Introduction

Game based on the next Bejing 2008 olympic games. The following events will be available for playing:

• 1.500m (W)
• 1.500m (M)
• 10.000m (W)
• 10.000 (M)
• 100m (W)
• 100m (M)
• 100m hurdles (W)
• 110m hurdles (M)
• 20km race walk (W)
• 20km race walk (M)
• 200m (W)
• 200m (M)
• 3.000m steeplechase (W)
• 3.000m steeplechase (M)
• 400m (W)
• 400m (M)
• 400m hurdles (M)
• 400m hurdles (W)
• 4x100m (W)
• 4x100m (M)
• 4x400m (M)
• 4x400m (W)
• 5.000m (W)
• 5.000m (M)
• 50km race walk (M)
• 800m (W)
• 800m (M)
• Decathlon (M)
• Eptathlon (W)
• Javelin trhow (W)
• Javelin throw (M)
• Discus throw (W)
• Discus throw (M)
• Hammer trhow (M)
• Hammer trhow (W)
• Shot put (W)
• Shot put (M)
• Marathon (W)
• Marathon (M)
• Pole vault (W)
• Pole vault (M)
• High jump (W)
• High jump (M)
• Long jump (M)
• Long jump (W)
• Triple jump (W)
• Triple jump (M)

How to play

Each user can "partecipate" and "make a selection" in every discipline. In most of the disciplines a qualification round is scheduled; in that case, it is necessary to pass "it" to reach the final.

In each round of each discipline the user must select an ATHLETE and guess his MARK ("meaning" time or measure).

In case the MARK PREDICTED by the user for the selected athlete is IDENTICAL or WORSE ("meaning" higher time or lower measure) than the REAL MARK achieved by the athlete in the competition, then the FANTASY MARK assigned to the user in the game is equal to the MARK PREDICTED by the user.

Otherwise, in case the MARK PREDICTED by the user for the selected athlete is BETTER ("meaning" lower time or higher measure) than the REAL MARK achieved by the athlete in the competition, then the FANTASY MARK assigned to the user in the game is the REAL MARK achieved by the athlete increased by the DIFFERENCE between this and the MARK PREDICTED by the user.

For example

100m track: user Bob selects Carl Lewis "predicting" (solo per coerenza con il resto) his mark will be 9.95.

• In case Lewis' mark is identical or better than 9.95, then Bob's fantasy mark is 9.95.
• In case Lewis' mark is worse than 9.95 (e.g. 9.98), than Bob's fantasy mark is Lewis' mark increased by the difference between predicted mark and real mark (i.e. 9.98 + 0.03 = 10.01)

High jump: user Bob selects Sotomayor guessing his mark will be 2.40.

• In case Sotomayor's mark is identical or better than 2.40, than Bob's fantasy mark is 2.40.
• In case Sotomayor's mark is worse than 2.40 (e.g. 2.33), than Bob's fantasy mark is Sotomayor's mark increased by the difference between predicted mark and real mark, which is negative (i.e. 2.33 - 0.07 = 2.26)

How to select

In each race the user can select one athlete among those available in our list, with only one restriction.

It is not allowed to select the same athlete for more than one race throughout the "competition".

This is a general rule. For example if an athlete takes part in both 100m and 110m hurdles, he is available to be selected by the user only for "one of the two races".

In addition, an athlete can be selected only for one race between heat and final of the same discipline.

In Relay races, the user must select an athlete and guess the mark of the national team the athlete belongs to. The athlete will have to be among the relay runners to prevent an elimination.

Please note that the order of the runners in the relay is relevant for the fantasy standing of the race in accordance with point 4 of the next section.

Fantasy standings of the race

After the fantasy mark is calculated for each player having a valid athlete's selection, the race fantasy standings are "drafted" according to the "following criteria, in strict order":

1. Best fantasy mark (lowest time or highest measure)
2. "Smallest" error between predicted mark and real mark
3. Worst predicted mark (highest time or lowest measure, "in order to award the users more conservatives in their prediction" - se ho capito bene l'italiano)
4. Best final position of the selected athlete in the race (in relay races, relay runners in the same team are not considered as having identical position, runner in fourth leg is considered first, runner in third leg is considered second and so "forth")

"Given that only four discriminating criteria are used it is possible to have more players sharing the same position in the fantasy standings."

Qualification

In every race where the athletes need to pass a qualification round, the same will apply for our game. If there is more than one qualification round, only the last one will be considered for our game. (In general they will be called Semi-final). Therefore our qualification round will always match the qualification round necessary to enter the final.

The users will be split ex-post in heats (fanta-heats).

The athlete selected by each user will be the relevant criteria. If there are three heats, then also in our competition the users will be split in three fanta-heats, and each one of them will compete against all the users that selected athletes running in the same heat.

Each fanta-heat needs to have at least 10 users in it. Otherwise the users will be re-assigned to the first valid fanta-heat with the lowest number of participants.

Every fanta-heat has its own rankings and the first 25 users will compete in the final

If a user failed to qualify for the final, the athlete already chosen for the final will be “freed”. The user can then select it again in a different competition.

Only 15 users will qualify for the final in every event where there are qualification rounds.

The finalists will be made up by users coming from the different heats and the repechage in equal numbers according to the following criteria:

• 2 Heats (or semi-final): the finalists will be the first eight users in each heat and the best nine fantaresults of the runners-up.
• 3 Heats (or semi-final): the finalists will be the first six users in each heat and the best seven fantaresults of the runners-up
• 4 Heats (or semi-final): the finalists will be the first five users in each heat and the best five fantaresults of the runners-up

If in one or more heats there are not enough participants compared to the possible finalists, the number of “repechaged” users will be increased accordingly.