In the preliminary round of the 200-meter dash, the level of athletes varies. Basically, athletes who can advance to the Olympic A standard can enter the final.
There are two strong players in the first group, namely Crawford from the United States and Obikewelu from Portugal. Crawford is the defending Olympic champion in the men's 200-meter sprint. In the end, Crawford easily advanced to first place in the group. But Obikweru retired due to injury.
There were no well-known players in the second group, including Williams, a strong sprinter from Jamaica, who seemed to Zhang Guan to be new faces. But there is another person Zhang Guan knows, and that is Japanese player Shinji Takahira. Shinji Takahira only finished fourth in the competition. His time was 20.58 seconds. In the preliminary round, this time is very good. If there are no accidents, his time is enough for him to get eight additional places. of.
In the third group, another player from Jamaica, Anderson, also appeared and successfully advanced. Kim Collins, who is familiar with Zhang Guan, also advanced in this group. In the fourth group, American player Dicks appeared on the field. Dix, an athlete who just graduated from college, is the only athlete on the U.S. team to participate in both the 100-meter and 200-meter events. He was able to compete in the U.S. Olympic qualifying competition with so many experts. His strength is indeed very powerful.
Bolt appeared in the fifth group. This time Bolt did not show his strength and seemed to be coping with the competition. After all, the level of the preliminaries was too low and Bolt was completely uninterested. In the sixth group, the American 200-meter star Spearman also successfully qualified. Spearman is a 200-meter athlete. He once competed with Zhang Guan in the 200-meter sprint event at the 2006 Track and Field World Cup and won the silver medal. .
In the seventh group, Japanese player Shingo Suetsugu appeared. The number one sprinter in Asia at that time is already 28 years old. For European and American track and field athletes, this age is still the tail end of their peak period, but for a Japanese, it is actually the time when his condition is declining. Even if Shingo continues In recent years, he has specialized in the 200 meters, but he only finished sixth, and his time of 20.93 seconds basically meant goodbye to this Olympics.
In the eighth group, Zhang Guan appeared amidst the cheers of the audience. The players in this group were weak, so Zhang Guan easily qualified first in the group. Like Bolt, he does not need to show his true strength at all, just running a little is enough, and this will not reveal too much information to his opponents.
…
After the 200-meter preliminaries, Zhang Guan entered the triple jump qualifying competition without even having time to be interviewed by reporters.
A total of 39 athletes participated in the triple jump qualifying competition. The athletes were divided into two groups, but the two groups competed at the same time. The qualifying rules for the triple jump event are the same as those for the long jump, with the top 12 overall scores advancing to the finals. Judging from the strength of the players, if they can jump to more than 17.20 meters, they should be relatively safe to advance; if they can jump to more than 17.15 meters, they have great hope to advance.
The triple jump is a traditionally strong event in Europe, especially the British, whose strength in this event is among the best in the world. Britain has always had a tradition of triple jump. The world record for triple jump was set by Edwards, the famous British long jumper and known as the "Century Bird". However, after entering the new century, Britain has never seen a triple jumper as dominant as Edwards.
The national team sent a total of three players to participate in this event. Apart from the Chinese team, only a few players from Asian countries participate in this event.
At the Olympic Games, the world's top competition, there are already very few athletes like Zhang Guan who participate in both long jump and triple jump. Although long jump and triple jump have many common characteristics, they are two different events after all. In the last century, it was relatively popular for athletes to perform both long jump and triple jump. After entering the 21st century, there are also some outstanding long jump athletes who can perform both events. However, with the continuous progress of sports, each sports project is developing in a professional and sophisticated direction, and athletes who are both long jump and triple jump have slowly disappeared.
In the qualifying group, Zhang Guan was placed in Group A, while the other two players of the national team were placed in Group B.
Zhang Guan's group A includes several of the world's top triple jumpers. Three of the four favorites to win the Olympics this time are in Zhang Guan's group. They are British triple jump star Phillips Aidou, Portugal's Nelson Evola and Cuba's David Gilat.
British star Phillips Aidou is 30 years old this year. He participated in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, so this is his third time participating in the Olympics. Aiduwu once jumped 17.68 meters at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and in the following years, he often jumped over 17.50 meters. In the first half of 2008, he once jumped 17.75 meters.
Portuguese player Nelson Evola is 22 years old. He also jumped 17.74 meters at the Osaka World Championships last year and won the triple jump championship at the Osaka World Championships. In last year's IAAF Golden League, he also achieved repeated success.
Cuban athlete David Gilat is also 22 years old. He once won the triple jump championship at the World Youth Athletics Championships and became famous at a young age. This year, Gilat is in very good condition and has jumped over 17.50 meters many times.
In addition to these three favorites, this group also includes Russian player Spasokhosky, Romanian player Opulia, and Ukrainian player Kuznetsov, all of whom are also very capable triple jumpers.
However, the promotion rules of the Olympic Games are that the results of Group A and Group B are calculated together, so the impact of grouping on promotion is much smaller.
…
When Zhang Guan appeared in the sand pool run of the triple jump, he immediately became the focus of attention of all competitors.
"That's Zhang Guan? Why is he here? Did he go to the wrong venue?" Ukrainian player Kuznetsov said.
"I remember Zhang Guan participated in the long jump competition, and his results were pretty good. But now it's the triple jump competition. Did he remember the competition time wrong?" Russian Spasokhosky said.
The Belarusian player Ziratnysky next to him took out a piece of paper, looked at it carefully, and said: "It turns out that Zhang Guan also participated in the triple jump event! It is written on it."
"Zhang Guan also participated in the triple jump competition? So he does both long jump and triple jump? Such athletes are rare nowadays!" Spasokhoski continued: "But Zhang Guan participated It’s no surprise that he competes in several sprint events, and also plays tennis, long jump and triple jump.”
"I wonder what Zhang Guan's triple jump level is like? He is still very good in the long jump event. He may also be very strong in the triple jump." Kuznetsov said.
"In addition to Zhang Guan, the Chinese team also has two players participating, which shows that Zhang Guan's strength can at least reach the Olympic A standard!" Platnitsky said while looking at the list of contestants.
"Olympic A standard!" Spasokhoski and Kuznetsov nodded at the same time, with a hint of solemnity on their expressions.
In the triple jump event, Russia and Ukraine each have three athletes participating, so Spasokhosky and Kuznetsov are also Olympic A-standard athletes. But their level is not top-notch. They may be able to enter the finals, but they will definitely miss the medal. So they can feel that Zhang Guan and they may be players at the same level.
"It looks like there will be one more opponent to advance to the finals!" the two of them thought at the same time.
These three people all spoke in Russian, so other non-Russian-speaking countries could not understand what they were saying. On the other side, Brazilian player Gregorio and Portuguese player Evora are also talking about Zhang Guan. They are both from Portuguese-speaking countries.
"Zhang Guan is here too! I only knew that he participated in the long jump competition, but I didn't know that he was going to participate in the triple jump competition." Evora said with a relaxed face. As the favorite to win the championship, it is very important for him to enter the finals. It's easy to say.
Gregorio next to him had obviously done some homework in this area. He said: "The information I found here seems that Zhang Guan only started participating in the triple jump this year, but he is improving very quickly. , after only practicing for a few months, I was already able to jump into the Olympic A mark."
Gregorio's strength is between entering the finals and being eliminated in the qualifying round. If he performs better, he can enter the finals, but if he performs worse, he will be eliminated. Therefore, he made sufficient preparations before the game, including consulting Information about other athletes.
Evora nodded slightly, and then asked as if inadvertently: "So what is Zhang Guan's best result?"
"Let me think about it." Gregorio frowned and thought for a while, then said: "I remember I checked that Zhang Guan broke the Asian record in the triple jump in May. His score at that time seemed to be 17.37 Rice bar!"
"Tch! I thought it was so awesome, but it's only 17.37 meters. I can jump farther than this!" Evola pouted. He obviously didn't take Zhang Guan seriously.
Not far away, three British players were standing together.
As Britain's number one triple jumper, Aidou's eyes are naturally high at the moment.
"The triple jump is my territory. I didn't expect Zhang Guan to come back to participate, but I will tell you with my strength later in the competition that you have crossed the line! With me here, the triple jump is not something you can get involved in!"
The second chapter has been delivered. Please give me a guaranteed monthly ticket. The third chapter will be a little later. You can read it tomorrow. Thank you fellow book friends for quickly removing you from the throne and giving me 992*392 rewards.
(End of chapter)