In the athlete preparation area, the contestants looked at Zhang Guan with wary faces, obviously considering Zhang Guan as the biggest threat. However, there were also people standing with Zhang Guan, talking and laughing. That person was Li Yanxi, another competitor of the Chinese team, who also entered the triple jump finals.
The Chinese team is relatively weak in track and field events, especially in the men's event. In the past, it was a historic breakthrough for one player to reach the finals, and it was even more unique for two players to reach the finals at the same time. Of course, a race like the marathon walking marathon, which determines the outcome, is not included in this.
Li Yanxi is regarded as the number one triple jumper in China and even Asia. Even in the international arena, he is a first-class player, but there is obviously a big gap between him and an Olympic medal. The goal set by the national team for him is to enter the quarterfinals, that is, to rank in the top eight after the first three jump attempts.
As for Zhang Guan, the national team did not set any goals before the game. However, under the current situation, the whole world knows that Zhang Guan wants to win eight gold medals, so it doesn't matter what goals he has set.
In the draw before the game, Li Yanxi was drawn at tenth, and Zhang Guan was drawn at eleventh. The two were next to each other. This can be said to be a perfect draw.
This kind of drawing may be a coincidence, or it may be a "host draw", but even if it is a host draw, it is allowed by the unspoken rules of the game. Moreover, the rankings must be re-ranked after the first three trial jumps, so capable players will not specifically question this kind of thing.
…
At this time, in the studio of British TV, Jon Edwards was sitting there again.
At the Athens Olympics four years ago, Edwards once stood up to Zhang Guan and had a dispute with another commentator, Ericsson. After four years, Edwards once again sat here to commentate on this game.
In the triple jump event, Edwards is obviously the most vocal because he is the world record holder in this event. In 1995, Edwards broke the 10-year-old world record of 17.97 meters set by American Banks with a score of 17.98 meters. In the same year, he jumped 18.16 meters and 18.29 meters, breaking the world record twice. He was also the first athlete in history to jump 18 meters. During Edwards' active years, he was undoubtedly the absolute dominant figure in the program.
At this time, Edwards, whose temples were already a little gray, was chatting with the host about the upcoming triple jump finals.
"At the Athens Olympics four years ago, Zhang Guan gave me a surprise. He won the men's 100-meter dash championship. And four years later, Zhang Guan gave me an even bigger surprise. Although we in the UK Players Aiduwu and Aqike will both participate in the next competition, but I think Zhang Guan’s possibility of winning the final championship is really very high, after all, he jumped the 9-meter mark in the long jump event." Edwards said with a smile.
The host next to him immediately said: "To be honest, three days ago, I didn't even notice that Zhang Guan participated in the triple jump competition, but just three days later, he became the biggest favorite in the triple jump event. Athletes. We all know that almost everyone is now discussing who is the greatest athlete in Olympic history, Zhang Guan or Phelps. If Zhang Guan wants to achieve Phelps’ eight gold medals, he must Win the triple jump event. Some people are even saying that Zhang Guan will break the world record and win the championship. As the world record holder in the triple jump, what do you think of this statement?"
Edwards thought for a second and said: "I think Zhang Guan should be the person closest to the triple jump world record. Even if he cannot break this world record in the following competitions, he will move towards this in the future." The world record was launched. I remember that I reached my peak when I was 29 years old and broke the world record. Zhang Guan is only 22 years old this year, and he still has a lot of time to hit one world record after another."
"I didn't expect you to have such a high opinion of Zhang Guan." The host didn't hear the smell of gunpowder and seemed a little disappointed. At this time, the competition began.
…
The first one to appear was Bulgaria's Karailiyev. His level was considered to be at the bottom among the twelve athletes, and being the first to appear gave him greater pressure. As a result, he only jumped 16.48 meters. It's a big difference compared to the qualifying round.
Cuban player Fuentes made his second appearance. He made a mistake in the step jump. As a result, his final score was only 15.92 meters. This number obviously does not represent the level of Olympic athletes.
The third player to appear is Russia’s Spasokhosky. The former Soviet Union was very strong in the triple jump event. Although the current Russian athletes also have good strength, Spasokhosky jumped 16.79 meters and is temporarily ranked first.
The first three players who appeared were not very strong, but they felt like appetizers. The fourth player to appear was Brazilian player Gregorio, who was much stronger than Qianjiri. He jumped 17.14 meters and became the first athlete to jump 17 meters today.
Evola, the Portuguese player ranked first in the world, finally appeared in the fifth place. His first trial jump was relatively conservative. He was obviously preparing to jump out with a guaranteed result. The final 17.31 meters was necessary to enter the top eight. There should be no problem.
After Evora, another strong player from the UK, Aiduwu, also appeared on the court. The triple jump is Britain's strength. Aiduwu only won the championship this time, and he played behind Evora. Obviously, he was In a more favorable position, he finally jumped out with a good score of 17.51 meters, directly 20 centimeters ahead of Evola.
Livan Sanz of the Bahamas, who competed in the seventh place, is also a strong player, but his score of 16.91 meters does not represent his true level. Another Cuban player, Gilat, jumped directly to a score of 17.27, which is much better than his compatriots. Then the ninth-placed Englishman Aquik only jumped 16.74 meters. If he wants to squeeze into the top eight, he will have to work harder. On the tenth day, it was Chinese player Li Yanxi’s turn.
This was Li Yanxi's first time participating in the Olympics. He seemed very nervous. He did not perform as well as he should in the first jump, and also made a slight mistake. Although he worked hard to adjust later, in the end Still only jumped 15.93 meters, ranking second to last.
Li Yanxi looked at the final results and shook his head dissatisfied. The audience made a sound of regret, but only a second later, cheers appeared from all directions again, because Zhang Guan appeared on the stage.
"Next, it's Zhang Guan's turn. For the first trial jump, you can jump with a guaranteed result. Based on the current results of the athletes, if you can jump more than 17 meters, you should be more hopeful of entering the back. During the three trial jumps." As soon as the commentator finished speaking, Zhang Guan had already started to run.
I saw Zhang Guan quickly accelerated to the extreme, and then started to take off, but then Zhang Guan did not complete the next action, but slowly stopped, because Zhang Guan himself had realized that the moment he just took off , the toes stepped on the line.
The referee raised the red flag.
"Oh! It was a foul when stepping on the line! Zhang Guan failed in his first try. What a pity!"
The audience also made sounds of regret, and in the athlete preparation area, players such as Evora, Aidou, and Gilat also breathed a sigh of relief.
"It seems that Zhang Guan is not as good as everyone said. He failed in his first trial jump. He only missed one of the six opportunities in total."
"With six opportunities, you have to rank in the top eight in the first three times. In the long jump event, didn't the Greek player Tessa Tomas fail three consecutive attempts and be eliminated! Maybe Zhang Guan will do the same. Making the same mistakes again."
"Among the eleven contestants currently on the stage, only Zhang Guan failed in his trial jump!"
"It's really only Zhang Guan who failed in his trial jump, and you see, the last Romanian athlete Opria has already appeared on the stage... Oh! He jumped 17.22 meters. Based on this calculation, it is really only Zhang Guan who failed!"
"I didn't expect, I really didn't expect that Zhang Guan, who was hailed as the favorite before the game, would actually be ranked last!"
As the twelfth player from Romania, Opria, ended her trial jump, the first round of competition also ended. British player Aidoou ranked first, Portuguese player Evola ranked second, Cuban player Gilat ranked third, but Zhang Guan ranked last, and among the twelve players, he was the only one No results.
The second chapter has been delivered, and I will go on to write the third chapter. Please give me a guaranteed monthly pass.
(End of chapter)