Valruzia

[Aethan]

First week of the Games: Hosts on top, with Bianjie and Trigunia/Nadiya rounding the top 3

Sports: Swimming, Fencing, Canoeing, Rowing, Gymnastics, Sport climbing, Triathlon, Judo and Taekwondo

We are one week into the Terran Olympic Games, and of course, the first medals have been handed and awarded! With still two weeks to go, the Valruzian hosts come in first place with 20 golds, 16 silver and 14 bronzes; followed by the delegation from Bianjie with 12 golds and 14 silvers and the delegation from Trigunia/Nadiya with 12 golds and 2 silvers. Vanuku and Dundorf round up the top 5. But let's take a look and how the different delegations have done during this first week, that has been hosted along the three cities – Nowogard, Szary Kamien and Gryfitów – where the athletes have also found time to relax and pay a visit to museums, emblematic places and locals, and above all, take a lot of photographs!

1. Valruzia
The hosts couldn't have had a better start. The "host bonus" is in full sight, and the nation has shown its dominance in the combat sports of judo and taekwondo, winning 7 golds, 6 silvers and 6 bronzes across the 20 different categories. Apart from that, swimming has also been a nice touch for Valruzian swimmers, while Gymnastics, Canoeing and Rowing have not delivered the expected results, with multiple gold medalist in Seleyan and World cup canoe athlete Rafal Brodnicki becoming the sole gold medalist in the category. Gymnast Klementina Popiel, who was widely expected to aim for medal at the Parellel event, ended up in 4th position by mere hundredths of a whole point, thus leaving here disappointed. The Valruzian judo team was also left a bit disappointed, as they come into the Games as the big favorites to sweep the medals and ended up with only two golds. Their star judoka, Marek Wazliak, suffered a surprise defeat in the first round against Dundorf's Hermann König, who ended up winning gold in the category.

2. Bianjie
A very strong performance in swimming (with 9 gold medals and 8 silver medals solely in this sport) has propelled Bianjie to the second place this week, in addition to gold medals in Gymnastics and Fencing. We believe that the audience has already memorized the Bianjie national anthem, having heard it so many times when their swimmers have climbed onto the podium! 

3. Trigunia/Nadiya
Efficiency has been the name of the game for this delegation. While they haven't flooded every event, they have been lethal in the finals: out of their 14 total medals, a staggering 12 are gold. This dominance was most evident in Fencing, where their sabre team displayed surgical precision. The highlight of their week was undoubtedly gymnast Elara Vance, whose "perfect landing" on the vault for the "All" category became a viral sensation, securing her the gold and leaving the judges with almost nothing to deduct. Their anthem has become a familiar tune in the Nowogard arena that has hosted Gymnastics events, marking them as the masters of this sport. But they also reached new heights – literally. Its competitors swept the gold medal in 3 of the four categories of sport climbing.

4. Vanuku
Vanuku sits comfortably in fourth place with 25 medals, showing incredible depth across the board. They have dominated the tatami, with 4 of its 7 golds coming from martial arts, including a come-from-behind victory against the hosts in the final of Category 4 of Taekwondo.However, it wasn't all smooth sailing; one of their star triathletes, Juhn Baobaeve, suffered a mechanical failure with his bike while leading the pack and ending up running the final kilometer of the cycling leg alongside his bicycle just to finish the race, earning a well-deserved applause by the audience after reaching the finish line, albeit in last position.

5. Dundorf
Dundorf rounds out the top five, largely thanks to their high-level performance across the different sports. As mentioned, Hermann König became a national hero overnight by toppling the Valruzian favorite in Judo, but the success didn't stop there. In Canoeing sprint, the powerhouse Greta Weber secured a gold in the 1000m event, navigating the rapids with a ferocity that left her competitors seconds behind. The Dundorfian delegation has proven that they thrive under pressure, especially when playing the role of the "underdog" against the host nation. Swimming, judo, gymnastics and canoening have seen the golden stars from this nation.

6. Kalistan
Triathlon, Taekwondo, Rowing, Fencing and Swimming have given the Anantonese nation its first 5 gold medals, in presence of their monarch Empress Caroline II Ananto. Their standout athlete this week, Marcos Johnson, took home the gold in the Individual Sabre, dedicating his win to his grandfather, who passed away just a day before the event took place. There was a bittersweet moment in the Gymnastics floor exercise, where Kalistan’s top prospect slipped during a difficult tumbling pass; despite the fall, the athlete finished the routine to a standing ovation from the Nowogard crowd.

7. Egelion
Egelion has tied with Kalistan in number of medals during this first week, although one less gold and with the podium proved to be elusive for its athletes, as the country reached the top spot in number of 4th and 5th positions this week, barely missing the podium in no less than 9 times! Their Swimming team also provided to be one of the strongest, with two golds in women's categories and one of the week's most exciting moments, clinching a bronze medal in the women's100m backstroke by a fingertip– just 0.02 seconds ahead of Mordusia.

8. Kundrati
Kundrati’s delegation focused their energy this week on the tatami, and it paid off handsomely. They secured 1-2-1 medal score in Taekwondo and yet another gold in Judo out of its overall tally of of 4-5-6, winning the gold and two silvers in Taekwondo within fifteen minutes of each other, with these two silver medals proved decisive to keep the nation in the top 10 for the week.

9. Amudim
With a tie of 4 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes, Amudim has brought a lot of passion to the combat sports venues, even if this did not translate into medals. Their Judo team engaged in some of the longest "Golden Score" periods of the week, showing a refusal to back down despite collecting only 1 gold in Judo Cat.5. Their week was also marked by a heartbreaking disqualification in Taekwondo for an accidental illegal strike. 

10. Jelbe
This first week, Jelbe has proved to be a strong nation to round up the top 10, with two impressive golds coming from Rowing women's singles and pairs. However, the most surprising event and one to be remembered for sure happened with its swimmer in the 400 medley men category, that ended up swimming all alone after all its other competitors had already finish and he still had two more laps to swim before finishing. Nevertheless, there are still two more weeks!

11. Luthori
Luthori may be lower in the standings, but they have captured the hearts of the locals in Nowogard. Their Rowing fours women, consisting of no less than... four sisters!, managed to secure the gold medal in a photo-finish against the Valruzian hosts that required almost five minutes of video review to confirm. They also saw success in Sport Climbing, where their lead climber managed to reach the highest point of the wall before the time ran out, securing a podium spot that many analysts hadn't predicted at the start of the week.

12. Mordusia
Mordusia’s first week was perhaps a story of "what could have been". They were incredibly close to the podium in several Swimming events, often finishing 4th or 5th, and out of its 12 medals collected this week, 9 have been bronzes. However, they found their redemption in Judo, Gymnastics and Canoeing, winning their 3 golds for the week as their heavyweights used their reach advantage to secure the nation’s winnings. Their athletes have been frequent visitors to the museums of Szary Kamien, with many posting on social media that the cultural experience has been just as rewarding as the competition itself.

13. Xsampa
The Xsampan delegation has won a single gold but has caressed glory many times, with as many as 7 silver medals to add to their tally for the week, including in Artistic gymnastics Parallel for men, where its gymnast Ngapoi Nawang Jigme scored just 0.002 below the eventual Egelian winner. Still, the team has earned a respectable 13 medals overall for this first week, and surely many more to come! 

14. Narikaton and Darnussia
The infamous last place for the week had to go for one nation, and this time it is Narikaton and Darnussia. Its only gold medal has come from Canoeing sprint 500m men, to add to the silver and bronze medals the nation won also in the Canoeing sport, a third of its total tally. Narikaton’s highlight was a surprise bronze in Gymnastics (Rhythmic), where their use of traditional Valruzian music in the routine charmed both the judges and the audience and earned a huge round of applaus. Now the nation will be looking toward the athletics events in the coming weeks to see if they can climb the ladder.

Final standings after week 1: