The Winter Olympics is far inferior to the Summer Olympics in terms of participating countries, number of participants, and attention.
The events in the Winter Olympics are all ice and snow events, so it is basically impossible for countries that are relatively close to the equator to participate in the Winter Olympics, such as most African countries, Caribbean countries, and Pacific island countries in Oceania. Without snow, it can be said that winter sports are completely out of the question.
In the Summer Olympics, almost all countries in the world will participate. Even if it is tens of thousands of people, they will send one or two athletes. In the Winter Olympics, it would be great to have eighty or ninety countries participating. At the end of the last century, there were about two to three thousand qualified athletes in the Winter Olympics, but currently there are about three to four thousand participating athletes. Although the number has increased, it is still only a fraction of the number of participants in the Summer Olympics.
Qualifications for the Winter Olympics are also easier to obtain than for the Summer Games. Tickets for many events in the Summer Games are extremely precious, while tickets for many events in the Winter Olympics may only require a few months of training. Yes, many athletes participating in the Winter Olympics are amateur athletes. For some sports, as long as your country is willing to help you sign up, you will have the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics.
There was once an Olympic Games, and the Pacific island nation of Tonga wanted to participate. However, Tonga is located near the equator and does not see any snow all year round. The king of Tonga even offered a nationwide reward for anyone who could ski, but he could not find any. In the end, Tonga selected one person and sent him to a foreign country for training for half a year, which fulfilled the Tongan people's dream of participating in the Winter Olympics. A person who was born in Tonga and has only trained for half a year can participate in the Winter Olympics. This is enough to show that the threshold for the Winter Olympics is not high.
Amateur or quasi-professional athletes participate in the Winter Olympics with the intention of participating, and the athletes who are truly capable of competing for medals are also professional athletes. Therefore, it is often seen that the competitions in the Winter Olympics are divided into two groups: AB. Group A is a relatively high-level professional level and comes to compete for medals, while Group B is a relatively low-level non-professional level. Even if you win Ranking first in Group B also missed the medal.
Qualifications for short track speed skating are calculated on a country/region basis. A country that has qualified can send three people to participate in the short track speed skating competition, and if it has qualified for the relay, it can send five people to compete. It's just that the short track speed skating event is played over and over by just a few countries, so basically the countries participating in each session are relatively fixed. Moreover, there are only four events in short track speed skating, 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters plus a relay race, so many competitors have to participate in three events at the same time. Even if they participate in all four events, it is normal. Case.
The national team has already qualified for the Vancouver Winter Olympics short track speed skating relay, so it can send five skaters to participate. There are five men and women each, a total of ten players participating in the short track speed skating event. As for who will be sent to compete, of course it is the Winter Sports Center that has the final say.
The reason why Zhang Guan proposed to participate in short track speed skating is because this event does not require additional qualifications. There are still two months left before the opening of the Winter Olympics, and it is difficult to obtain the right to participate in other events. As for short track speed skating, Zhang Guan can participate if the Winter Sports Center agrees.
At the same time, Zhang Guan's actions also put the Winter Sports Center into a dilemma.
…
Director Wang of the Winter Sports Center never expected that Zhang Guan's counterattack would come so quickly. As soon as he returned from the General Sports Center, he received a call from the General Sports Center asking for Zhang Guan's opinion on participating in the Winter Sports Center. .
meeting room. Director Wang summoned several key leaders.
"Zhang Guan asked us for a quota for short track speed skating. Please tell us your opinions." Director Wang glanced at everyone in the conference room.
"You definitely can't give it to him! Let me tell you, this Zhang Guan is here specifically to cause trouble for us. The incident he caused a few days ago has put our work into a great passivity. Now we have to short-track speed Isn't this just pushing the envelope? Does he think our Winter Sports Center is easy to bully?" A very angry guy said first.
"But if we don't give Zhang Guan this quota, will we lose our reputation? Zhang Guan has said that if he goes, he will definitely get the gold medal, and he dares to issue a 'military order'."
"Do you really believe this bragging? He is not a skater. He probably doesn't even know how to wear skates. How can he participate in short track speed skating? He can run very fast on flat ground, but when he gets on the ice, I I don’t believe he can break the world record!”
"I don't know if I'm bragging or not, but Lao Li, don't forget, in the plan we just submitted to the Sports Federation, we erased the original goal of three gold medals. That Zhang Guan said, If we want to help the national team earn these three gold medals, can we not let him go?"
"He said he can earn back the gold medal, can he really earn it back? That's a Winter Olympics gold medal, not a cabbage on the street." Lao Li said.
"Okay, then if we don't give him this quota, who will bear the responsibility if the results are not satisfactory at the Winter Olympics?"
"Didn't we discuss this issue before? If the results are not satisfactory, we should blame it on this personnel change. The personnel change was caused by Zhang Guan going to the Anti-Corruption Bureau to cause trouble. He is so capable of making trouble that he should be blamed for this. !" Lao Li continued.
"That was before, but we can't make such excuses now. Zhang Guan has already offered to go to the Winter Olympics to win the gold medal. If he wants to help us solve our difficulties, it depends on whether we give him a chance. Don't you think so? I didn’t see it, but he was trying to win the gold medal. If our results in the Winter Olympics were not satisfactory, Zhang Guan could say that he offered to help our Winter Sports Center win the gold medal before the game, but we didn’t give him a chance or let him If we compete in the competition, we can’t rely on him if we lose. At that time, it will become our own responsibility.”
"Then give him a spot. I don't believe he is really capable of winning the gold medal! He even issued a military order. I don't see how he will step down!"
"That won't work. We only have five spots in total. How can we waste one spot on him? Zhang Guan is obviously bragging. Short track speed skating is such a technical sport. How can it be done without several years of hard work? Can you compete in the competition? Director Wang, we can’t make such a hasty decision in the Winter Olympics that happens every four years!" Someone immediately objected.
The person who objected was the leader of the Skating Association. Short track speed skating was an event under the responsibility of the Skating Association, so of course he didn't want Zhang Guan to take away a precious spot. Moreover, short track speed skating is the strength of the national team. With so many outstanding athletes vying to participate in the Winter Olympics held every four years, how could the leaders of the Ice Hockey Association be willing to give Zhang Guan a spot.
"I see, Zhang Guan guessed that we would not give him this spot, so he was so confident."
"It's not possible to give it, it's not possible not to give it, so what should we do? Zhang Guan, this really puts us in a dilemma!"
"Director Wang, I have a suggestion." Someone suddenly said: "We might as well hold a trial and let Zhang Guan also participate. Didn't he say that he can win the gold medal in the Winter Olympics? If even the athletes of our national team can If he can’t win, I don’t see how he can face us!”
"This is a good idea. It's a mule or a horse being led out for a ride. Let the boys of our national team teach this kid a lesson!"
"I don't think there's any need to go to the men's team. The women's team can beat him, hahaha..."
However, Lao Li suddenly poured cold water on him: "You guys think, what if Zhang Guan wins in the trials? After all, there are five places. He doesn't need to take first place. He can finish third or fourth place. Qualified to represent the national team.”
"Win? How can you win! Lao Li, I think you are confused. That is short track speed skating. You think you are running 100 meters, as long as you run fast! Short track speed skating has very high technical requirements. , even if Zhang Guan can skate a few times, he will never have the ability to compete in actual combat. Moreover, Zhang Guan is not from the Northeast. There are no skating people in their province, so Zhang Guan has no chance to get into short track speed skating. If he dares to participate in the qualifying round, he will definitely lose!"
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(End of chapter)