Before the finish line, Zhang Guan raised his arms in celebration, and the Chinese coaching staff also rushed forward and handed a piece of the national flag to Zhang Guan.
The next second, countless photographers came over, and some even crossed the guardrail and came to the competition venue, just to get a close-up shot of Zhang Guan.
Without exception, the three members of the Korean team lowered their heads and were extremely frustrated. The leader, Lee Jung-soo, had already burst into tears.
Coach Cui Guangfu stood there with a dull look on his face. He was even hoping that this was all just a nightmare, or that the game was not over yet.
"Lost? Did we really lose? We actually lost!" Coach Cui muttered to himself in despair. He recalled that in the game just now, his three players made no mistakes, especially Li Guangzhu, who could even be said to have performed well. Very good, but in the end South Korea still lost. Three players lost to Zhang Guan alone!
The South Korean team had a clear team advantage, but they still lost the game in a three-on-one situation. This was really a complete defeat.
"How could this happen? Why did this happen? Such a complete loss!" Coach Cui looked at the score card, and the 2 minutes, 08 seconds and 21 seconds were particularly conspicuous.
"2 minutes, 08 seconds, 021! World record, this is a new world record!" At this moment, Coach Cui finally understood why the Korean team lost the gold medal and why the world's number one Lee Jung-soo lost to Zhang Guan. Against a new world record, it is impossible for Lee Jung-soo to win!
…
"The referee confirmed the result again, 2 minutes, 08 seconds 021. We congratulate Zhang Guan, who broke the world record of 1,500 meters in short track speed skating. Prior to this, the world record was set by South Korea's Ahn Hyun-soo in 2003. Minutes 10 seconds 639, Zhang Guan improved this score by more than 2 seconds in one fell swoop. It is incredible. You must know that in world record level results, even an improvement of 0.01 seconds is very difficult. This is the first time Zhang Guan participated in this In this sport, he improved the world record by 2 seconds! He is truly worthy of Zhang Guan and the greatest athlete in the world!"
"Today's Zhang Guan seems to have brought us back to the track and field arena, the arena where he can overcome obstacles and easily break world records! Perhaps for Zhang Guan, the track and field arena and the short track speed skating arena are the same. As long as racing is involved, he He wants to be the fastest man in the world! He is the fastest man on land, the fastest man on land in driving a racing car, and now he wants to be the fastest man on ice? Isn’t it impossible? Zhang Guan will also participate in the men’s 500-meter and 1,000-meter short track speed skating competitions. I believe he will definitely bring surprises to us, and we are also looking forward to the next event of short track speed skating coming as soon as possible!”
The commentator's series of comments were full of praise, and this was a relatively neutral commentator in Canada. On the other side of the world, the commentator from CCTV had already praised Zhang Guan to the sky.
The birth of a new world record is enough to make the whole world applaud.
Of course there are exceptions, such as South Korea.
South Korea pays much more attention to the Winter Olympics, especially short track speed skating, than other countries. The reason is of course that South Korea's short track speed skating strength is the strongest in the world. It's like the Chinese won't miss a table tennis match. Among the three levels of short track speed skating in the Winter Olympics, the 1,500 meters is the strongest event of the Korean team and the most stable gold medal point. In addition, three skaters entered the finals, so whether it is the Korean media or the public , all believe that the Korean team will take the top three places.
The 1,500-meter final started at 12:20 noon in South Korea, which was also lunch time, so the ratings were very high. Many office workers even went to eat in small restaurants with TVs just to watch the 1,500-meter short track speed skating final.
However, the result of today's game is destined to disappoint the Koreans. When Zhang Guan crossed the finish line, disappointed faces appeared in front of the TV. Whether it was a small restaurant or the school cafeteria, as long as there was a TV, everything was silent, including the TV. At this time It also became a mute mode, because the commentator of the Korean TV station also stopped talking. He didn't know what to say.
The project that was regarded as the strongest by the Koreans and the one that was bound to win the championship actually lost. This result was not only unacceptable to the Korean audience, but also difficult for them to understand.
"Why did Lee Jung-soo lose? Is it because he wasn't fast enough?"
The next moment, the result of 2 minutes, 08 seconds and 021 appeared in front of everyone, and the two big English letters at the back were particularly dazzling.
WR, the English abbreviation of world record.
"World record! Ahn Hyun-soo's world record has been broken!" someone exclaimed.
A feeling of sadness instantly rose from all around, and people's expressions seemed as if they had just experienced a catastrophe.
Losing the gold medal in the 1,500-meter short track speed skating was indeed a big blow to the national self-confidence of the Koreans, and having Ahn Hyun-soo's world record broken was far more serious than the blow of losing the gold medal. If they just lose the gold medal, the Koreans may comfort themselves. At least the world record in this event is still held by Ahn Hyun-soo, and the Koreans are still the strongest in this event. But now, even this last fig leaf has been torn away.
Koreans have always valued these honors, because they are so lacking in everything, so any achievement will be infinitely magnified, and sometimes they will even use other people's things as their own to show off. Therefore, South Korea's Olympic and Winter Olympic champions will be promoted as national heroes.
And now it is in line with that sentence, the higher you hold it, the more painful it will be when you fall.
"Why, why didn't you let Ahn Hyun-soo go? Ahn Hyun-soo is the world record holder, and he is the strongest short track speed skater in our country!"
"Yes, if Ahn Hyun-soo had been allowed to play, today's result would definitely not be like this. Maybe Ahn Hyun-soo would break the world record again! I really don't understand what the coach is thinking."
"This is the responsibility of the coaching staff, and coach Cui Guangfu is responsible for it!"
"Yes, it's Coach Cui Guangfu's responsibility. It's time for him to step down!"
…
In the locker room, coach Li Bing danced excitedly.
"Zhang Guan, although I guessed that you might break the world record, I never thought that you would be so fast! Your time is more than 1 second higher than that of more than a month ago. I have been doing short track for so many years. In speed skating, I have never seen anyone make such great progress in such a short period of time!" Coach Li Bing said.
It is indeed very difficult for professional short track speed skaters to improve their performance by 1 second after their skills mature. Sometimes they even have to significantly improve their technical movements to achieve this level of progress. In world record level results, it is an arduous battle to improve by 0.01 seconds. More than a month ago, Zhang Guan's time was just within 2 minutes and 10 seconds, but now it is almost 2 minutes and 08 seconds. If this speed of improvement were spread, other ice athletes would definitely be shocked.
Zhang Guan smiled slightly and said: "I have to thank the national team for the conditions provided to me. Without you, I would have been able to run within 2 minutes and 10 seconds."
As Zhang Guan spoke, he pointed to the skates under his feet, and continued: "This specially customized skate is different from the one I bought in the store. Coach Tang also gave me a lot of help."
As Zhang Guan spoke, he pointed to the equipment coach named Tang not far away, and coach Tang laughed shyly.
Professional skating must have an equipment coach, which is a major feature of skating. In other sports, equipment coaches are often provided by training coaches or athletes themselves. For example, in table tennis, the rackets are glued by the athletes themselves; in shooting sports, the guns are calibrated and maintained by the athletes themselves. In many other sports, competition equipment is also adjusted by coaches or athletes themselves.
But skating is different. Skates usually require professional maintenance and care. They need to be polished with a whetstone, fixed with a measuring arc meter, and bent with a bender. These tasks must be done by professional equipment coaches, such as bending. If you don’t have some experience in bending this part, it is easy to break the skate blade.
The skates in short track speed skating are actually installed at an angle, which helps athletes negotiate corners. For example, calculating the curvature of the skate blade, calculating the tilt angle, selecting the angle of the skate blade according to the venue, etc., require a certain mathematical foundation and rich knowledge of physics. Ordinary athletes have been training since childhood and may not even have the opportunity to go to high school, so it is impossible to master this knowledge. Therefore, the equipment coaches for short track speed skating are all professionals with higher education, and few of them are professional athletes.
The benefits of a suitable set of equipment for athletes are self-evident. Just like a suit, a tailor-made one will definitely fit better than a ready-made one bought in a store. So before that, Zhang Guan used the equipment he bought and tried his best to skate and just got within 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. The national team customized equipment for Zhang Guan and then equipped it with a specialized equipment coach, which further improved Zhang Guan's performance. In today's competition, Zhang Guan still had some reservations for the sake of stability. He was already close to 2 minutes and 08 seconds. Zhang Guan felt that if he tried his best, it would definitely not be a problem to score within 2 minutes and 08 seconds.
…
Zhang Guan breaking records and winning the championship is not new to many people. In track and field racing, "breaking records and winning the championship" is Zhang Guan's norm. However, this time the venue was changed to the skating rink, and the competition event became a short-distance racing event. Speed skating.
When the news came out, the whole world was shocked again. Zhang Guan once again surpassed the project and successfully reached the top of the world. He became the first athlete in the world to win gold medals in individual events at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, and the first person in the world to break world records at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Zhang Guan inadvertently achieved another unprecedented result and wrote a strong mark in the history of world sports.
And many professional sports commentators have realized that short track speed skating is going to change!
…
The second competition day of short track speed skating is four days later on February 18. On this day, Zhang Guan only needs to participate in one competition, which is the 1,000-meter group stage. At the same time, there is a relay preliminaries for the men's event, but due to the relatively weak opponents, Zhang Guan, who is responsible for winning the gold medal, did not participate in the relay competition.
The preliminaries went without any surprises, Zhang Guan advanced smoothly, and another player of the national team, Han Jialiang, also successfully advanced to the next round.
Three days later, on February 21, two events will be held in the short track speed skating arena, namely the women's 1500 meters and the men's 1000 meters, and gold medals will also be determined in these two events.
The men's 1,000-meter short track speed skating started with the quarter-finals. Zhang Guan once again met South Korean player Lee Ho-suk. Apart from that, there was no decent opponent in this group, and neither Zhang Guan nor Lee Ho-suk. They were all conserving their strength for the next game, so they didn't kill until their bayonets turned red.
In the subsequent semi-finals, Zhang Guan met another Korean player Sung Si-baek. In the same group was American player Apollo.
Apollo is the defending champion of 500-meter short track speed skating. He also has the nickname "American Prince". He can be said to be the strongest short track speed skater besides Korean skaters. His strength is indeed very strong. At least in the first half of the race, he was not inferior to Cheng Shibai in speed. It was not until the final sprint that he was surpassed by Cheng Shibai.
In the end, Zhang Guan and Cheng Sibai qualified as the top two in the group, and Apollo ranked third. Whether he can advance depends on the results of the other group.
In the other group, South Korea's Lee Jung-soo outscored the others. His teammate Lee Ho-suk took second place. The third place was won by Canada's Hamelin, but Hamelin's results were better than Apollo's. Since there were only five places in the 1,000-meter Group A finals, Apollo had to be eliminated to Group B. The five remaining players in Group A were Zhang Guan, Lee Jung-soo, Lee Ho-suk, Sung Si-baek and Hamelin.
The 500-meter and 1,000-meter short track speed skating finals are divided into two groups, A and B. Those who failed to advance to the finals in the semi-finals will participate in the finals of Group B. Among the two groups, the players in Group A compete for the championship, second and third place, while the players in Group B compete for ranking. For example, in the 1,000-meter short track speed skating, if a group of five people competes in Group B, even if they get first place in Group B, they will only be sixth in the end. In the 500-meter short track speed skating, if there are four people in a group, the first place in Group B is equivalent to the fifth place.
…
Coach Cui Guangfu seemed a little nervous. Firstly, it was because the finals were about to start. Secondly, he had felt tremendous pressure these days. This pressure mainly came from South Korea. The reason was of course because of the Korean team. Lost the men's 1500m gold medal.
"In the 1,000-meter event, all three of our athletes entered the finals again, and only five people participated in the 1,000-meter final. Our advantage is greater than that in the 1,500-meter event! So this time, we must not lose." Cui Guangfushen Take a breath and force yourself to calm down.
"But Zhang Guan also entered the finals. Since he can break the 1,500-meter world record, he might also be able to break the 1,000-meter world record! Even if he can't break the 1,000-meter world record, he will definitely threaten our players to win the championship. ! This gold medal is bound to be won, Zhang Guan must not be allowed to affect the result of the game!" Coach Cui Guangfu thought of this, with a cold light in his eyes.
"Since conventional methods are risky, some special tactics may need to be used. If necessary, a team member should be sacrificed to ensure that the gold medal is obtained!"
(End of chapter)