Going for Gold by Ivy Smoak Page B

to
be possible since they both have so many athletes."
    "Okay. Step two?"
    "Once they determine it's possible, the host nation, in
this case, Brazil, has 24 hours to announce what the tiebreaker will be."
    "And they can choose anything?" asked Owen.
    "Yes," said Chip. "The only restriction is
that it can't be a sport that's already a part of the games."
    "Has there been any indication of what they might
choose?"
    "Not really. Although one interesting point is that the
athletes who compete in it must be chosen from the athletes already at the
games, so I suspect they would ask all of their current athletes if they are
talented at any obscure sports. Anyway, the final phase is to look at the medal
count at the end of the games. If the US and Brazil have the exact same number
of each medal, they'll go ahead with the tiebreaker. If not, the event will be
cancelled."
    "What are the odds that a tiebreaker will actually be
needed?" asked Owen.
    "Probably less than one percent. But I can hope, can't
I? Looking at the schedule, it looks like the last opportunity for either
country to win a medal will be the women's volleyball final. Can you imagine if
the US and Brazil both make it there and are playing to see which nation wins
the medal count?"
    Great. The fate of the US might rest on my ability to not
lose my shit when I have to play against that slut Gabriela.
    "That really would be something. Well, thanks for
joining us, Chip. It's always a pleasure to have you on here. Now let's turn
our attention to the developing story about Chinese gymnast Yao Kai."
    Finally! "Kristen, they're showing it!" I
said.
    She leaned in closer to get a better look at the screen.
    The graphic next to Owen Harris changed to a picture of the
man whose underwear I had frozen. Owen stifled a laugh. "First, let me
apologize for the obscene footage we aired earlier. We're sincerely sorry to
those of you who were watching live. For those of you who didn't see it, here's
a censored version."
    Oh God. What happened?
    Footage started rolling of Yao Kai powdering his hands and
then hopping up onto the rings. He did a few moves before turning upside down
and spreading his legs as far as possible. As he did, his pants tore clean in
half.
    Kristen and I started laughing hysterically. While I had
frozen Yao Kai's underwear, Bryce must have cut a slit in his pants that would
rip as soon as he did anything acrobatic. Turning upside down and doing the
splits on the rings was more than sufficient to get his pants to rip, and due
to the frozen underwear, Yao Kai had been going commando.
    "After changing into a new pair of pants, Yao Kai
performed well and led his team to a silver medal. When interviewed afterwards,
he took a surprisingly lighthearted view of the incident."
    The screen switched again to show Yao Kai talking to a
reporter. They started talking in Chinese and then a voiceover cut in.
    "Can you tell us what happened during the warm-up?"
asked the reporter.
    Yao Kai smiled. "I ripped my pants. It happens sometimes
in gymnastics."
    "Is there a reason why you weren't wearing any
underwear? Do you usually perform like that?"
    "I performed well today, so maybe this will be the start
of a new tradition. But seriously, the real person you should be interviewing
is the person that snuck into my room and froze my underwear last night."
    At least he took it well.
    The broadcast switched back to Owen Harris at his desk. He
looked extremely serious, but I could tell that laughter was bubbling just
below the surface. How could it not be? "Yao Kai's claim that his
underwear was frozen prompted an investigation by the ITA committee, which has
revealed that his pants were likely tampered with before the incident. Security
footage from his dorm didn't reveal any suspicious activity, but one maid
reported seeing a mustachioed Canadian man near Yao Kai's room at around 9 p.m.
last night. They've released the following sketch."
    A picture popped up next to Owen that looked