Wiinter Olympics

Most of us aren't elite athletes. And most of us wouldn't dream of competing in the Olympics. We have to find our competition elsewhere.

Even college athletes aren't usually Olympians, so video games are the only way they can compete in speed skating, bobsled or snowboarding.

So we gave them that opportunity. We recruited six athletes from Creighton University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha to participate in the Olympics — Wii style.

The UNO football players and CU rowers each picked up a Wiimote and played at various games in “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games,” which pits your favorite Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog characters against each other in the Olympics.

Featuring sports from snowboarding and skiing to curling and hockey, the game is available for the Nintendo Wii and DS.

The athletes were up to the challenge, although they weren't all confident in their abilities.

“I can't say I'm much of a video game expert, but I've dabbled,” said Nick Williams, a sophomore linebacker at UNO. He later added: “I'm glad I'm good at football. My career in video games isn't going very well.”

Still, they gave it their best shot. Athletes from each school cheered on — and sometimes coached — their fellow players.

“We are gonna beat the football players!” said Asha Ries, a freshman on Creighton's crew team.

Teammate Dana Guglielmo — a fellow freshman rower at Creighton — wasn't so sure: “Are you mental?”

In the end, only one could take home the gold. Here's how it went down:

ROUND ONE

Heat A

Pelster (Silver the Hedgehog) vs. Guglielmo (Princess Peach) in Curling

Curling has become a hot sport to watch in recent Winter Games, probably because it's so odd. Curling is like a cross between bocce ball and shuffleboard, except on ice. This event brought the most energy and enthusiasm from our competitors.

If you haven't seen curling, the idea is to push your stone (a large stone puck) down the ice and get it as close as possible to the center of a circle at the other end. Your competitor then pushes his stone down the ice and can knock yours out of the way. There are two rounds, and each team gets four stones per round.

Guglielmo scored late in the first round when she dropped her third stone close to the center. Pelster couldn't knock it out of the way.

Williams, a self-proclaimed curling enthusiast, was coaching Pelster on location and strategy while Guglielmo was getting help from Ries and Moore.

Pelster dominated the second round pretty much from the start, dropping two stones near the center circle.

Score: Pelster (Silver the Hedgehog) 2, Guglielmo (Peach) 1

Advancing: Pelster

Heat B

Williams (Luigi) vs. Ries (Waluigi) in the Individual Large Hill Ski Jump

Points in the ski jump are based off a combination of distance and balance. For example, if you get a fantastic distance but your character is really wobbly, your score will be adversely affected. Ries pretty much dominated this round with two long jumps. Williams also didn't help himself much as his character, Luigi, took a dive off the hill in the first jump and only made it 35 meters.

Score: Ries (Waluigi) 184.3 points

Williams (Luigi) 158.4 points

Advancing: Ries

Heat C

Randall (Yoshi) vs. Moore (Donkey Kong) in Snowboard Cross

During this snowboarding race, Randall's quicker and more nimble Yoshi absolutely dominated Moore's choice of Donkey Kong, who is heavier, slower and harder to control.

“Good thing I can row a boat really well, because this is embarrassing,” Moore said after the race.

Times: Randall (Yoshi) 1:13.778

Moore (Donkey Kong) didn't finish

Advancing: Randall

ROUND TWO

Pelster (Mario), Randall (Sonic) and Ries (Mario) in the Individual Large Hill Ski Jump

For the first medal round, we came back to the ski jump, where Ries showed her domination earlier. The two best in this round advance and the third receives the bronze medal.

As Mario, Pelster performed two stellar jumps, dominating his competitors and setting a record in the ski jump for the day.

Competition would have been close between Randall and Ries, but Ries faltered on her first jump and only made it 70.3 meters.

Score: Pelster (Mario) 233.7

Randall (Sonic) 204.7

Ries (Mario) 142.00

Result: Ries takes home the bronze medal. Pelster and Randall advance.

ROUND THREE

Pelster (Luigi) vs. Randall (Shadow the Hedgehog) in the Speed Skating Short Track (1,000 meters)

The second and last medal round would be decided in speed skating, where Pelster and Randall went head-to-head. The winner of the race would get the gold.

The main movement needed to go faster in the speed skating event is to wiggle the Wiimote back and forth. The faster you go, the faster your character skates. Randall was afraid a shoulder injury might hold him back.

“It cripples me a little bit,” he said.

“How do you think he got it,” Pelster added, suggesting the injury was from playing Wii, not football.

The injury didn't handicap Randall much because his character, Shadow, came out ahead in the race, earning him the gold medal.

Time: Pelster (Luigi) 55.37

Randall (Shadow) 50.12

Result: Randall wins the gold medal and Pelster takes home the silver.

MEDALISTS

Gold — Randall

“I can't even begin to describe it.”

Silver — Pelster

“It's a little disappointing. I was feeling strong in the first two rounds.”

Bronze — Ries

“I wish I would have won the gold, but it happens.”

Contact the writer:

444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com

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