Paplia Olympic Athlete Roster

Paplia is excited to participate the 2020 Oatland Winter Olympic Games. To finalize its entry, the following roster is being submitted:

Sport Information:

The national specialty of Paplia is proudly Figure Skating. With a cold desert and cold steppe on the southern mountains of Paplia, a fierce competition in Figure Skating developed. Dextros, the capital of Paplia, hosts 3 individual skating rinks which are the biggest rinks in the kingdom. One is specialized for figure skating, the other for hockey, and the third is open for the citizens of Paplia for general use. Every other city and village has a dedicated ice rink in hopes of producing a national level athlete.

Dextros holds Figure Skating competitions annually where the top athletes from the kingdom compete for the chance of a national tour, and to be added to the Olympic team. Figure Skating has become such a national sport that whenever there is a major Figure Skating competition, that date becomes a national holiday so that the competition can be freely watched by the citizens of Paplia. Similar competitions are held across Paplia for the other events and snow often must be imported for these competitions. The only sport that has failed to captivate the kingdom’s attention is curling, and therefore, no team will participate in that event. There are four repeating athletes for the total 16 athletes.

Total entries by alphabetical order of sport:

Alpine Skiing - 2
Bobsledding - The Phoenix Souls (1)
Biathlon - 2
Cross Country Skiing – 2
Curling – 0
Figure Skating – 4
Freestyle Skiing – 2
Ice Hockey – The Phoenix Fires (1)
Ski Jump - 2

Athlete Biographies

Alpine Skiing:

Águeda Acconci, 21, 5’8”
Águeda was fascinated by Alpine Skiing as a little girl when she watched the competitions on T.V. as a little girl. When she turned 10, she forced her parents to allow her to pursue Alpine Skiing as her passion and found she had natural talent becoming better and better every year. She competed in the Paplia winter competitions and got 6th in the 2017 games, 2nd in the 2018 games, 1st in the 2019 games, and was chosen to compete in the 2020 Olympic games.

Iagan “Speedy” Sackville, 22, 5’10”
Iagan has a thrill for speed and feels most in his nature when there is a trail of snow in his wake which earned him his nickname. Speedy loved the speed which he can acquire while Alpine Skiing, but sometimes he likes to put a little razzle dazzle in his skiing through Freestyle Skiing. He loves performing the fastest tricks while skiing in Freestyle Skiing and hasn’t lost a competition for men since he joined the sport when he was 19. He got the nickname “Speedy” when he broke the Alpine Skiing national record when he was only 18 and consistently broke his own record each following year.

Bobsledding:

The Phoenix Souls
The Phoenix Souls started out in one of the smallest villages in Paplia. With the bare essentials and only a few practice runs, they won their local competition and slowly advanced to the national competition. With the support of their local community, they managed to win the nationals and earn their spot in the Olympic team.

Biathlon:

Chanokh Pedersen, 22, 5’11”
Chanokh often had dreams of becoming a figure skating athlete but felt constrained by the size of the rink. He strived to be able to skate for longer and soon fell in love with Cross Country Skiing. Inspired by his father, who was a wildlife ranger who would shoot animals to tranquilize them to relocate them, Chanokh picked up the tranquilizer gun and soon became adept at shooting and became a pro biathlon athlete as well.

Eugenia Layton, 16, 5’9”
Eugenia was raised as a cross country prodigy, but she hated every practice that she went to. She would often try to sneak away from practices to play laser tag with her friends. She was eventually caught while playing laser tag, but her parents saw how good she was, and they made a compromise with her. With the addition to the gun, Eugenia soon became the youngest athlete in Biathlon as well and finally enjoyed the cross-country part of the sport.

Cross Country Skiing:

Chanokh Pedersen, 22, 5’11”
See “Biathlon”

Eugenia Layton, 16, 5’9”
See “Biathlon”

Figure Skating:

Jacomina Antonisen, 22, 5’3”
Jacomina was raised on a farm with her parents in a village near the capital city of Dextros. She would go and watch the national competitions as a little girl and her parents soon encouraged her to skate by traveling to Dextros every other weekend. There Jacomina took skating lessons and became one of the top competitors in the kingdom by the time she was old enough to compete professionally.

Robrecht Pavía, 18, 5’10”
When Robrecht was a little boy, his father encouraged him to pick up the skates and go play with his friends. Robrecht became friends with Merryn who was already training to be a figure skater and they both started practicing together. They would become the youngest athletes at 15 to compete at the national level and come home with medals every year.

Merryn Fernandes, 18, 5’5”
Merryn grew up in a rich family who were enamored by the sport of figure skating and wanted their daughter to be one of the top athletes. They had her train with professional coaches and even went on to also train her new friend Robrecht to help encourage her passion for the sport as well. Her parents made a special room in their house for all the medals Merryn won growing up.

Markel Braden, 20, 6’
Markel started skating as a little kid at his grandparents’ pond when it would freeze over in winter. His grandparents would record him and make home-made videos of him which inspired them to encourage him to compete due to his natural ability. With a little professional training in Dextros, Markel soon became one of the top competitors in Paplia and is the fan favorite of the kingdom to bring home a medal.

Freestyle Skiing:

Iagan "Speedy" Sackville, 22, 5’10”
See “Alpine Skiing”

Kathrine Russo, 18, 5’9”
Kathrine was a natural at skateboarding at her local skate park when she was young. Her friends were amazed by the tricks she could do on the board and encouraged her to try Freestyle Skiing. She fell in love with the sport when she realized a lot of the tricks that she knew could be used in Freestyle Skiing.

Ice Hockey:

The Phoenix Fires
The Phoenix Fires have the second most fans in Paplia next to Figure Skating. While the team’s sporting events don’t become national holidays, people often call off from work when the national team plays against another nation.

Ski Jump:

Kathrine Russo, 18, 5’8”
See “Freestyle Skiing”

Jacinto Abreu, 21, 5’11”
Jacinto grew up with dreams of being able to fly as a little kid. While he never grew wings to fly, he did discover Ski Jump which to him came the closest to feeling like flying. With his appreciation for the sport, he won first place both years he competed professionally on the national level.

Additional Team Information

Bobsledding Team Logo

Ice Hockey Team Logo

Figure Skating Programs

Jacomina Antonisen
Short Program Outfit – Music | Freestyle Program Outfit – Music

Robrecht Pavía
Short Program Outfit – Music | Freestyle Program Outfit – Music

Merryn Fernandes,
Short Program Outfit – Music | Freestyle Program Outfit – Music

Markel Braden,
Short Program Outfit – Music | Freestyle Program Outfit – Music