stretches.

her foot was mangled in a fall one run and it ruined any future carreer as an olympic athlete. She was removed from the program immedialty. The academy didnt give her the ususaly education they give the other students becuase she was removed and so gave her a Flat in Terevesti. She cant work and the state pays for her weekly food and she doesnt have to pay rent.

"Lena what do you think of the system?"

"Personelly I think the system is very flawed. It spits out hundreds of potential athlete and when they are spat out, basically forgotten about. Just known as people who let thier country down and didnt try hard enough"

"Did you ever have a private life outside of the academy?"

"There is no time for that, like every athlete we were drilled in our sport for our entire live's we got no time to ourselese all we knew was our sport. I only saw my parents once a year back then and becuase of this little contact i still hardly talk with my parents. I think they are embarrased by me because of my accident"

"Well its hardly your fault"

"No one ever see's it that way. If i had the oppourtunity to serve my country and failed its the fault of the individual. never the system"

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Tristiano Droga a 24 yearold Track and Field Omlympic Athlete and National Hero is a shinning example of what the State promotes as a Golden Athlete.

He has his own town house in an area of Terevesti

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The town house is quite flash compared to the average Terevesti Flat. Photographs of himself getting medal's and signed photographs of him jumping the high jump or running round the track lined the walls and sat on eleborate cabinets.
"As an Athlete you have seen more of the outside world then the rest of Bulgislavia do you want to explain what your thoughts are on that?"

"Well. I been to western europe to compete in events and to America. I was mainly stationed in the Athletes houseing and had guards with me at all times. I didnt have the oppourtunity to go out and see it all"

It is a common tactic of the government to isolate its athletes in organised housing and hotels and surrounded by guards so they cant defect

"Your awar that your town house is much more...um comfortable then the Average flat in Bulgislavia"

"Yes i am aware of that But i have served my country, inspired thousands of my countrymen and I worked hard to achieve this"

"Have you got any other events coming up that you need to prective for?"

"There is never a moment where you cant practice. Infact i get 14 days off a year and one of them is being spent here to talk to you here"

"Well we appreciate it, here is another question. Have u ever thought of voluntarily pullin out of the system? has it been tough on you?"

"Ofcourse its been tough. its all in the name of perfection. When the entire nation looks up to you, its alot of pressure we have to make sure we cant let the Bulgislavian people down and never have i wanted to pull out of the system, it can be tough but it gets results"

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Tristiano Droga trained to be a track and field athlete when he was just 9 years old. He has trained in his sport for over 15 years.

He told us that the routine for an average athlete training in his line of sports could practice between 10 to 8 hours a day, every day of the year. If you get results and gain considerable prestiege your entitled to 2 weeks holiday each year.

A strict diet is installed on each of the athletes to ensure they are in thier top condition.
Tristiano admitted that to get the moods up of the athletes before an important competition or if we performed very well one month they would let them listen to western music while they trained.
The state indulges great luxuries in the best athletes that make the country proud. the State doesnt want to lose these athletes in defection and so the greater you become the more you get by the state.

After the defection of an extremely important Bulgislavian Swimmer in 1974 the Government has invested large amounts of money and time into the sports system and have worked to treat Star athletes like royalty in some cases

Down the road from Tristiano's home is Zoya Dovak another field and Track Athlete. he lives in a usual flat however as her profile is not as spectacular as Tristiano's. Zoya is a young 23 yearold woman.
In a school athletics day the Coach inspected the children and and he saw Zoya's talent as she won her races and managed to make the best highjump in her school. She 8 years old and her parents accepted the Academy in taking thier daughter away to train.

We organised to met with Zoya at the Provoçe Sports Stadium in central Terevesti. Its a grand stadium able to seat 100,000 spectators, Portraits of Provoçe sit above the door's its already set up with all the Field event's equipment and the track is opened up.

We entered the Stadium amougst rigourous training by dozens of athletes on all the equipment. The Entire Nation was currently Looking foward to the Bulgislavian National Games in May.
Every Bulgislavian Athlete from every sport takes part in these games. Its extremely hard to athletes to get to the top of the board and get the medals for bes athlete's in the nation as all of them train equally hard.

"The Bulgislavian National Games are my favourite event of the year. They happen annually" enthusiastically spoke Zoya

"Have u ever had a placing at the top of the board? How many times have you participated?"

"Well i first entered the Games when I was 15 so 8 times. But this will be my ninth time competing"

"What does your training include?"

"Wake up at 4 am where I run down to the Academy. They prepare a special meal for me to eat. We do half an hour of stretches and exercises then we all Run down to this stadium. Its always set up for us to train in. We train on each event for at least 20 minutes a day and we rotate"

"What is your favourite event and what is your best?"

"My best is 100m, 200m, highjump, long jump.... My favourite event though it the High Jump and 100m"

"You went to the Olympics in 2004 when you were 20... after you returned from the Olympics when do you start training for the next one?"

"Immediatly ofcourse... Its like that for every Bulgislavian athlete we train everyday to perfect ourselves. The party mobilizes us to make our country proud"

We stayed for the rest of the day Following Zoya inporve her personel bests on most of the event's she trained in. Eventually at 5pm the athletes were gathered together. Tristiano was present too. The coached read our the Best Athletes of the day who imporved thier personel bests the most and the athlete who did best over all. The name read out were
Tristiano Droga and Zoya Dovak.


February 8th 2007 ............................................................................

President Provoçe Celebrated his 77th birthday on this day In the Provoçe Sports Stadium. The Stadium was completely packed and everyone of the 100,000 regular civilian spectators were holding up coloured cards. Conductors dotted around the stadium would give a wave of the flag to signal a change in coloured card where the citizens would change the coloured card to form different pictures.
Provoçe was sitting on a Balcony that protruded from the usual seat.
Gymnasts were brought in from Craasi to perform a spectacular routine.

First the celebration started with hundreds of children skipping into the center of the stadium standing in a pattern of Lines. Then the cards in the backround would turn over to form an entirely Yellow backround with the Red Words
"OMUIST LOVUYAN PROVOÇE" (Happy Birthday Provoçe)

Then the Children standing in the pattern of lines would all kneel down whcih would form words of thier own. They formed a
"MET KASEDAÇE BALISH CETA" (My President Thank You)

Then the Gymnasts enetered. They were all in their 20's. Men would hold women on top of thier shoulders where the women would swing around coloured ribons.

The Bulgislavian Circus then all entered and Put on a spectacular Show for him.
Bulgislavia's famous Contortionists twisted themselves into all sorts of incredible shapes (Circus performers also went thorugh the same kind of system of the athletes)
Then fire eaters, jugglers, Acrobats, tightrope walkers. The show had it all. Then to end the night was a mass fireworks display

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February 20th 2007 ...............................................................................

Back at the Academy of Water Sports we met back up with Vasily.

He has been practicing extra hard. even in his spare time he tries to find time to get to the Academy of watersport to train of the Bulgislavian National Games
We spoke with his coach, Dimitry Hemesco
a short man with white hair and a moustache dressed in a blue track suit.

"So what do you think Vasiliy's chances are of getting one of the top position in the entire country at the National Games?"

"I have a lot of faith in Vasily, he is extremely talented"

"How much time do you spend on Vasily"

"Every time he trains i must be here. He understands how hard he has to work and so when he volunteers to come in, in his free times I'm here to help him achieve perfection"

"Has Vasily got any time for friends and personal life?"

"He has some friends here, I'm his friend" said his coach

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March 5th 2007 ...............................................................................

Its an Important day for Teodora Urnesco the young gymnast from the Litharisa gym. For the first time for 2007 she is going to meet her parents. The last time she saw them was in October 5 months ago.

The Gym paid for Teodora's trip to visit her parents in Creçea. Her parents live in a cramped and run down flat. Accompanied with an academy guide he keeps a close eye on Teodora.
After many hugs and catching up we were able to talk to her parents

"So what do you hope for Teodora in the future?"

"She has made us so proud so far, we hope she can go to the Olympics, I know she can" Said the mother through an interpereter

The parents took Teodora down town to a small cafe where they ate out. Then her parents presented her with a family photograph of all three of them.
At the end of the day Teodora waved god bye. The next time she will be allowed to see her parents in in October. Teodora has extreme traing ahead of a Visit by the Lerasian and Bulkanian Gym Team in a tri-country one off competition between the three countries

(OOC: Back before April Lerasia had a harsh dictatorship government led by Romescu so thier athletes went through the same system)


The Proposed Visit by the Bulkanian and Lerasian Gym Team is to occur in May 15th.

Upon returning back to the Litharisa Gym at night Teodora is amde to practice till midnight to make up for hte time she didnt practice while she was with her parents

Sometimes its hard to know if the coaches themselves thinnk the system is pushing young children to far or if they really believe its nescasary.
Before we travelled to Bulgislavia we caught up with Irena Luca who was a Coach that defected to the west while on an international competition with some Gymnasts. She now lives in the US and thats where we spoke to her first in December 2006 on her views of the system

"The system is extremely and morally wrong. Its very excessive and in my opinion even evil" said Irena

"what got you into being a coach and what were your thaughts as you put children through that?"

"Like every coach I started off as a child athlete myself. When you retire from the sport you have no skills except knowlege of the sport so you can either live out a dead end existence working in some factory where the state and country forget about you or you can conintue on as a coach where you still get to travel abroad.... At the beginning of coaching i thought it was normal to train children like that, I went through the same process as a child and so I didnt give it a second though then when somehwere along the way i noticed at all International competition the gymnasts from other countries smiled more, looked more happy and enjoyed doing Gymnastics, Our Gymnasts however look emotionless like they do it only becuase its thier duty not becuase they like it"

Other Coaches that left Eastern Europe after the Collapse of the Warsaw pact and Communist have also told stories of Oppressive, extreme, evil and excessive measures to exact perfection

We caught Tristiano again in a central Terevesti Cafe. Normal Bulgislavians would spot him walking on the street and chatter amounst themselves, Tristiano told us he is use to the attention he gets from regular civilians.

Tristiano is commonly seen on TV when they are not showing Provoçe footage, he has a lot of priestiege and is considered a National Hero

"So tell me next to all the preperation for sporting events is there anytime for romance, have you got a girlfriend or relationships?"

Tristiano lets out a laugh "Well there is no time for that....I'm married to my profession" he lets out another laugh

"So Athletes are exempt from the rule that they must have 2 children by the age of 40 or they are finned, that law doesnt affect you and other athletes"

"yes your right, that law doesnt apply for us. The state knows we could not manage a family and perform top at our sports so we dont need to follow that law"

"Are you 100% ready for the Bulgislavian National Games in 2 months time in May 2007?"

"Hmm maybe i'm at 100% but I still have to work for 150%" Tristiano laughs again


March 23rd 2007 ...............................................................................

The Litharisa Gym in Craasi has increased the number of hours of Gymnastic practice for all Gymnasts male and female, young and old. With so many events for the year they must work harder then ever before. As well as rehurseing the Provoçe Games routine's they must Practice for the upcoming competition between Lerasian, Bulgislavian and Bulkanian Gymnasts in May 15th as well as Practicing for the Bulgislavian National Games days latter.

Throughout our documentation so far we have observed the Gymnasts to be the most excessivly trained and disciplined. They also endure most of the pain as small children are forced into flexable movements for the first time. Tears are a common sight in the Junior section of the Gym

We sat infront of 5 Balancing beams all lined up Parallel to eachother. 5 child gymnasts the youngest being 6 and the oldest being 8 were standing taking positions at the end. One of the coaches then started commanding them

"Start, go! perfection!" and all 5 of the small child gymnasts would at the same time bend backwards so thier hands would reach the beam behind them where they flipped backwards then did some more flips landing on the beam. One small girl in the middle bean wobbled and the Coach noticed, Telling her to get down and do 30 leg lifts on the Wall Ladders followed by 10 minutes of doing a straight handstand against the wall.

Teodora was doing the splits across 2 beams where her coach would push her waste down so it would go between the beams


Picture 1: Demonstration of the Wall Hand Stands
Picture 2: Demonstration of the Wall lifts (Leg Lifts) using the wall ladders

April 10th .......................................................................................

The atmosphere in the Provoçe stadium was full of revolutionary zeal. The field and track athletes were practicing in a entirly filled stadium. Not for any special occasion but it was becuase of the upcoming May 1st celebrations Regular civilians were conscripted to practice a colourd card routine and so needed the stadium to practice and with the upcoming Bulgislavian National Games they also needed to practice more and so the athletes got a taste of what performing infront of a live crowd would be like at the National games.

We met up with Zoya Dovak again. she has just got the national record in Highjump and her personel best has improved

"So Zoya we see you have improved since we last met"

*gives small laugh* "well yeah all that extra practice is paying off haha"

"So how are you handleing the building up to the National Games"

"I'm so excited, I always get like this. It inspirse me more and then i think about the Olympics. I cant wait. Its only over a month away but I bet time will drag"

Then her coach told us that we shouldnt distract any of his athletes for the duration of the month though he was kind enough to let us speak to him
"So Zoya is your main project at the moment? you see great talent in her?"

"Oh yes definatly! I believe she can be just like Tristiano, she can do it and I will make sure she will, I've said to her 'nothing less then 5 gold medals these games' haha"

"and how did she take that?"

"she said in complete enthusiasm 'then lets 1 and a half hours extra each day' and i'm not kidding"

We left the Provoçe stadium and went to the Academy of Water sports to check up on Vasily Vidova
It was now his turn to recieve a visit from his parents
He hasnt seen them since April last year becuase his coach said any halt in practices would be counter productive.
His parents were this time brought up from Plethece to visit.

Vasily and his parents, both extremely short people were caught up in extreme emotions. everyone was crying

"Mother! Father i've missed you!"
They explained to me that they are extremely proud and have no regrets about introducing him to the sports

"When we have to depart I get sad and I miss him terribly... But if he is to be a Champion then its what he is to be, I will support him" said his mother wiping tears away from her eyes.

Vasily then demonstrated some of his star dives for his parents which brough out more tears of joy and satisfaction in her son, she was clearly proud

The coach then instucted the parents that Vasily must rest up for tomorrows practices and that He has dedicated one whole day where Vasily can stay with his parents in Plethece in November. His parents must of know they would miss his birthday and so presented him with an early gift

It was a box of his mothers homemade bread with a birthday card for turning 19 in July 20th, 3 months away and a new black jacket.

April 20th ...................................BEGINNING OF REVOLUTION IN LERASIA.....

The Bulgislavian recieved the anouncement that unrest had broken out in the city of Kanostas in southern Lerasia and that the military had been called in.

There is anxious silence in the Litharisa Gym. The gym was expecting the Lerasian Gymnastics team to compete in a competition here next month. The Gym Officials announce that will not be happening should the Romescu regime be toppled

"Teodora what do you know about he situation in Lerasia?"

The interpreter translates the answers
"Our ally's are indanger of counter revolutionary activity"

"Will you be sad if the Lerasian Gymnastics team will not be able to tour here?"

"Yes, I really wanted to compete against them. I hope everything turns out alright"

April 30th .........................ROMESCU DEPOSED..........................................

The Gymnastic's team coach announced to the gymnasts that they would not be competing with the Lerasians and they would not be coming to the country. The Bulkanian's however would still be coming to the country on May 15th

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We walked around the streets of Terevesti to get the mood of the population following the overthrow of the Lerasian Tyrant and Bulgislavian ally. Already we noticed a change in attitude towards us by the government. They declared that we must have Bulgislavian guides with us at all times. We brought an eddition of the National News Paper to see if it contained any news on the situation in Lerasia and as we suspected it had very little coverage and when it did in an article on the back it read, Lerasia drops into chaos and anarchy! We then retired back to the Grand International Hotel in Terevesti where we planned our next move. The Bulgislavian Grand National Games were to begin in under 2 weeks

Footage shows some Bulgislavian woman looking wide eyed at the foriegn camera crew directly into the camera and pointed and spoke amoungst themselves. Foriegners in Bulgislavia was still an extremely rare sight.

MAY 25th................................................................................................ .........

The Bulgislavian National Games were due to begin within a couple of hours.

We made our way out of the hotel and to the Provoçe Sports Stadium. where the Bulgislavian National Games were set to start. All over the street we saw it filled with citizens waving mini Bulgislavian flags and posters and banners were everywhere all over the streets and roads.

The Stadium was packed with over 100,000 people according to our Bulgislavian guides

We were reserved a special area away from regular citizens isolated but still in a perfect view of the whole show.

It began on the opposite side of the stadium holding up coloured cards. It formed a massive wall of red. Then some cards flipped over and it formed a picture of Provoçe and had the number

"57" on either side of the picture to symbolize the 57th Bulgislavian National Games. The Bulgislavian National Games have been held ever since 1950 and was innitially created to also be apart of the May Day Celebrations. The Bulgislavian National Games use to be held on May 7th but the date was moved to have more space between holidays.

Then there was some massive formation of hundreds of people on the floor they formed shapes of square and held long planks of wood. then when a grand band began playing militaristic music the people layed the planks of woon on the ground and then stood on the inside of the square then did cartweels over the plank making an interesting reflective pattern of expanding squares as in perfect time the people did cartweels over the planks at the same time

Then all the people lifted the planks up and they all timed up facing Provoçe's private booth. When they were all lined up they all did a flip at the same time over the planks.

Then hundreds of woman holding rings of red flowers over thier heads wearing the Bulgislavian national costume ran out and forming circles of about 20 people danced the national traditional dance.

The great coreographed routine lasted for another 10 minutes then all of Bulgislavia's athlets walked out onto the stadium floor and the stadium erupted into great applause. when all the athletes stood in lines facing Provoçe's private booth, Provoçe stood up and spoke into the mircophone

"It is which great pleasure that I declare the 57th Bulgislavian National Games. May you all do your Patriotic duty to do you best. Long life to the workers state, Long life to the Bulgislavian Workers party!"

then immediatly after the speech the atheletes said in unison
"LONG LIFE TO PROVOÇE!" and it echoed all around the stadium them the crowd erupted once again into extreme applause and cheering