History
The earthly Olympic Games were revived in 1896 to promote understanding and
friendship among nations. That same year, the new Angel of the Olympic Games
approached Yves and proposed that Heaven could benefit from its own event to
promote understanding and friendship. Yves proposed the idea to the Seraphim
Council, which was well-received, and the Council quickly agreed to call its
first Celestial Olympics to coincide with the earthly Olympics games of
1900. The four year interim, it was decided, would provide time for the
newly-founded Heavenly Olympic Committee (HOC) to clarifying the rules that
would govern the Celestial Games. As it turned out, Heaven needed every
moment of those four years to appease some of the more *ahem* robustly
opinionated, detail-oriented, and thorough members of the Host.
Like its earthly brother, the HOC chooses the program of events, the
location of the games, and the standards and metrics to be used for the
competition. Each Cathedral in Heaven has its own Regional Olympic Committee
(ROC) that oversees the celestial athletes representing the Cathedral. The
hosting ROC is also responsible for providing an Olympic Village for the
athletes to live in during the games.
The opening ceremony of the Celestial Olympics is a grand affair modeled
after its earthly inspiration. The event is presided over by the Superior
whose cathedral is hosting the games, and the ceremony always starts with
the parade of cathedrals around the chosen "stadium". By tradition, the
parade is led by Destiny who was the first host of the games. After the
parade, the celestial athletes take their Olympic oath, the Olympic torch is
lit*(1), and the host Superior declares the games open.
Eligibility Of Participation
The Celestial Olympics are technically open to any celestial being living in
Heaven, but certain games have restrictions that limit participation to
particular groups. Also, by ruling of the HOC and the Seraphim Council,
Grigori and demons are forbidden to participate in the games, although they
may watch (of course getting to and surviving in Heaven to see the games is
another story).
Each ROC also has its own criteria for eligibility for its own athletes.
Saints usually compete for their current Superior, but they can also join
the blessed souls who usually compete for humanity as a whole.
Location Of The Games
All games are held within the confines of Heaven in the "stadium" provided
by the hosting cathedral. The "stadium" can be any area of competition the
hosting cathedral chooses as long as it is (1) accessible to all athletes
and the public and (2) the area meets the conditions specified to play the
intended games. Yes, there are large sections of the Heavenly Library
devoted exclusively to describing the required location conditions for each
game - now you know why it took four years just to start the games. No, the
creation of Olympic venues and the creation of Olympic game rules and
conditions are not yet Celestial Olympic events, but check again in another
couple of years.
Games
Despite the name, the Celestial Olympics includes events originating from
all three realms: Corporeal, Ethereal, and Celestial. The Games are also
further broken down into angel-only, soul-only*(2), and mixed events as well
as medal-contending and exhibition-only events. By tradition, Superiors only
compete in events where other Superiors can oppose them.
Corporeal
The Corporeal Games include every human sport ever imagined, plus a whole
slough of sports that humans and angels dreamed up in the Nerf physics realm
of Heaven. In addition, there are animal and insect "sports" enough to
boggle the mind.
Ethereal
The Ethereal Games are well, mostly games such as cards, chess, cross-word
puzzles, battleship, quake, etc. but can also include any mental work out
such as proofs, spelling bees, or standardized tests.
Celestial
The Celestial games are a test of celestial powers and as such are mostly
for angels, but some soldiers and saints participate as well.
Olympic Snapshots
1900: Destiny hosts the first Celestial Olympics outside the Library. Yves
has Eli create a "stadium" to match the ancient site at Olympia. While all
Archangels send athletes to participate, the event is dominated by members
of the War faction.
1916: Stone hosts the games, but most of the War faction declines to attend
citing the conflict on Earth as a higher priority.
1924: Trade hosts the games, and the Celestial games adopt the Winter
events*(3).
1948: Last Celestial Olympics Eli's Creation crew participated in the parade
of Cathedrals.
1964: Flowers hosts the games in the Garden of Eden version 2. Many, many
souls and angels indulge in Creationer rites.
1968: Lightning hosts the games at the launching site. Jean announces that
humanity will land on the moon within a year.
1984: Trade hosts the games for a second time.*(4)
2002: The Sword is hosting the current 2002 Corporeal Winter-based portion of
the Celestial Olympics. Laurence denies (again) that he originated
Mormonism.
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