Page 23 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
A chart popped up on the screen. The US had 19 gold, 13 silver, and 19 bronze, for a total of 51. Brazil had 20 gold, 16 silver, and 16 bronze, for a total of 52. It didn't matter if they ranked it by gold medals or total medal counts. Either way, Brazil was ahead.
"The US had a strong showing today in wrestling to pick up a pair of golds and a bronze, but Brazil had an even better day, racking up a total of 10 medals and bringing their total ahead of the US for the first time in these games. To analyze the significance of this, let's bring in our medal analyst, Chip Nickels."
The shot panned out to show Chip sitting next to Owen at his desk.
"Well Owen," said Chip, "I don't think anyone saw this coming. I know I didn't. And the sports books in Vegas certainly didn't either. A few weeks ago you could have bet on Brazil winning the medal count with 30 to 1 odds. If Brazil can keep up this performance, Vegas is going to be paying out a lot of money to a few very lucky people."
"Do you think Brazil will be able to sustain this success for the next few days?" asked Owen.
"You know, I actually think they can. I just looked at a list of events that they could still medal in, and they could potentially get 50 or 60 more medals."
"Right, but most of those athletes are only in because Brazil is the host nation and got automatic qualification for all the events."
"Well, regardless of how they got in, the Brazilian athletes are really performing at these games. As a sports geek, I'm kind of hoping that they continue to do well and end up tying the US in overall medal count so that we can see our very first tiebreaker."
"Can you walk us through the rules for the tiebreaker?" asked Owen.
A new graphic popped up on the screen and slowly started scrolling up.
Article IV, Section 8 - Medal Count Tiebreaker
1. At noon GMT of the final Tuesday of the games, the committee will calculate if it is mathematically possible for two or more nations to end up with the exact same number of gold, silver, and bronze medals based on the current count and the number of athlete's still yet to compete.
2. If a tie is possible, the host nation will have 24 hours to choose a tiebreaking event. The event can be any event that is not currently featured in the 2017 games. The host nation must specify if it is a men's, women's, or coed competition.
3. The top five nations in overall medal count at noon GMT on Wednesday may select one (or a team, if required) of theircurrent athletes to compete. Only athletes that have competed in the games are eligible.
4. If the medal count ends in a tie, the tiebreaker event will take place before the closing ceremony.
5. If there is no tie at the end of the games, the tiebreaker event will not be held.
"It's pretty simple, really," said Chip. "It will happen in three phases. First, tomorrow the ITA committee will calculate if it's mathematically possible for Brazil and the US to tie based on how many athletes they have left to compete. I'll tell you right now, it's going 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 currentathletes 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."
