The Golden Age[]
Transcribed interview aired by Entertainment Programme de Network Sports with Holmgang champion Svald Joergen in 2177. The comments made during this interview about Battleframe duels show a representative naïveté given that the Firefall was only two months away. Although this is a sports interview, it captures very well the energy and focus of the time: the so-called "Golden Age" of Earth. Therefore, I have included it in the archives for cataloging.
Aris Holden - Historian
Svald, you are the three time consecutive champion of the Shanghai Annual Holmgang Challenge. What does it take to keep winning the way you do?
Really, it's not easy, as you know. You need a total commitment to excellence and a hard work ethic. These days, kids have it easy. Shit, I had it easy. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's a great time to be alive, you know? But I'm lucky to have had a grandfather who reminded me not to take these things for granted, to find something I really enjoyed, and to pursue it as hard and as fast as I could. Without that drive, what I do would not be possible.
Some say that your crew is made up of the highest paid and most experienced techs in the sport and that they are the real reason for your success rather than your talent. What is your response to these allegations?
I love my crew. Let me say it again, I love them! I'm not a scientist, so what they do is like magic to me. They take these industrial and commercial frames, stuff that was never meant to be pushed as fast and hard as what we do to them, and then they gut the things, strip them all the way down to the skeleton to drop the weight. Then they bolt on the tech, the jump jets, the ability modules and concussive weapon systems. And the next thing you know, the whole thing transforms from a clunky loader to an agile extension of my body--an athlete and a warrior. We can't get our hands on the military models, but from my experience we get very very close. We're just limited by our power supplies, really. Once we figure out something like a portable fusion reactor, you'll see what we can do!
Personally, I love the designs and the warpaint. It really makes the sport seem like tribal warfare or two samurai armies clashing. Do you think this pageantry and glitz detract in any way from the sport being more recognized more officially, say, by the Olympics?
Honestly, it's not the colors and flash. Our sport just reminds people a little too much that we still have wars, even in this age. The battles can be violent and barbaric, The Olympics doesn't want anything to do with something like stylized or ritual combat. They have an agenda to promote the peace we are enjoying and I respect that. With that said, I think that the enormous commercial success of Battleframe Holmgang is hard to ignore. Some day, they will have to realize that.
What next for the season? I have heard there might be some interesting plans to expand the sport?
Yeah, for the first time we're going to try and do this in space, up on one of the orbital tethers as a tribute to the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Canis Code. Honestly, it's being treated more like an exhibition than a real match. We're just trying to show our support of the expansion of the human race into space. The Canis Code is the most famous encrypted sign of something "out there." I think it's important that we do what we can to encourage the world to move beyond the planet, finally colonize Mars, whatever. Something to reach back out to whoever is out there beaming signals at us. But yeah, I've never competed in zero G before, so it should probably be fun to watch too!
Thank you, Svald. I'm looking forward to seeing you compete in space! One more question. Is it true you and Elana Mei are dating now? I know many of our female readers would be heartbroken.
(Laughing). No comment, no comment!
Elana Mei, the famous pop star, and Svald Joergen were never to attend the Holmgang match in space due to the Firefall. They both survived and eventually married, but withdrew from the public and eventually emigrated to Alpha Prime in their later years.
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