The Honourable Athletes
Neven Humphrey
Copyright 2010 by Neven Humphrey
Smashwords Edition
I would like
to thank
the following people
for their help
in putting this book together:
Mrs. Margot Booth
Miss Jennifer Hendry
Miss Catherine Jolicoeur
Mr. Daniel Richardsen
Mrs. Danielle Humphrey
Dedicated to all who love animals
and who love a good read.
Preface
Someone once asked me where I got the idea of writing these short stories, and why did I choose an Olympic-type theme. It’s a long story in itself, but I can share it with you.
First of all, as you probably have guessed already, I love animals, especially carnivores. In fact, before writing ‘The Honourable Athletes’, I had written an ecological drama for teenagers called ‘To Save a Wolf’ (under the pseudonym Ano Malay). It’s available for purchase via my website www.nevenhumphrey.com.
But while I was writing ‘To Save a Wolf’, I was also thinking of writing detective stories for young readers, but with animals as characters. My first idea was to do it in the style of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, (the detective would be called Fennec Marlowe.) He’d have an assistant named Anthony Redd-Foxx, and a secretary named Jessica Corsac-Fox. Anthony would have a love interest, a German alpine skier named Birgit Red-Fox. And as with all good detective stories, Marlowe would have an archenemy named Michael Foxhound. But luckily for me, (and friends, family, and fans of the late Raymond Chandler), the project never got off the ground.
However, the idea of animals participating in competitive sports kind of held an appeal to me. As well, I had an idea for another novel: an intergalactic council, deciding that humans were too destructive to their planet, sends a spaceship armed with a planetary death ray, to rid the Earth of every human. But an accidental blunder gives human features to the higher species of mammals, thus making them half-human.
Now, what would these creatures be called? I thought of manimals, but I dismissed it as sounding too corny. Luckily, through a website called www.ozfoxes.com, I discovered the term ‘furry’, which is a cartooning term for an animal with human features. Thus, I now had a name for my creatures.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t put together a plot for a world suddenly without humans, except that they’d take part in Olympic competitions. So I decided I’d write a novel covering the Furrylympic Games.
Now, the hard part began: which animals, and which countries would participate. Of course, primates and carnivores. But that would leave Australia, who has only dingoes among these categories. So I decided to add higher marsupials, like kangaroos, koalas, and possums to my list. As well, I added ferrets, and tame cats and dogs.
This brought on a few more problems. First of all, one cat breed can be claimed by many countries at once. I solved it by taking every country that claimed a breed would have cats of that breed living there.
Now for the dogs. A lot of problems occurred here. First of all, should all breeds qualify? Since some breeds, like foxhounds, are trained to kill other carnivores, I decided not to include those in my book, except as enemies, (as seen in the story of Milos Davrov Eurasian-Mink.)
Another problem was that not all breeds are registered in kennel clubs. In fact, breed lists differ from one kennel club to the next. And over 300 breeds aren’t mentioned in any kennel club because they are either rare, restricted to a specific area of the world, or recently created. Thus, I had to do a lot of research on the Internet to find them. And some, in fact, I have only found in name: no information on the breed itself. So I can’t use those at present.
A little dilemma I had concerning the new breeds: some sounded like glorified mutts. For example: Boxadoodle (Boxer-Poodle mix). I decided the names sounded too ridiculous, so I put them in the ‘mutt’ category.
Now for the wild creatures. I consulted tons of books on mammals, to find out just how many species of carnivores, primates, and higher marsupials there were in this world, and where they lived. Now, North America was pretty easy, due to the limited number of countries, and the fact that the Caribbean islands had few mammals in the first place. However, I did get a few surprises, like raccoons on Guadeloupe Island and the Bahamas, and a species of possum on Trinidad and Tobago.
South America and Europe were also pretty easy, too. Australasia was also pretty easy, since there were only three countries involved: Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. However, I discovered that many Australian marsupials had been introduced in New Zealand. Should I include them as New Zealand species? Finally, I decided not to, since they hadn’t gotten to New Zealand in a natural way. (What about the dingo? They’d been introduced to Australia over 5000 years ago, so they can’t be considered feral.)
Antarctica has no sedentary wildlife, so I excluded it. So finally, Africa and Asia. And there, the real work began. First of all, there are a huge number of species in those two continents, the two largest in the world. And second, the distribution maps for Africa were pretty vague most of the time. As for the written information, most of the time, it just said from which country to which country they could be found, leaving me to guess all the countries in between. But finally, I think I got it right.
Asia had another level of difficulty, since there are no specific guides to the mammals of that continent. So I had to do a lot more research, including online and at the local library, (Thank you, ‘Grzimek’s Encyclopaedia of Mammals’).
Once that was done, and I had all my carnivores, primates, marsupials, ferrets, tame cats, and most of the tame dogs all sorted out, I noticed something interesting: not all countries were represented, and some places that weren’t independent countries had species found nowhere else. For example, Madeira Island, a Portuguese-owned island off the coast of Africa, had a distinct species of dog called a Xochaso, (who are main characters in a story in the first book), and the Andaman Islands, owned by India, were populated by masked palm-civets. On the other hand, countries like the Dominican Republic, Vanuatu, and Grenada, have no native tame mammals, primates, carnivores, or marsupials. Thus, I had to write down the list of all the countries, eliminate those that were without any possible furries, and add countries with furries, that aren’t independent.
Unfortunately, two other quandaries emerged. When I tallied the species of Russia, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, I hadn’t counted on those countries splitting into pieces. Should I redo those, taking into account those new countries? Since I couldn’t find lists for each of those new countries, I decided to ignore the changes, and leave the countries as is.
On the other side of the coin, how far should a territory be from its mainland to be considered independent? Sure, Greenland was far enough from Denmark, so no problem in declaring it independent. But what about the Ryukyu Islands, owned by Japan, and home to the Ryukyu dog? Since Japan is an archipelago, and Ryukyu isn’t that far from the main islands, I decided to leave them as Japanese territory. But since the Andaman Islands are quite far from India, they would be independent.
A notable exception to this rule is Puerto Rico, home to the Gran Mastin de Borinquen dog, and property of the United States. The reason? Alaska, which is separate from the United States, and has species distinct from the lower 48 states. So if I made Alaska independent, I should make Puerto Rico independent, too. Hawaii? No native furries, so they’d remain with the United States.
A final problem: the city-states, like Monaco, the Vatican, and Singapore. Since they don’t have native species unique to them, I decided to not make them independent. Same thing for San Marino, which I considered also a city-state.
Thus, after all these difficulties passed, I was able to write my first series of short stories, which were published in 2008, and this book promises just as much thrill as the first one. Enjoy.
Neven Humphrey
Aneta and Brita Vilhoren Muriqui (BRA)
(Twin champions)
What do you do when you’re a furry with real hands, you’re not interested in athletics or water sports, and you’re too scared to try gymnastics? You take up racket sports, of course. For Aneta and Brita Vilhoren Muriqui, twin sisters from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the sport of choice was tennis. They had been practicing the sport for many years, and at age 15, they were crowned junior world champions in the double females competition. Their next challenge was to make it onto the Brazilian senior national team.
Since many of Aneta and Brita’s potential opponents were ranked pretty high up in the world standings, making the senior team would be a daunting challenge. Nevertheless, the twins launched themselves into battle and with surprising ease, they won the national title. The following year, in Brasilia, they qualified for the Los Angeles Honour Games.
Upon their return from the qualifiers, their family was at the airport to greet them, and that evening, there was a huge party at the Vilhorens’ residence. After an enjoyable night, the sisters went to bed very tired and happy, but the following morning saw a return to practicing.
On one particular morning, the sisters had barely started hitting tennis balls, when a golden lion tamarin signalled to them while approaching their court. “Oh, hi Coach,” Aneta greeted, “You’re a little late today, aren’t you?”
“I was just talking to the head of the Brazilian Furry Tennis Association,” the tamarin replied, “He asked me to see if either one of you wanted to do the doubles mixed tournament with Carlos Marques Emperor-Tamarin during the Games. He and his twin brother Paulo were also selected for the Honour Games team and since Paulo is doing the singles and the double males, Carlos will be competing in the mixed event and needs a partner. So, which one of you wants to double up with him?”
“I will, if I need to,” Aneta answered, “But I thought he already had a mixed partner; his sister Maria.”
“We’re only allowed four tennis players on the team; I thought you knew that already,” the coach informed, “Since you two were selected as the top two female tennis players in Brazil, you will each have to do double duties. While you will be doing the mixed doubles, Brita will be taking care of the singles event.”
“OK,” Brita put in simply, “But I need to tell you, Coach, that I really don’t think I’m quite good enough to win a medal in singles.”
“That’s OK; as long as you play your best, and do your country proud, no-one will be angry at you.”
“That’s good to know,” she answered in stride.
And so, a week later, they were introduced to their male counterparts. And while Brita and Paulo practiced their singles game by playing against each other, Aneta and Carlos played together against their coaches.
After the practice was over, and Carlos and Paulo had left, the twin sisters walked home. “So, what do you think?” Brita asked her sister.
“About what?”
“About our new assignments at the Games.”
“I don’t know,” Aneta replied, “We have a pretty good shot at medals in the double females’ event, but probably not in the other two categories. I know I don’t see myself going very far in singles, against players such as the Mikiro sisters of Japan.”
Nodding, Brita said, “Carlos is not that bad a player, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to click enough to even get past the first round.”
“So what are we going to do, sis?”
“What can we do? Just humour our coach, while keeping on practicing our doubles.”
But that plan quickly became impossible, as the two male players started coming to the court every day. On the bright side, Brita’s singles game was getting better, and Aneta and Carlos were starting to click. But, in order to practice doubles, the females now had to book extra court time, and also scramble to find other teams against whom to play. “If this keeps up, we’ll be too exhausted to even play at the Games,” Aneta said.
“You got that right!” her sister answered.
“We’re going to have to tell the coach that we can’t go on like this, or we’ll burn out.”
“I’m not sure he’s going to like hearing that. He is, after all, counting on us to win medals at the Games.”
“Well, we’re in no shape right now to even compete for medals.”
“That’s true. So which one of us is going to tell him the bad news?”
“Might as well be me.”
“Well, good luck, Aneta.”
The next day after practice, Aneta talked to their coach, who turned out to be very understanding, cutting in half the training sessions with their male counterparts. The strategy worked. Not only did their doubles play come back to world class, their performance on singles and mixed doubles wasn’t affected, either. And the best thing of all? They were no longer tired after practice.
***
Three days before the beginning of the Honour Games, the Vilhoren sisters and their male counterparts joined the rest of the Brazilian team in Brasilia, where they all boarded their plane for Los Angeles.
After arriving in L.A., they reclaimed their luggage, and climbed into the shuttles heading for the Athletes’ Village. When they got to the Village, the shuttles stopped in front of Building no. 6, in the South American section. The sisters immediately went inside to get their rooming arrangements, and found out that, of course, all four tennis players would be boarding together. So as soon as they had all stowed their things in their room, the foursome did a tour of the whole South American section, and then went to have lunch.
***
Aneta, as well as a few other members of the Brazilian team, got to represent their species during the ‘Furries of the World’ performance; and once that was done, they all raced back to their team for the Parade of Nations. Two hours later, just after the Opening Ceremonies were over - and since the single females’ tournament would only be starting on day 3 of the Games - the sisters went to the Meet-and-Greet in the South American section restaurant.
***
On the morning of the third day, Brita woke up early, got dressed, grabbed her racket, and then walked to the section restaurant. After a hearty breakfast, she left the restaurant, (saying hello to her sister on the way out), and then grabbed the shuttle heading for the tennis courts.
In the court area, there were a few players warming up their swings using the tennis machine, but the majority of the players, along with the coaches, the umpires, and a few ball cubs, were still having breakfast in the racquet club’s cafeteria. Just as she entered the cafeteria, Brita saw her coach coming towards her. “Where were you?” he demanded, “I’ve been waiting here for over an hour now!”
“I was having breakfast in the South American section restaurant,” she answered simply.
“We were supposed to meet here this morning! But whatever: you will be playing in about an hour, against Annicka Delzelle Guadeloupe-Raccoon of Guadeloupe. I’ve never seen her play before; so be on your guard, OK?”
“Don’t worry, Coach,” Brita reassured him, “I won’t let you down.”
***
The coach didn’t really need to worry, since Brita easily disposed of the Guadeloupian by a score of 6-0, 6-0. After the game, she and her coach immediately went back to the South American section, where Brita spent the rest of the day eating, watching TV, and training.
The following morning, Brita learned that her next game was in the afternoon, and that she would be facing Australia’s Cybil Bellington Swamp-Wallaby. Brita and Aneta having beaten Cybil and her sister twice in doubles competitions during their junior years, the muriqui knew what to expect. While not being a blow-out, Brita considered her 6-2, 6-4 victory to have been pretty easy. But knowing that, the next day, she would probably be playing two games against much tougher opponents, Brita returned to her apartment and took the rest of the day off.
***
Brita woke up early the next day; and after a quick breakfast, she took a shuttle to the tennis courts, where for about a half-hour, she practiced with the tennis machine.
At 9 AM, the tournament started up again, with Brita playing on Court 5, against Yu Julia Golden-Monkey of China. As she had predicted, the calibre of her opponents had climbed up a notch. Even though she lost the first set 4-6, Brita stayed focussed enough to win the next two, by scores of 6-3 and 7-6, thus advancing to the quarter-finals, which would be played in the afternoon.
After a good lunch at the canteen near the courts, Brita proceeded to Court 6 to face her next opponent: American Raquel Washburn Raccoon. Again, it was a challenge, but Brita got through it 6-4, 6-7, and 6-4.
So now, (and against all odds), she was guaranteed of at least a bronze medal. However, if she wanted to go for gold, she would have to defeat a furry she had idolized for many years now: Aneko Mikiro Snow-Monkey of Japan, who was rated the no. 1 female player in the world. “Well, I’ll try my best tomorrow,” she told her sister, as they were riding back to their apartment, “Though I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to beat Aneko.”
“Considering that you didn’t think you’d even reach the medal round,” Aneta answered, “winding up with a bronze medal would be a pretty good accomplishment, don’t you think?”
“That’s true,” Brita conceded.
The following morning, a fairly relaxed Brita shook hands across the net at Centre Court with her Japanese opponent. And then, the match began. As expected, it was very tightly fought. Aneko won the first set 7-6, but Brita fought back to win the second, 6-4. Thus, the third set was promising to be a real seesaw battle. And it was, reaching a score of 6-6. Brita then had the serve, but double-faulted. The score was now 15-Love for Aneko. Aneko took the serve, and after a few volleys, Brita smashed the ball just out of the Japanese female’s reach. It was 15-15. Brita reclaimed the serve, which was returned off-side. 30-15 Brita. Aneko double-faulted. 40-15 Brita. Brita served again, and a set of volleys that lasted over a minute ensued as Aneko tried not to lose the match, and Brita tried to win it. Finally, Aneko tripped while trying to return a serve, and the game was over. Brita was going to the finals.
She shook Aneko’s hand again, and then went over to hug her sister, who had come down from the stands. “Can you believe it?” she shouted with joy.
“No, I don’t; and I just saw you win,” she answered.
After retrieving her equipment, Brita and her sister left the courts, and returned to their apartment.
“You know what?” Brita said, over dinner at the South American section restaurant, “I just might win gold tomorrow.”
“And if you do,” Aneta answered, “I’ll be in the stands, watching you and cheering you on.”
And she was, even though Brita really didn’t need the extra encouragement, easily disposing of the other surprise finalist, Congolese female Leontine Ilba Mustached-Monkey, by scores of 6-2 and 6-1. And so, that evening at the Honour Games Stadium, Brita, Leontine, Aneko and the other bronze medalist, Juana Ferne Crab-Eating-Raccoon of Guatemala, stood on the podium to receive their medals. Brita, of course, was on the highest step.
Since there were no tennis events scheduled the following day, Aneta and Brita spent the rest of the evening partying. They then took the next morning off, returning to practicing tennis in the afternoon.
Less than 24 hours later, both sisters were on Court 15 for their first double females match, against South African sisters Veronica and Verna Thlaboke Vervet-Monkey. The South African sisters did not pose much of a challenge for the Brazilians though, as Brita and Aneta triumphed by scores of 6-0 and 6-1. However, they didn’t let that easy victory hoodwink them into thinking it was going to be a cakewalk to the finals. So, as soon as they returned to the South American section of the Village, they had lunch, and then spent the next afternoon practicing.
The following morning, on Court 2, the Brazilians were facing Indonesians Hafeez and Qaadir Tanyi Orang-utan. This was a much tougher match than they’d anticipated, but they still triumphed by scores of 6-4 and 6-4. Then, in their afternoon quarter-final on Court 4, Aneta and Brita defeated Americans Raquel Washburn Raccoon and Corleanda Firth Ringtail by scores of 1-6, 6-4, and 7-5.
Soon after the game was over, Aneta and Brita discovered that their opponents in the semi-finals would be Aneko Snow-Monkey and her sister Miko. “That’s the second time at these Games that I’ll be meeting Aneko in the semi-finals,” thought Brita, “Either someone in the tennis department doesn’t like us or them, or they’re idiots.”
Nevertheless, the following day, the Brazilian duo and the Japanese duo shook hands at Centre Court, and then started playing. The Mikiros won the first set 6-3, but Aneta and Brita tied it up with a 6-4 win in the second set.
So now, it was the third and deciding set. As they started playing again, Aneta noticed that the Japanese duo seemed to be tiring. So she signaled to her sister to play so as to make the Japanese females run a lot. It worked: Aneta and Brita won the third set 6-2, and thus were on their way to the finals.
The finals, like some of the previous matches, were a formality, as Brita and Aneta easily defeated Canadians Joanna and Helen Mullen Raccoon 6-2 and 6-4. A few hours later, the Vilhorens, the Canadians, and the Japanese pair, as well as Argentineans Mariana and Corrina Dobrero Long-Snouted-Opossum were standing on the podium, receiving their medals.
“Well, there’s just the mixed doubles left,” Brita said to Aneta, as they were celebrating, back in the South American section restaurant.
“Yeah, Carlos and I are going to have to get reacquainted; aren’t we, Carlos,” she jibed to her male counterpart. But in her mind, she was thinking, “Carlos and Paulo didn’t even reach the third round in their doubles tournament, and I don’t think even I can carry him further than that. He’s not a bad player; he’s just not as good as one who could get to the medal round. Oh, well. I already have a gold medal. That’ll be enough for me.”
Two days later, at the beginning of the mixed doubles tournament, Carlos and Aneta were on Court 10, facing Jack and Diana Mosley Barbary-Ape of Gibraltar. The match, surprising Aneta, wasn’t even close, as Carlos put his entire being into it, for a 6-0, 6-0 win against the Gibraltans. “Well, maybe there’s hope for us, after all,” she thought.
The next morning, their adversaries were China’s Yu Julia Golden-Monkey and her brother Roy. The Chinese took the first set 6-1, but the Brazilians fought back and won the two others 7-6 and 7-5. “I just might win another medal, after all,” Aneta told herself, as she and Carlos headed for lunch.
At 1:00 PM, they were on Court 3, playing their quarter-final match against India’s Sawharman Irdi Hanumant-Langur and Benazir Mahda Rhesus-Monkey. It was a tough struggle, but by scores of 7-6, 6-7, and 7-5, the Brazilians finally won. Carlos was so happy at having reached the medal round that he fell into Aneta’s arms. Aneta gently pushed him off. “Pull yourself together, Carlos,” she told him
“Sorry,” Carlos said, just before their two teammates jumped onto the court to give them hugs. “And you thought you wouldn’t do well,” Brita teased her sister.
“Well, Carlos really impressed me on the courts; didn’t you, Carlos?” she teased her partner, who merely nodded, “And I’m starting to think we might even win the gold medal tomorrow.”
“Well, at least the silver,” said Brita, “There were a lot of upsets in the mixed doubles tournament up to now, but Miko is still there with her partner, and I have a feeling she won’t appreciate meeting you in the finals.”
“Poor Miko,” Aneta said sympathetically, “She and her sister really got a bum wrap having to meet us in the semi-finals of the double females’ tournament. But having said that, I’m not letting her win gold.”
“I wasn’t asking you to,” Brita jibed.
“Good. Now let’s go back to the Village.”
Once back at their apartment block, the four tennis players immediately went to their section restaurant for a Bug’n’Fruit drink, and then took the rest of the day off.
***
The following morning at Court 1, Carlos and Aneta were meeting surprise semi-finalists Somchai Ponlio Capped-Gibbon and Aphinya Oishi Lar-Gibbon of Thailand. The Thai couple showed them why they had made it that far by winning the first set 6-3, but the Brazilians rebounded 7-5 and 6-3, to win the match and a chance in that afternoon’s final.
And it was going to be a big final. Their match would be against Miko and her partner Tetsura Kichi Sea-Otter, who had defeated a brother-sister team from Sri Lanka to get to the final. “Miko’s probably going to go for the weakest link, i.e. Carlos,” Aneta thought to herself, as she and Carlos were having lunch at the nearby canteen, “Well, I can do the same thing, against her partner.” And so, soon after they finished eating, she and Carlos returned to the courts, to do some last-minute practicing before the game.
Finally, at 1:00 p.m., Aneta met her Japanese opponent on Centre Court for the second time of the Games. But this time, both would be fighting for gold. After they had all shaken hands, the match began with a serve from Aneta.
As planned, both females aimed for the other’s male partner; but unlike what they’d each anticipated, the males played solid games, while THEY kept fumbling. Finally, an error-filled first set was completed, with a 6-4 win going to the Brazilians.
The second set started out badly for the Brazilians, as the Japanese duo seemed to be getting stronger as the game progressed. In no time, Miko and Tetsura won the set 6-1, to tie the match.
Aneta took Carlos aside just before the third set was to begin. “We need to concentrate, Carlos,” she told him, “Miko usually tires out in the third. Volley all you can towards her, and I’ll take care of the rest, OK?”
“Gotcha,” Carlos answered.
Indeed, the Japanese female’s tiredness was noticeable by the middle of the third set, and her male partner wasn’t able to take up the slack. So pretty soon, it was 5-3 for the Brazilians, and they were leading the 9th game by a score of 40-0. Aneta then served a powerful volley, which was weakly lobbed by Tetsura to Carlos who smashed it into the opposing court. Miko was able to lob the ball back before it went out of bounds, and then the game was over. The Brazilian tennis team had another gold medal to brag about. Carlos gave Aneta a big hug, and then accompanied her to shake hands with their valiant opponents. Once that was done, they picked up their equipment and left the courts.
“Can you believe this?” Brita told her sister, as she and Paulo joined them in the shuttle bus, “We managed to sweep all three female titles.”
“Sure wish we males had been able to do that,” Carlos replied.
“Hey, don’t knock yourself down, Carlos,” Aneta said, “You males did pretty well here, too. And tonight, Carlos, you are going to be receiving a gold medal.”
“Indeed. Thanks for helping me get there, Aneta.”
“My friend,” Aneta said modestly, “You’re the one who secured the gold medal for us. I was just surviving on the courts.”
“I disagree,” Carlos replied, “But, thanks anyway.”
That evening, Aneta and Carlos received their gold medals. As the Brazilian national anthem started to play, Aneta pondered, “Brita and I just won three Honour Games titles. Not bad, for a duo of relative rookies”.
The Chinese Males’ Soccer Team (CHN)
(The qualifiers)
How does it feel when you enter a major competition, knowing your chances of winning it are almost nil? That was the situation facing the Chinese males’ soccer team, who had just returned from the Honour Games qualifiers in Berlin, Germany, where they finished second, behind Team Poland. And now, they had only about a month and a half to prepare for the biggest challenge many of them had ever faced in their lives.
Now, China had sent soccer teams once at the Honour Games: the third Games, in Moscow, Russia, where both males’ and females’ teams had finished last. And since then, the national teams had struggled even to get through the continental championships.
But three years before the Los Angeles Honour Games were to be held, a new goalkeeper named Xuan Fu Giant-Panda was added to the Chinese males’ national team. His first year on the team, though, was basically spent sitting in the stands behind the net, watching the more experienced goalies playing; and thus, through observation, learning all that he needed to know about playing in international competitions. It was only during his second year on the team that the coach, thinking he was finally ready, put him in for a game, against Team Bhutan. And while Fu did let in three goals, the Chinese team scored four. And thus, he had his first international victory. However, he thought he could have done much better, and so started training harder and longer. So much so, that the coach ordered him to take it easy before he burned himself out. And as an added incentive, he offered to let him start in nets at their next game, this one against Team Laos. Fu accepted, and a week later, he was well-rested, cool-headed, and ready to play. And thanks to him, the Chinese team won 2-0. “One more year, and he’ll be world class,” thought his coach.
And indeed, by the beginning of the following year, he was the national team’s no. 1 goalie, and one of the main reasons they were able to qualify for the Summer Games in Los Angeles. But everyone on the team knew that they could in no way rest on their laurels. True, they were going to the Games, but as the last placed team. And thus, they would have to face, in the round robin, three teams that were technically stronger than them, including world champion Team Brazil.
So, until the day of departure for Los Angeles, the amount of practice sessions increased, but not to the point of burning the players out. On the morning of the departure, the team reunited one last time on the soccer pitch for a final pep talk; and then they were off to the airport to join the rest of the Chinese team.
***
They arrived in Los Angeles in the evening, and were greeted at the gate by two young red fox ushers who brought them to the baggage area. After retrieving all their bags and equipment, the team walked over to the shuttle busses waiting to take them to the Athletes’ Village.
Once there, they were taken to Building 26; and then, after each of them had been assigned their room keys, most immediately went to their rooms, and to bed.
And over the next few days, the males’ soccer team did nothing much except sleeping and eating, and trying to get rid of their jet lag. Most had licked it by the day of the Opening Ceremonies; and that evening, they all walked proudly, (and alertly), into the stadium during the Parade of Nations.
Two days later, their first game, against Team Argentina. The Argentineans were known as a team that played a little rough; but since the Chinese players were, on average, bigger than the Argentineans, they weren’t very intimidated by that. True, the Chinese were losing by a score of 1-0 at the half; but two quick goals by Wu Shawn Tibetan-Terrier in the second half gave them the victory by 2-1.
They celebrated that evening in the Asian section restaurant, but knew that nothing really had been accomplished that day; they still had two more games to play. And if they lost both of them, their chances at medals were nil.
Two days later, they were back on the soccer pitch, to play Team Yugoslavia. A team much more their size, but not as fast as the Argentineans. Nevertheless, they did prove themselves to be tough. However, Fu was tougher, stopping all shots against him. At the other net, Yugoslav goalie Slavnor Mercatec Tornjak was just as effective at stopping Chinese shots. But with two minutes to go, Juan Mei Chinese-Crested-Dog had a breakaway, and then shot a bullet towards the right upper side of the Yugoslav net. Slavnor tried to stop it, but it was too fast, and it entered for the only goal of the game, and the Chinese team had won once again.
“I want to wish us all congratulations,” said team captain Chan Lusun Leopard, as he rose from his seat that evening at the Chinese team’s table at the restaurant, “We are now in the quarter-finals.”
“Aren’t you rushing it a little bit, Lusun?” Fu replied, “We still have to play Team Brazil in two days.”
“But we both have a 2-0 record, with one game left to go. We can’t be eliminated now.”
“So we can just relax against the Brazilians?” Mei replied.
“As if that was possible,” Fu commented.
And indeed, the top team in the tournament made it very tough for the Chinese to relax, constantly breaching their defensive line, and assaulting Fu with shots. Miraculously, Fu was able to keep the Brazilians from scoring. And even more miraculously, with less than a minute to go in the game, Seng Yulun Tibetan-Fox kicked a high shot that just entered the Brazilian net, and thus gave the Chinese team a surprise 1-0 victory.
Yulun was literally carried off the field by his team-mates once the game was over, and they only let him down at the door to the changing-room. And once back at the Village, they went straight to the area restaurant to celebrate.
“Do you know who we’ll be playing in the quarter-finals, Master?” asked Yulun.
“It’ll be Spain,” their coach answered, “They’ve got a terrific goalkeeper, but their defensive play is a bit lacklustre. So we just need to break through their defensive line, and then bombard the goalie. Sooner or later, he should let in a goal.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Yulun jibed.
“Sure does,” replied Chan, “So when exactly do we play them?”
“In two days,” the coach answered, “So I expect you all to get some rest tonight; and tomorrow, be on Soccer Pitch no. 1 at 11 AM for our practice.”
“We’ll be there, Master,” Yulun answered, and that was repeated by the others.
And indeed, the following morning, they were all on the assigned soccer pitch for their one-hour practice session. Once the session was done, the players were advised to take the remainder of the day off. And thus, the following morning, they were all well rested and prepared for their Spanish challengers.
The starting whistle blew at 9:00, and immediately after, the Chinese team took on an offensive tactic, stealing the ball whenever they could, and then rushing the Spanish defensive line to shoot at the goalie. Meanwhile, Fu was doing extraordinary saves in front of his net, stopping every Spanish shot he could. Nevertheless, at the end of the first half, the Spaniards were leading by a score of 2-0.
“OK, males,” their coach told them during the intermission, “We’re not defeated yet. We still have 45 minutes to turn this around. Now, I’ve noticed a few things that could be to our advantage, most notably a weak spot in the Spaniards’ offensive line. As soon as he reaches the center line, the Spanish center always seems to kick the ball to his right. That might be part of their team strategy; but if we manage to intercept the ball just as he’s passing it, we should be able to rush straight towards their goalie, and then hopefully score. Also, I’ve noticed that the Spaniards seem reticent to skirt the sidelines. Try also to go along the sidelines, without letting the ball get out of bounds. One final thing I noticed: their goalie seems to have less difficulty stopping shots on his right side than on his left, so try as much as possible to shoot towards his left side. Got all that?”
“100%, Master,” answered Shawn Tibetan-Terrier, with agreement from the others, “And do not worry: we will make you proud in the second half.”
And indeed, they did. Yulun and his brother Yusun started hanging around at opposite sides of the field, near the sidelines. And whenever they were passed the ball, they skirted along their edge of the field, challenging the Spaniards to steal the ball from them. And more often that not, whenever a Spanish player tried, they found themselves accidentally knocking the ball out of bounds, thus giving it back to the Chinese team. Meanwhile, Shawn Tibetan-Terrier was sticking like glue to the Spanish center, watching for any opportunity to steal.
Less than five minutes into the half, Shawn had his first successful steal and breakaway, and he rushed towards the Spanish goalie. Yusun joined him at the edge of the goal crease, caught his pass, and then shot the ball straight at the upper left corner of the Spanish net, for Team China’s first goal.
So now, it was 2-1, but the Spanish team didn’t seem to give it much worry, thinking the Chinese players couldn’t possibly be able to repeat such a play. But midway through the half, Shawn had another breakaway, he again passed to Yusun, and Yusun again scored, this time favouring the lower left corner.
A 2-2 tie now. The Spanish coach instantly changed half his alignment, and the Chinese coach took the opportunity to do the same, removing Shawn and Yusun, and replacing them with Yanghui Guo Chow-Chow and Yinman Li Mutt. The new Chinese players quickly took on the strategies of the players they were replacing, and thus continued to frustrate the Spaniards. And with five minutes to go, Li did a breakaway, and then shot the ball towards the upper left corner of the Spanish net. The Spanish goalie tried to grab it, but it slipped between his paws, and bounced into the net. 3-2 China.
The Chinese team felt like celebrating right then and there. But they kept their composure until the end of the game, and even after they had shaken hands and paws with the Spanish team. Once they were back in the changing-room, though, everyone on the Chinese team let out their joy.
“One more win, and we’re in the medals!” Guo exclaimed out loud.
“But to get there, we’re going to have to get past Team Brazil again,” their coach informed them. “And I have a feeling they’ll be out for revenge.”
Indeed, two days later, when the Chinese team climbed onto the pitch for their semi-final game, they saw a less-than-friendly look on the faces of the Brazilian players. “They want us for lunch,” muttered Guo.
“Then let’s give them an indigestion,” Fu answered in style.
At 9:00, the game began. And indeed, the Brazilians played a very aggressive game, literally forcing themselves through the Chinese defensive line, and then shooting bullets at Fu. But the Chinese goalie stopped every shot; and so, after the first half, the score was still 0-0.
The Chinese coach told Fu to go rest on a bench near the shower room, while he discussed strategies for the second half with the rest of the team. And 15 minutes later, when they ran back onto the pitch, Fu was well-rested and ready to go, and half the Chinese line-up had been changed, to ensure fresh paws on the field.
At first, the strategy seemed to be failing since, in the 50th minute of play, Joao Ibizaro Culpeo broke away, and launched a bullet which got past Fu, for a 1-0 lead for Team Brazil. But instead of knocking them down, that goal made the Chinese team angry, and doubled their determination to win the game. And with two minutes to go in the game, Langhui Guo Chow-Chow passed to Seng Yusun Tibetan-Fox, who then shot towards the Brazilian goal. The shot missed the side of the net by a mere meter. But just as it was about to go out of bounds, it was intercepted by Men Yun Dhole, who then bent it towards the top of the net. The ball bounced behind the goalie, and then hit the netting just past the crossbar, tying the score 1-1.
Yun was so happy that he fell on all fours and licked the ground. He then got back up, and was hugged by his team-mates. “We’re back in the game!” he shouted to them.
“Thanks to you,” answered Yusun
***
.
The last seconds of the game were spent by both teams trying desperately to score one last goal, but to no avail; when the buzzer sounded, the score was still 1-1.
“OK, Fu, you’re out of the game now,” the coach said, once the whole team was back in the changing-room.
“I beg your pardon, Master?” Fu protested.
“You are getting tired, and I don’t want to lose this game because of fatigue.”
“But I’m fine, Master!”
“Please do not question my decisions, Fu. Jun,” he then said to a sun bear, “You’re replacing Fu in net.”
“OK, Master.”
The coach then made other changes, and discussed new strategies; and when the game started again 15 minutes later, the Chinese team was ready and determined to win.
The Brazilians also had made changes in their line-up, and they looked just as determined as the Chinese to reach the finals. “Now remember,” the Chinese coach told his line-up right before they walked back onto the field, “Don’t let them intimidate you into costly penalties. We have them on the ropes, and they know it.”
And indeed, the Brazilians seemed to know it, as they bullied the Chinese off the ball every time they could. But with five minutes left to go in overtime, one of the Brazilian wingers, in an attempt to stop a pass to Seng Yulun Tibetan-Fox, went too far, and hit him straight on the side of the muzzle, thus knocking him to the ground. Instantly, one of the officials, a raccoon dog from Japan, ran towards where the offence had taken place, took out a red card from his pocket, and showed it to the Brazilian player, thus expelling him from the game. Upset, the player walked off, growling.
Meanwhile, the Chinese coach had run onto the field, to see if his player was alright. “I’m fine,” Yulun answered him, while trying to get back up.
“Do you smell blood in your muzzle?” the coach inquired.
“No, I don’t.”
“I’m not going to take any chances, though. You’re out the game, Yulun, and going straight to the First Aid station.”
“OK, Master,” Yulun answered, and he and the coach then walked off the field. And while the player continued towards the changing-room, the coach stopped at the bench and, “Ki,” he then said to the Kunming-dog player sitting there, “You’re back in the game. And you’ll also be taking the penalty kick.”
“OK, Master,” and the dog ran onto the pitch, and told his team-mates what the coach had said.
Just then, the whistle blew, and Ki saw the Japanese official place the soccer ball on the goal crease. The player then placed himself ten feet away. As the whistle blew again, he ran towards the ball. The goalie, seeing that Ki’s first step was with his right foot, presumed the ball would be going to his right. But Ki kicked with his left foot; and the goalie could do nothing, as the ball went past him, and into the net.
“I’m ambidextrous!” Ki shouted to the Brazilian goalie, before being hugged by his team-mates. And then, when the whistle blew once again, they went back to playing, hoping their new lead would hold.
It did. When the buzzer sounded to announce the end of the game, the Chinese team ran onto the field to hug each other. “We did it, Master! We’ve guaranteed ourselves a medal!” shouted Yinman Li Mutt.
“And I’m all very proud of you,” the coach answered. And after shaking hands and paws with the Brazilian team, they returned to the changing-room to change clothes, and then took a shuttle back to the Asian section of the Village.
At noon, in the Asian section restaurant, the Chinese team toasted everyone they could think of that contributed to their victory, even the staff at the restaurant. After that, they took the rest of the day off.
***
Two days later, the Chinese males’ soccer team defeated Team Sweden 4-1 to claim the gold medal. And that evening, they were standing on the highest step on the podium, between Team Sweden and bronze-medal-winning Team Russia. “Can you believe that we’re actually up here?” Yanghui Guo Chow-Chow asked Fu, as the team was receiving their medals.
“Hey, I still can’t believe that we beat the Brazilians two days ago.”
“Shush,” suddenly said Wu Shawn Tibetan-Terrier, “They’re going to play our national anthem now.”
And so, with hand or paw over their hearts, and no words escaping from their lips or muzzle, the most unlikely males’ soccer team to win a medal at the Games stood proud, listening to the song of their country, the song of China.
Alexandra Trob Pine-Marten (NOR)
(Fighting gender discrimination)
Ever since humans were humans, there had existed a battle of the genders. For millennia, male humans had downgraded their female counterparts, claiming they were the stronger gender, and the females the weaker one, despite proof that both genders were alike. But finally, in the second century BGC, human females were able to get full gender equality in most countries of the world. In the furry world, since both genders were considered equal before the Cataclysm, they were considered equal after it. But as the years went by, very subtle differences began to emerge, especially sports-wise. Indeed, if you were to compare the gold-medal results of males and females in the same timed events at the Honour Games, even if the times were very close, the males’ time would always be faster. That fact bothered 17-year-old Norwegian long-track speed-skater Alexandra Trob Pine-Marten a lot, and so she was determined to prove it wrong.
***
Alexandra had been practicing long-distance sports ever since she was a cub at her district grade school in her home city of Oslo. In the summer, she would run 5,000- and 10,000-metre track races; and in the wintertime, she would cover the same distance, but on an ice ring, and wearing skates on her feet. But pretty soon, she discovered that she was a much better skater than runner, and so the track races became merely a way to stay in shape for the winter season.
Alexandra had always noticed that the times of her male counterparts on the ice were faster than those of the females, but at first it really didn’t bother her. It was only when she was 11 years old that she started to find annoying the males’ bragging that they were, and would always be, the faster gender on skates. Wishing to someday prove them wrong, Alexandra started to train harder. And at each of the competitions in which she took part, she would compare the winning times of the females with those of the males. But while the times were always pretty close, the males’ times were always faster.
“Why fight it?” some of her teammates told her one day, “Males will always be faster on the ice; it’s furry nature.”
“No, it’s not!” she retorted, “A female can beat a male on the ice, and I’m going to prove it someday.”
“Whatever,” her teammates would scoff, and that’s usually where the argument ended. But one day, some of the faster males decided to deliberately skate slower than usual, thinking Alexandra would finally get off their backs about it. However, Alexandra got wind of the plan, and convinced all the female skaters to skate slower than usual, as well. “A female can beat a male in a NON-RIGGED competition, and I’m going to prove it someday!” she told the male whom she guessed had drawn up the plan. The male just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
***
A few years later, two months after her 17th birthday, Alexandra was at her first National Championships, which would also serve as the Honour Games qualifiers. As expected, Alexandra absolutely wanted to become a participant in the Norwegian team going to the Games, and so she made sure that her skates were well-sharpened, and that she was ready, both physically and mentally, to face the upcoming challenge.
There were only 17 females competing in the 5,000 and 10,000-metre events, but each of them had the potential to win both. So, Alexandra gave it all she had on the ice, and managed to dominate in both races, thus guaranteeing her spot on the Honour Games team. But, frustrating for her, her winning times were still slower than those of her counterpart on the male side. “One of these days…” she mumbled to herself.
And a few weeks later, she and the rest of the Norwegian team boarded a jet bound for Calgary, via London, UK and Toronto, Canada.
They arrived at their destination around 6PM, and soon after climbed aboard the shuttles heading for the Village. Once there, they checked into their temporary accommodations in Building no. 5, and then went to eat at the Village restaurant. About an hour after that, they were once again in their rooms, many of them preparing for bed. Alexandra included.
***
Two days later, Alexandra was eating alone in the restaurant when a housecat wearing the American team uniform approached her. “Excuse me, do you speak English?” she asked her.
“A bit,” Alexandra answered.
“Well, I heard last night at the restaurant that you were planning to try and skate winning times in your races that were faster than those of the males.”
“Exactly. I’ve come so close so many times; one of these days, I’m going to do it.”
“Well, good luck,” the American said without much conviction as she then walked away.
“Thanks,” Alexandra responded, thinking it very obvious that the housecat was just being polite. “She doesn’t believe that I can do it,” Alexandra thought to herself, “But I’ll prove her wrong, and maybe even at these Games. I will be vindicated!”
***
A few days later, Alexandra entered the Main Stadium as the flag bearer for the Norwegian team, and did her best to stay calm, despite her excitement. After the Opening Ceremonies were over, she and some of the other members of the Norwegian speed-skating team returned to the restaurant for the Meet-and-Greet.
***
Over the following few days, Alexandra spent a lot of time at the ice ring, either to practice, or to watch her fellow Norwegians competing. Many times, she was given encouragement for her endeavour to out-skate the males, but most of those comments seemed insincere, so they basically just went in one ear and out the other. “They’ll see,” she told herself each time.
And finally came day 6, the day of the 5,000-metre race, and her first shot at a medal. “So how are you feeling today, Alexandra?” her coach, a red fox, asked her at breakfast.
“Fantastic!” she answered him, “In fact, I feel so good today, Coach, that not only am I going to win the gold medal, but I’m also going to make history. And in more ways than one.”
“Just try to get in the medals, Alexandra, and that’ll be enough for me, OK?”
“OK, Coach.
Soon after breakfast, the whole long-track speed-skating team left for the ice ring. Once there, Alexandra and three other team-mates competing that day went to put on their skates. After that, they waited for the competition to begin, which it did at around 10 AM.
First to go were the males. Alexandra paid very close attention to the leading time, to see if she had any chance of beating it during her run. It turned out that the time to beat would be 7:00.76, set by Gregor Hultz Beech-Marten of Austria. “Well, I definitely have my work cut out for me,” she sighed, “But as they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Then the females’ competition began. Luckily for Alexandra, she would be among the last two to skate, so she could watch her competitors, and note places where she might be able to gnaw a few hundreds of a second off her time.
But eventually, the time for observing finished, replaced with the time for racing. Alexandra took a couple of warm-up laps around the inner practice lanes, and then waited to be called up to the starting line. Racing against her would be Canadian Laura Flint Nova-Scotia-Duck-Tolling-Retriever, one of the best long-distance speed-skaters in the world. “I just need to stay as close to her as possible during the race, and then out-sprint her for the finish line,” Alexandra told herself as she waited for the starting horn.
A few seconds later, the horn blared, and they were off. As planned, Alexandra stayed within striking zone of her opponent, sometimes even taking the lead. But with one loop left to go, they were neck-and-neck. That’s when Alexandra went for her last reserves of energy, and accelerated. Her opponent also accelerated, and was able to keep up to her, but with 50 metres to go, Alexandra took the lead, and didn’t give it up for the remainder of the race.
“Congratulations, Alexandra,” her coach told her as she joined him at the sidelines, but Alexandra was not listening to him. Instead, she was trying to see her result on the scoreboard.
And then she saw it: 7:00.15!
She had done it! Not only had she won the race; she had also posted a time faster than the males! “Yes! Females rule!” she shouted, before realizing her coach was still beside her. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“That’s OK,” he answered, “You can scream what you want. You are the Honour Games champion, after all.” Just then, the rest of the Norwegian long-track speed-skating team came over to hug and congratulate their gold-medal-winning mate. And together, they returned to the Village to celebrate.
***
That evening, Alexandra was standing on the highest step of the podium, between surprise silver-medallist Lina Carlsson Red-Fox of Denmark, and Laura Nova-Scotia-Duck-Tolling-Retriever, who had won bronze. And as she stood there, gold medal around her neck, listening to her national anthem being played, she couldn’t help but feel proud. Proud of herself, of her country, and…of her gender.
Milos Davrov European-Mink (CZE)
(The refugee)
Milos Davrovski’s family had always felt very comfortable living in Lodz, Poland. Milos’ father worked in an electric car company, where his salary was more than enough to pay for the raw meat needed to feed his family. As for Milos’ mother, she took care of the household, helped Milos with his homework, and drove him to the Lodz Velodrome, where he was being trained by the national champion in the Scratch event, Bartosz Mikulinski Red-Fox.
As for the hounds, (known in Poland as the Chart-Polskis), Milos’ father always said: “We’re safe. The Chart-Polskis are all confined to western Silesia, where they can’t escape. And even if they did manage to sneak into furry territory, they’d be caught long before they reached Lodz. And even if they did manage to reach Lodz, they’d be more interested in attacking foxes and wolves than us. Our ancestors were fur farm creatures, not game, and so of no interest to them.” This opinion was somewhat erroneous, but it gave him and his family a certain sense of security.
That sense of security was shattered one evening, right after Milos’ practice at the Velodrome. He and his mother were about to climb into their car, when they felt the hair on their napes rising. Thinking it was probably nothing, they drove on home.
But it was something. Barely five minutes after arriving home, their front door was kicked open, and in burst three white-and-yellow hounds: Chart-Polskis! “Hello, everyone,” the one in the center said evilly.
“You have no business with us, Chart-Polski!” Milos’ father answered, trying not to show his fear, “Our ancestors were fur farm creatures!”
“As if we really cared where your ancestors came from, European mink! To us, you’re nothing but weasels, and we love killing weasels. Right, hounds?” The other two replied by drawing revolvers from their pockets.
“Run, Milos!” his mother shouted. Milos dashed to the other room, barely missing getting shot in the process. He then went to the living-room telephone, and pressed the silent emergency alarm bar, just below the ‘0’ on the display. After that, he ran out the back door to get help, hoping not to be hit sniper-style.
Meanwhile, back in the house, Milos’ father said defiantly, “My son just went to call the police. They’ll be here shortly.”
“Good. Then let’s give them something to see when they arrive!” The leader of the trio then pointed his gun at Mr. Davrovski, and fired.
The bullet hit Milos’ father in the upper thigh, knocking him to the ground. “Karol!” Mrs. Davrovski shrieked, as she tried to get to her husband. But the lead Chart-Polski and one of his henchmen quickly grabbed her, and pinned her to the wall. “Not yet!” the leader growled, and then, “It’s your turn, brother.”