Each player manages a Holding Company with an initial inventory of 100 gold, 100 silver, and 100 bronze coins.
You use these coins to buy shares in countries competing in the 2004 Olympic Games.
When any of the countries in your portfolio wins a medal, one coin of the same metal is added to your holdings for each share of that country you own.
At the end of the Olympic games, the player whose Holding Company has the most coins wins.
- Choose a name for your Holding Company. You can call your company anything you want, although you should limit the length to 50 characters (including spaces). Names with an Olympic, Greek, investment, or other relevant theme are encouraged. Entries with vulgar or otherwise offensive names will be rejected.
- Construct your Holding Company's portfolio by buying shares in countries sending teams to the 2004 Olympic Games from the list below. The prices are fixed and based upon each country's performance in the 2000 Games. If a country won 1 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze medals in 2000, then one share of its stock will cost 1 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze coins.
- You may purchase any number of shares in any number of countries so long as you do not spend more than your allotment of 100 gold, 100 silver, and 100 bronze coins. You must pay the exact combination of coins in the price list; you cannot replace a gold coin with any number of silver or bronze coins, nor can you make any other substitution.
- It is not necessary to spend all of your coins. Unspent coins remain in your Holding Company's inventory and count toward your total at the end of the competition. Once you select your stocks and submit your entry, you cannot change your portfolio.
- During the Olympic Games, a coin will be added to your holdings each time one of the countries in your Holding Company's portfolio wins a medal. One coin of the same color as the medal is added for each share in the portfolio. For example, if you own 5 shares of Lithuania, and Lithuania wins a silver medal in any sport, 5 silver coins are added to your holdings.
- Make your tiebreaker prediction. In the event of a tie in the final tally of coins, the winner will be the player who best predicts the winning time of the women's mountain biking competition.
- Send your entry by e-mail to contest@laughton.org in the format below; an example of a properly formatted entry is shown at right.
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You may put any text in the Subject field of your e-mail, but rude comments may result in the loss or destruction of your entry. In the body of the e-mail, enter the following information:
- On the first line, enter the name of your Holding Company.
- On the second line, enter the city in which your Holding Company "resides." Laughton.org likes to know where its players live or work, but feel free to enter the town you'd like to call home or would like people to think is your home.
- On the next and subsequent lines, enter the countries and number of shares you are buying for your Holding Company. Enter one country and number of shares per line. You may use the full country name or the abbreviation shown in the price list.
- Enter your prediction for the winning time of the men's mountain biking competition in the form HH:MM:SS.
- Finally, you may enter comments that will appear on this webpage along with your Holding Company's name and portfolio details. You may write a slogan for your company, some remarks about the Olympics, or anything else you would like to share with your fellow competitors. Texts longer than 255 characters (including spaces) may be edited or discarded.
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Date: July 30, 2004
From: you@yourmail.com
To: contest@laughton.org
Subject: Contest Entry
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Odysseus Offshore Fund
Athens, Greece
DEN 3
ITA 6
SRL 10
ALG 1
HUN 1
01:55:59
At last, a contest whose rules
make sense!
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- You are responsible for ensuring that your entry is properly formatted and that you do not overspend your allotment of coins. If your entry contains an error, Laughton.org will notify you of the problem. If you submit an erroneous entry close to the deadline, there is no guarantee that you will be notified in time to resubmit, so players are advised not to wait until the last minute to send their entries.
All entries must be received before the torch enters the Olympic stadium
during the opening ceremonies on August 13, 2004.
Absolutely no extensions will be permitted.
Don't even ask. |
The roster of Holding Companies and their portfolios will be posted on this webpage shortly after the opening ceremonies in Athens. For the duration of the Olympic Games, Laughton.org will compute the scores and post updates on the progress of the competition frequently (daily if workload permits), but only the final tally at the end of the Games will determine the prizewinner.
In the event of a tie, the player whose prediction comes closest to the actual winning time of the men's mountain bike competition (scheduled for August 28) will be declared the winner. Variations in courses hamper comparisons, but you may wish to know that in the 2000 Games Miguel Martinez of France won the mountain bike race in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 2.5 seconds. The Athens Olympic organizers have allotted 2 hours 15 minutes for the completion of this event (11:00am - 1:15pm Athens time), which is the final competition to be held during these Games at the Parnitha Olympic Mountain Bike Venue.
A prize will be awarded to the player whose Holding Company amasses the greatest number of coins. If there are many entries, additional prizes may be awarded. For scoring purposes the official medal counts will be those posted at CNN.com. Any changes to the medal counts due to disqualifications or corrections will apply to the scoring of this contest; however, the results of this competition will be declared final and irrevocable as of August 31, 2004. While it is possible that protests or investigations months or years after the Games may result in changes in the medal counts, no changes to the official Olympic results after August 31 will apply to this competition.
- Who Can Play: Anyone with an e-mail account is welcome to play. There is no charge.
- Multiple Entries: You may submit only one entry from any e-mail address. If you have more than one address, you may submit one entry from each.
- Privacy: Neither your e-mail address nor any other personal information will appear on this website unless you choose to include it in your comments.
- Prizes: A small prize will be awarded to the person who submits the winning entry; if there are many entries, other prizes may also be awarded. Laughton.org doesn't announce specific prizes to be won before the competition begins; you can see items that have been won in the past on previous contest pages.
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| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| USA | United States | 39 | 25 | 33 | | KAZ | Kazakhstan | 3 | 4 | 0 | | NGR | Nigeria | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| RUS | Russia | 32 | 28 | 28 | | KEN | Kenya | 2 | 3 | 2 | | POR | Portugal | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| CHN | China | 28 | 16 | 15 | | GEO | Georgia | 0 | 0 | 7 | | SLO | Slovenia | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| AUS | Australia | 16 | 25 | 17 | | JAM | Jamaica | 0 | 4 | 3 | | BAH | Bahamas | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| GER | Germany | 14 | 17 | 26 | | DEN | Denmark | 2 | 3 | 1 | | CRO | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| FRA | France | 13 | 14 | 11 | | INA | Indonesia | 1 | 3 | 2 | | ARM | Armenia | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| ITA | Italy | 13 | 8 | 13 | | MEX | Mexico | 1 | 2 | 3 | | CRC | Costa Rica | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| CUB | Cuba | 11 | 11 | 7 | | LTU | Lithuania | 2 | 0 | 3 | | MDA | Moldova | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GBR | Great Britain | 11 | 10 | 7 | | ALG | Algeria | 1 | 1 | 3 | | TRI | Trinidad-Tobago | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| KOR | South Korea | 8 | 9 | 11 | | SVK | Slovakia | 1 | 3 | 1 | | CMR | Cameroon | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ROM | Romania | 11 | 6 | 9 | | ARG | Argentina | 0 | 2 | 3 | | COL | Columbia | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NED | Netherlands | 11 | 8 | 4 | | BEL | Belgium | 0 | 2 | 3 | | MOZ | Mozambique | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| UKR | Ukraine | 3 | 10 | 10 | | MAR | Morocco | 0 | 1 | 4 | | BAR | Barbados | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| JPN | Japan | 5 | 8 | 5 | | RSA | South Africa | 0 | 2 | 3 | | CHL | Chile | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| HUN | Hungary | 8 | 6 | 3 | | TPE | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 4 | | ICE | Iceland | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BLR | Belarus | 3 | 3 | 11 | | IRI | Iran | 3 | 0 | 1 | | IND | India | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| POL | Poland | 6 | 5 | 3 | | TUR | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 1 | | ISR | Israel | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| CAN | Canada | 3 | 3 | 8 | | FIN | Finland | 2 | 1 | 1 | | IRL | Ireland | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BUL | Bulgaria | 5 | 6 | 2 | | NZL | New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 3 | | KUW | Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GRE | Greece | 4 | 6 | 3 | | UZB | Uzbekistan | 1 | 1 | 2 | | KGZ | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| SWE | Sweden | 4 | 5 | 3 | | PRK | North Korea | 0 | 1 | 3 | | MKD | Macedonia | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BRA | Brazil | 0 | 6 | 6 | | AUT | Austria | 2 | 1 | 0 | | QAT | Qatar | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| ESP | Spain | 3 | 3 | 5 | | AZE | Azerbaijan | 2 | 0 | 1 | | KSA | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NOR | Norway | 4 | 3 | 3 | | EST | Estonia | 1 | 0 | 2 | | SRL | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| SUI | Switzerland | 1 | 6 | 2 | | LAT | Latvia | 1 | 1 | 1 | | UGA | Uruguay | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ETH | Ethiopia | 4 | 1 | 3 | | THA | Thailand | 1 | 0 | 2 | | VIE | Vietnam | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| CZE | Czech Republic | 2 | 3 | 3 | | YUG | Yugoslavia | 1 | 1 | 1 | | |
| a contest from Laughton.org |
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