Last year's IAAF Japan Grand Prix triggered a doping scandal in the United States, which affected half of the American track and field circle. Perhaps the outside world does not know the detailed process of this incident, but many athletes and coaches in the track and field circle have a general understanding of what happened, including Kondo Kamezo’s discovery that Gatlin had a problem, including Japan’s deputy minister Deliberate concealment, including picking up robbery cases, etc.
Perhaps because of this incident, many track and field athletes regard Osaka as an ominous place. It is said that Chinese people are superstitious, and foreigners are even more superstitious, especially those athletes who have secretly used doping, and they are even more afraid to come to Japan to compete. As a result, the popularity of the Japanese Grand Prix dropped sharply, and no well-known athletes participated this year.
In the absence of competitors, Zhang Guan easily won the 100-meter dash championship, earned a bonus and appearance fees, and returned to China.
A week later, the Qatar leg of the IAAF Super Grand Prix was held in Doha.
The Qataris are not short of money and offer a lot of appearance fees, so they still attract some outstanding athletes to participate. Of course, Zhang Guan is the biggest star of this competition, and he has received the highest standard of reception.
However, there are still no well-known European and American players competing in this competition. The only one who is relatively powerful is American Tyson Gay. However, Guy is still one level behind Zhang Guanlai, so Zhang Guan once again won the 100-meter dash championship.
In addition to Tyson Gay, another player also attracted Zhang Guan's attention. He is a Nigerian player. He only ran 10.24 seconds in the competition. His name is Samuel Francis. .
If Zhang Guan had not been born, Francis from Nigeria would have been naturalized in Qatar immediately, and broke the Asian record in the 100-meter dash in 2007, becoming the first Asian athlete to run under 10 seconds, and in 2008 Represented Qatar in the Olympic Games and reached the semi-finals of the Olympic Games. After that, the Gulf countries, which had tasted the sweetness, began to have a large number of naturalized African-American athletes. In track and field events such as sprinting, middle-distance running, long-distance running, and jumping, there were naturalized African athletes. After 2010, African "naturalized athletes" "The Chemical Legion" has become the main opponent of the national track and field team in Asia.
Although Francis is currently a Nigerian player, his appearance in the Qatar competition clearly indicates that the naturalized legions of the Middle Eastern countries are coming!
…
On May 23, in Barcelona, Spain, Zhang Guan and Sharapova appeared together at the Laureus Sports Awards ceremony.
This time, Zhang Guan was nominated for the Best Male Athlete Award, which is also the most valuable award in the Lawrence Awards. However, Zhang Guan's competitors are stronger than the last.
Judging from last year's record, car king Schumacher became a relatively weak one among the nominations. He did not win the Formula One championship, but it is said that he will retire after this season. As a legendary athlete, retirement is such a big deal. This kind of thing can definitely add points in the selection.
Golfer Tiger Woods entered his prime last year, winning the Buick Invitational, Ford Championship, Masters, British Open, WGC Championship, etc., all of which he won.
However, in comparison, Woods' performance last year was still not as good as that of tennis king Federer. Federer's total record last year was 81 wins and 4 losses, second only to McEnroe's 82 wins and 3 losses. Federer won a total of 11 singles titles last year, including two Grand Slam championships and four. A Masters Series champion with absolutely impressive results. Moreover, the Lawrence Award has always favored tennis players, and Federer has a great advantage in this regard.
But among the best male athlete nominees, the athlete with the highest voice is not Federer, but the football player Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho led Barcelona to invincibility last season, not only defending the La Liga title, but also defeating Arsenal to win the Champions League. Ronaldinho also won the European Footballer of the Year and World Footballer of the Year awards last year, and this time the Lawrence Award selection was held in Ronaldinho's home stadium of Barcelona, which added a lot of momentum to Ronaldinho.
In terms of results achieved last year, none of the above athletes can compare to Zhang Guan. In the past year, Zhang Guan broke the world record for the men's 100-meter dash three times, the world record for the men's 60-meter dash twice, and the Asian records for the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. He won six stops in the IAAF Golden League. He won the final grand prize and won the championship in all the competitions he participated in without losing a single one.
This achievement has never been achieved by anyone in history. Just breaking the world record in the men's 100-meter dash three times in one year is enough to sweep away other nominated athletes.
The awards ceremony finally began, and awards were announced one after another. Van Dijk for the best disabled athlete, Rossi for the best economic and spiritual award, and Cruyff for the lifetime achievement award are all football players, Hingis for the best effort award, and Nadal for the best newcomer award are all tennis players. The best team award went to the Renault team, and the best female athlete was alpine skier Kostelic.
After the awards for the best female athletes, it’s time for the awards for the best male athletes.
In the guest area, Sharapova whispered to Zhang Guan: "You have great hopes. Both football and tennis have won several important awards, and there are currently no awards in track and field."
Zhang Guan nodded, then shook his head: "The chance of a football player winning the best male athlete is not high, and Ronaldinho is far from the reputation of Pele or Maradona. I guess Ronaldinho is not It’s too likely to win the best male athlete. But Federer still has a high chance of winning.”
"A total of four track and field female athletes were nominated for the best female athlete, including Isinbayeva and long-distance running queen Dibaba, but none of them won the best female athlete. I think the selection committee should give a total of quotas to track and field events!" Sharapova spoke.
At this moment, the award presenters began to announce the winners.
"The winner of the Best Male Athlete Award at the 7th World Laureus Sports Awards is Zhang Guan!"
The camera immediately focused on Zhang Guan, and Sharapova next to her immediately gave Zhang Guan a kiss first.
Later, Zhang Guan stood up, hugged Federer, Ronaldinho, Schumacher and others, and went on stage to receive the award amidst the applause of the audience.
Zhang Guan is definitely the first Asian to win the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award, and he is also the fifth athlete to win this award.
The Laureus Sports Awards have been held for the seventh time. Previously, only four people have won the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award: Tiger Woods (twice), car king Schumacher (twice), Tour de France King Armstrong and tennis king Federer. The four of them are also the key nominees for the Best Male Athlete Award every year. They are nominated for the Best Male Athlete Award in almost every session. Today, there is another Zhang Guan in this key player club.
…
After the Laureus Award Ceremony, Zhang Guan did not choose to return to China, but continued to stay in Europe, because in another week, he would rush to Norway to participate in the opening match of this year's IAAF Golden League. Sharapova also separated from Zhang Guan, and she is going to France to participate in this year's French Open.
One week later, Oslo, Norway.
Director Yu handed Zhang Guan a list of participants, and then said: "Let's take a look, there are people you didn't expect this time."
Zhang Guan took the entry list and looked carefully. He first discovered Powell's name, and another Jamaican player was Michael Flatt.
"Powell's injury has been cured for seven or eight months! I don't know what his current condition is like." Zhang Guan asked.
Director Yu thought for a while and said: "In the Commonwealth Games a few days ago, Powell won the championship in 10.02 seconds, but this result has no reference value for him."
Zhang Guan lowered his head and recalled carefully. Gatlin was originally banned in 2006, and because of this, Powell didn't seem to have encountered a decent opponent in 2006. Although Powell had been Won the championship, but did not achieve too high results, maybe because the opponent was not strong enough. It wasn't until the rise of American Tyson Gay in 2007 that Powell began to compete with real strength and set a new world record of 9.74 seconds.
Another Jamaican player, Michael Flatt, was directly ignored by Zhang Guan. Flatt also participated in the Athens Olympics and was eliminated in the semi-finals. His 100-meter dash strength is similar to that of Kim Collins, and he is considered a first-class athlete. , but not to the top level.
Zhang Guan continued to look down the list, and old acquaintances Obikwelu and Kim Collins were both on the list.
"Olusoki Fasuba, a Nigerian? Is he the guy who participated in the World Athletics Championships last year?" Zhang Guan asked.
"Yes, Fasuba is two years older than you. He is the bronze medalist in the men's 4x100m relay at the Athens Olympics. He ran a time of 9.85 seconds a few days ago and broke the African 100m sprint record." Director Yu said, He glared at Zhang Guan with a smile on his face, and then said: "He is called 'African Zhang Guan' by the Nigerian media."
"Africa Zhang Guan?" Zhang Guan said with a bit of laughter and tears: "I didn't expect African brothers to think so highly of me!"
"If America and Europe didn't have their own well-known 100-meter athletes, maybe the 'American Zhang Guan' and the 'European Zhang Guan' would have come out a long time ago. However, Australia has no famous sprinters, and maybe there will be an 'Australian Zhang Guan' in the future. Crown'!" Director Yu said with a smile.
Zhang Guan shook his head helplessly, and then continued reading.
"The United States sent three people here! Sean Crawford is here? He is quite strong, on the same level as Maurice Green. Tyson Gay is also here, and Tim Montgomery ?Montgomery? Is it the same name? Or is it the same Montgomery?" Zhang Guan raised his head in surprise.
Director Yu nodded seriously: "Yes, that's Montgomery! The former world record holder can also be said to be your predecessor."
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