Here are two odes. In AN OKAPI’S ODE, an okapi recites an ode. But it’s not just any old ode. Far from it. It’s an ode about none other than the athletic competition of all athletic competitions, the one that athletes from all over the world attend for two weeks every fourth summer to contend for medals. What spectator, though, can keep track of all the different sports during those two weeks? Few can. But fear not! Here’s the good news: being no run of the mill rhyme-writing ruminant, the okapi, in a poem that’s hard to topi, does all of us a favor by putting all those different sports, from archery and badminton to weightlifting and wrestling, in one whale of a nifty nutshell. It’s quite a feat. But will the okapi’s ode get the gold in the end? Well, you’ll just have to be the judge of that! And in AN OKAPI’S ODE TO GYMNASTICS, an okapi recites an ode. But it’s not just any old ode. Far from it. It’s an ode that’ll help you make head or tails of a sport that lots of people like to watch but don’t understand all that well. What’s a pommel horse? What’s the high bar? How many events are there? Who can answer such questions? Few can. But fear not! Here’s the good news: being no run of the mill rhyme-writing ruminant, the okapi, in a poem that’s hard to topi, does all of us a favor by putting the sport of gymnastics in one whale of a nifty nutshell. It’s quite a feat. But will the okapi’s ode get a perfect ten in the end? Well, you’ll just have to be the judge of that!
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