Vekaiyu at the Fifth Summer Olympics

Vekaiyu at the Fifth Summer Olympics
Flag of Vekaiyu County code VEK NOC Vekaiyun Olympic Council
Competitors	258 athletes in 17 sports
Flag bearer	Ikrisia Sulevire (Swimming)
Medals Rank: 18th;	Gold 6	Silver 9	Bronze 4	Total 19
NS Olympic history
Summer Games
V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII
Winter Games
VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII

A team of 258 vulpine peoples representing Vekaiyu will be competing at the 5th Summer Olympics in Outineau, Kelssek. This Olympics represents Vekaiyu's first appearance in an inter-regional Olympiad. As an all-vulpine team, the nation hopes to display the strengths of the vulpine race.

Initial Predictions

Vekaiyu is competed in most Olympic events. Such events included swimming, diving, water polo, track and cycling, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, and other events. The nation was expected to be strong in swimming, diving, water polo, gymnastics, and track events, but since the nation had never been a part of an inter-regional Olympics before, their performance remained fairly unclear. Still, Vekaiyuns were very hopeful they would perform at a medal-level for many events.

Vekaiyu specifically concentrated on the aptly-named Ihiseen do Serisilas or Eleven Sirens, which included Elana Navinsku, Ika Eveleruvi, Ikrisia Sulevire, Ileena Useli, Iseli Viverisi, Ivalsa Beraseri, Kira Niru, Leina Irlavistre, Lisa Ikaveri, Riyna McAves, Yva Noveli. Most became overnight celebrities within Vekaiyu, but even neighboring vulpine-dominated Listonia began to take note. Everything from action figures to name-brand toothpaste was made featuring their likenesses. While many aquatic events and sports were already popular in Vekaiyu, many of these sirens had ascended from common athletes to household names in a matter of months. They were expected to be the largest draw among the Vekaiyuns who traveled to Kelssek to spectate the events.

Of the Eleven Sirens, Ikrisia Sulevire was the most popular. Despite being just seventeen years old, she was expected to be the strongest among all swimmers. It is still rumored the 2010 Vekaiyun Olympics logo featured her portrait, but the Vekaiyun Olympics Committee has not confirmed whose face was on the banner.

Not far behind, however, were the strong gymnastic teams and female diving teams. Vulpine culture tends to value agility and sleekness, so it was not surprising to see Vekaiyu submit very strong teams for these events. Track athletes are expected to perform well as well, especially the apparent stars of such events, Seri Valekastre and Elana Hureri. The Vekaiyun water polo teams was believed to have the potential to dominate the event, as well as their triathletes. Potential surprises were spotted throughout the list as well. Specifically, Yva Nokalestro, despite her small frame, was anticipated to have the potential to go deep into the boxing competition.

Vekaiyu, however, did not enter any athletes in any shooting competitions. While no official explanation was given, it is believed the nation has avoided displaying their talent in such competitions due to issues regarding revealing their militaristic talents. While entering into the Fifth Summer Olympics was a big step forward to showing Vekaiyu's desire to open up to the world, the nation still remains a militarized society.

Bid for a Demonstration Sport

Vekaiyu was hopeful to make underwater hockey a demonstration sport. As the sport is very popular in Vekaiyu, its possible entrance into future competition would be pivotal for the nation. Vekaiyu believes it has the best underwater hockey players in the entire world and no doubt would have loved an opportunity to prove such. However, the event was not considered by the Olympic Committee.

Vekaiyu is expected to make a strong push for underwater hockey as a demonstration sport during the Sixth Summer Games.

Uniforms

(Main Article: Vekaiyun Sport Uniforms)

Vekaiyu prides itself in its technological and sometimes bizarre uniforms. The Fifth Summer Games showcased Vekaiyun uniforms in multiple sports, which received a peculiar reaction among some of the competing nations. Due the the unusual and often smaller structures of the vulpine people, as well as their religious practices, their uniforms are slightly different than normal human-based nations, but it is highly anticipated they will construct such uniforms for human use before the opening of the Sixth Summer Games.

Entrants

Main Article: Vekaiyu at the Fifth Summer Olympics/Entrants

In total, Vekaiyu sent 258 athletes. The highest concentrations of athletes were swimming and track and field events.

Performance and Highlights

The female speed swimsuit helped give a lot of Vekaiyun swimmers the competitive edge.

The festivities officially began during the Parade of Nations event. The all-vulpine team turned heads and collectively had numerous shades of fur and hair colors. Adding to the color were their dress uniforms, as the men wore burgundy sport coats with white pants and the women wore simple red dresses with black vests, stitched in common Vekaiyun peasant symbols. Each athlete held a small Vekaiyun flag, adding to the festive nature of moment, though they paled in comparison to the one waved by the swimming phenom Ikrisia Sulevire, the flag bearer of the nation. Some athletes held up signs with phrases written in Unonian while others toted video cameras. Disaster almost befell the nation when Vanse Lovisteru and Vinsent Pikera hoisted Sulevire onto their shoulders in the heat of the moment. The disruption was short-lived, and the two wrestlers were rumored to be barred from their events, a rumor that was proved false the next day.

Day four was when Vekaiyu first appeared on the medal tally scoreboard. The first medal, a bronze in the men's 4x100 m freestyle relay, was won by Vinsent Ivere's final push in the last quarter of the event. Later that day, Iseli Viverisi won gold in the women's 100 m butterfly, missing the Olympic record by roughly two tenths of a second. She later was quoted with saying she owed her medal to her speed swimsuit. In the evening, the men's gymnastics team took home a silver, due in part to the memorable performance by Stapen Skilusi. The woman's team failed to qualify, however. On day five, the highly-anticipated Sulevire would take home the bronze in a strong performance in the 100m backstroke, but would falter in the breaststroke event later in the day.

Day six featured Ika Eveleruvi winning gold in the 200m individual medley, again missing the Olympic record by tenths of a second. The next day, Kira Niru took the silver in a thrilling 200m freestyle event after narrowly losing to the gold medalist in the last leg. On day nine, the "all-star" relay team of Sulevire, Eveleruvi, Ikaveri, Irlavistre disappointingly failed to pass their first heat in the 4-200m freestyle relay event, but Vekaiyu made up for the disappointment when Vinsent Ivere took gold in the 100m freestyle, making up one-half of the first ever athletes to share gold medals under the new timing system. Day ten would see another silver won by Niru, and the next day Enlil Vosteru would narrowly miss out on a medal in the gymnastics floor exercise, possibly caused by a slightly off-balance landing from a flip early into his routine.

A series of narrow misses would plague the Vekaiyun gymnastics, but Kira Niru would again shine, this time breaking the previous Olympic record in the 200m backstroke, but eventually she lost the gold to a Burchadinger swimmer and had to settle for silver. Leina Irlavistre, the last swimmer of that event, took bronze. On day twelve, Skilusi took a silver in an impressive vault routine, while Kaslo Nuveru again narrowly missed a medal. In a very exciting event, the combined team of Ika Eveleruvi, Ikrisia Sulevire, Iseli Viverisi, and Yva Noveli nabbed the gold. Sulevire's performance in that event reminded spectators of why she was chosen as Vekaiyu's most-entered athlete, as she got the team off to an amazing start in the first leg. Jesika Kerveli narrowly missed a medal in diving on day thirteen, which was followed by a series of near-misses by the men's gymnastics team.

Day fourteen featured the woman's marathon, where Elana Hureri missed out on a medal by a matter of seconds. Near misses continued to best the Vekaiyun athletes into day eighteen when Erulo Vistale missed bronze in wrestling. Later in that day, Elana Navinsku would end the misfortune by taking gold in the woman's 10000m marathon in swimming after passing the Valanoran swimmer halfway into the event. Sayli Ikalso remarkably took bronze in the woman's javelin throw on day twenty, while another surprise in Leina Iselistre won the gold in table tennis in a thrilling match with Terri Wogan of the Combined Team on day twenty-two - despite predicted to finish among last place. Vinsent Kis took the silver in rhythmic gymnastics with a very moving routine. Women's football narrowly missed victory in the gold medal game on the next day, and the woman's beach volleyball team of Isii Sevare and Leina Kulesiste lost the gold medal game despite dominating much of the competition.

Medalists

Medal	Name(s)	Sport	Event
	Ehjy Ecaste, Kiveli Uskeveru, Stapen Volastre, Vinsent Ivere	Swimming	Men’s 4×100 m Freestyle Relay
	Iseli Viverisi	Swimming	Women's 100 m Butterfly
	Stapen Skilusi, Ehjy Uvves, Enlil Vosteru, Yiisu Reveseri, Yiisu Besatera, Kaslo Nuveru	Gymnastics	Men’s Team All-Around
	Ikrisia Sulevire	Swimming	Women’s 100 m Backstroke
	Ika Eveleruvi	Swimming	Women’s 200 m Individual Medley
	Kira Niru	Swimming	Women’s 200 m Freestyle
	Vinsent Ivere	Swimming	Men’s 100 m Freestyle
	Kira Niru	Swimming	Women’s 200 m Breaststroke
	Kira Niru	Swimming	Women’s 200 m Backstroke
	Leina Irlavistre	Swimming	Women’s 200 m Backstroke
	Stapen Skilusi	Gymnastics	Men’s Vault
	Stapen Skilusi	Gymnastics	Men’s Vault
	Ika Eveleruvi, Ikrisia Sulevire, Iseli Viverisi, Yva Noveli	Swimming	Women’s 4×100 m Medley Relay
	Elana Navinsku	Swimming	Women’s 10000 m Marathon
	Sayli Ikalso	Athletics	Women’s Javelin Throw
	Leina Iselistre	Table Tennis	Women’s Singles
	Vinsent Kis	Gymnastics	Men’s Individual (Rhythmic)
		Association Football	Women's Association Football
	Isii Sevare, Leina Kulesiste	Volleyball	Women's Association Football

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Swimming	5	3	3	11
Gymnastics	0	4	0	4
Table Tennis	1	0	0	1
Association Football	0	1	0	1
Volleyball	0	1	0	1
Athletics	0	0	1	1
Medals by type
Type				Total
Men's	1	4	1	6
Women's	5	5	3	12
Mixed	0	0	0	0
Total	6	9	4	19

Aftermath

As the Fifth Summer Olympics came to a close, Vekaiyu had a lot to be proud of in their first ever appearance in an Olympic event. The nation finished in 18th place, highlighted by obtaining the second-highest ranking in the swimming events. Vekaiyu had achieved what it had set out to prove: they were very good at swimming, but in addition they proved to be among the world's elite in such events. With another year of training and experience, there is no telling what limits they will set for the Sixth Summer Olympics.

Despite there being many accomplishments, there were noticeable blemishes in the Vekaiyun arsenal. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Ikrisia Sulevire. The young swimmer never officially commented on her performance (one gold medal and one bronze medal in eight events), but accepted reasons include the tremendous expectations and pressure Vekaiyu placed on her shoulders and the rumor that her speed swimsuit was too tight and she was unable to have her size made in time for her participating events. Another disappointment is a the sheer amount of unluckiness the Vekaiyun gymnastic teams faced: at least a dozen fourth and fifth place finishes plagued the teams. While such accomplishments are nothing to overlook and do not deter from Vekaiyu's formidable gymnastics program, the nation is interested in winning medals.

Many athletes came home heroes. Even those who did not perform to expectation were treated respectfully and compassionately. The Eleven Sirens' popularity remained undimmed and, in some cases, improved. Sulevire returned to her typical form by participating in a recent invitational and setting Vekaiyun records in freestyle and backstroke events. The miraculous performance of Leina Iselistre who, despite the odds stacked against her, won gold in table tennis, has moved many Vekaiyuns to take interest in the sport. Humans in Vekaiyu were moved in an opposite way: the poor overall performances of the Vekaiyun basketball teams and lifting events reportedly inspired many to train for next year's games.

Unfortunately, the 2010 Vekaiyun Civil War claimed the lives of nearly one dozen Vekaiyun athletes: Fankyo Nolevistre, Viktor Ilovestri, Lipia Sovale, Vesila McKareno, Yiisu Naver, Nyl Uvelere, Leina Huseri, Yalela Uselveri, Samuel Shakador, Iveri Kisalare, Dazso Telikro, and Kira Niru. Kira Niru was Vekaiyu's top medal-getter and a former member of the Eleven Sirens whose life was tragically cut short in the Great Tragedy that befell Iruk during the war.