Event: Rowing
The rowing competition was nearly cancelled. There was a serious dispute about eligible craft.
The Greeks started it. Didnât they start everything first?
They insisted that as the Olympic Games were to be held in Greece that triremes should be used and ramming should be allowed.
The Trojans (modern Turkey) objected because the Greeks had too many triremes. After all hadnât they sent a thousand of them just to reclaim a missing wife? They might have blamed Aphrodite but who didnât?
The Trojan War was restaged with flour bombs between Greece and Turkey. The rowers from Cyprus threw flour at both sides and each other. The Irish joined in, fighting anyone. Begorrah! You couldnât have a decent Donnybrook without the Irish, could you?
The Romans (modern Italy) insisted on quinqueremes. The Venetians (modern Italy) wanted galleys manned with slaves and armed with cannon. The Italian team started fighting themselves.
The British were not helpful. They insisted on steam power for their craft because they had invented the steam engine. The Greeks objected because Hero of Alexandria invented steam propulsion. The Egyptians counter claimed that everyone knew that Alexandria was in Egypt.
The USA claimed they were the first to put steam power on water. The British and US teams started fighting with water cannon. Then they both turned their cannon on the Russians who claimed that Lenin had invented the steam engine. The Chinese smiled inscrutably. They knew that the steam engine had been invented before these barbarian nations existed.
The Islamic Nations went into a huddle and announced unanimously that a fatwa had been issued stating that rowing and the human race had originated in their holy lands and therefore any competitor must be a true Muslim and if women had to compete, and they couldnât agree whether women should be allowed or not, they must do so wearing a chador.
The realisation that the Islamic Nations had actually agreed on anything temporarily halted all fighting in a state of shock. The Israeli rowers blocked the phone lines with their reports to Mossad.
It didnât last long. There werenât many representatives of the Islamic Nations. Deserts donât encourage excellence in rowing. The Islamic representatives were systematically ducked by the worldâs women rowers until they had reached another unanimous agreement to withdraw the fatwa. Their mullah, who had become a mullah on an internet site, would have been debagged if he had been wearing trousers. Instead he was piled in a naked heap of one and sprayed with the water cannon. He withdrew muttering imprecations and calling on Al-wotsit to avenge his wrongs. For that he was arrested by the security forces and forcibly fed go-large Big Macs until he admitted that Al-wotsit was a front for Sad Dam Hussy and that he had concealed WMDs in the trousers he didnât own. He was politely requested to tear up his ink-jet printed âmullahâ certificate and eat it. He was so full of Big Macs that he had some difficulty swallowing the certificate.
The Pan-African states had been having a tribal war of their own but no one paid them any attention. After their competitors had been reduced to one by genocide he appeared covered in medals and sank without trace after claiming that he could walk on water.
The Pan-American states were all stuffing themselves with the Big Macs the mullah couldnât eat. They exercised by dancing Latin American style. The tango was well executed except by Nina from Argentina who just wouldnât dance.
The Australians calmed everyone down with their ample supplies of ice-cold tins of beer. The erstwhile mullah was persuaded, after the threat of another ducking, to declare that faithful Muslims could drink Australian beer. It couldnât be alcoholic because Mohammed didnât mention it.
The Australian team coach said âJeez! Weâll run out of beer. Our beer may be the best in the world but if all the world drinks it there wonât be enough.â He rang the Australian Embassy who instantly recognised the threat to Australian pride and sporting achievement. Six jumbo jets full of beer landed the next day.
That evening all the rowing competitors met at the Australiansâ part of the camp. The lager flowed freely and the singing competition started.
Gentlemenâs Chorus: We row in the summer We love rugby in the fall Weâre so tired itâs no wonder Weâre any fucking good at all Weâre arse forwards in the water Then we chase an odd-shaped ball
Ladiesâ Chorus: We row in the summer We love hockey in the fall Weâre so tired itâs no wonder Weâre any fucking good at all We try to catch standing pricks Then we chase men with sticks
To the tune of âMessing about on the riverâ: Iâm a fun-loving boy, and I always enjoy, Just pissing about on the river,
Watching the stunts of the cunts in the punts, Whoâre pissing about on the river.