Almighty Athlete

Chapter 8: Olympic Games tickets

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The morning competition of the men's 100-meter event has ended, and the semi-finals of the men's 100-meter event will be held later in the afternoon. There will only be two groups in the semi-finals, and then the top eight will advance to the finals the next morning based on overall ranking.

At this point in the competition, there are no weaker players anymore. Those who have made it to this point are all strong players. If we call it a dark horse, there is only one Zhang Guan.

If the other fifteen athletes are calculated based on their strength, only Chen Jian and Shen Bao are guaranteed to enter the finals. Both of them have the ability to run within 10.3 seconds. The other players will depend on their on-the-spot performance and performance. .

The organizers of the event divided the two strongest athletes, Chen Jian and Shen Bao, into different groups. Zhang Guan happened to be in the same group as Shen Bao. Also in the same group were Yin Hanzhao, the men's 100-meter champion of the Ninth National Games, and Guangxi Province's 100-meter champion. The record is held by Gong Wei, Liu Dapeng, the first person in the 100 meters in Northeast China, Jin Ke, a special admissions student at Peking University, and Hu Kai, the glasses man who competed in the semi-finals.

In terms of strength, Shen Bao is undoubtedly the strongest. The other three Yin Hanzhao, Gong Wei, and Liu Dapeng are all experienced veterans and have a chance to reach the finals. As for the young Jin Ke and Hu Kai, they have the possibility of reaching the finals. Sex is more elusive.

Since the top eight athletes with the highest scores in the semi-finals were selected for the competition, the eight athletes on the starting line did not show too much excitement, but were very harmonious.

When the athletes all stood on the starting block, the referee raised the starting gun.

The gunfire rang out, and everyone rushed out immediately. Only Zhang Guan started half a beat slower, falling behind to the last place at the start.

"The start is still as bad as ever. This is almost 0.4 seconds of start reaction time! It seems that this kid's start is really bad, not just pretending!" Director Yu thought silently in the stands.

On the track, Zhang Guan also felt very helpless. His condition in the afternoon was still relatively average. Although it was slightly better than the second race in the morning, it was still worse than the starting reaction time of less than 0.3 seconds in the first race in the morning.

But then, Zhang Guan entered his regular sprinting rhythm. His sprinting skills took effect, and with his super explosive power, he quickly increased his speed to the extreme, and then began to surpass other players.

Hu Kai, the glasses man, kept pace with Jin Ke at the start. One of the two was a special admissions student from Tsinghua University, and the other was a special admissions admissions student from Peking University. As students from the two highest universities in the country, they were born with the charm between Tsinghua and Peking University. A sense of competition, and now they are even more reluctant to give in to each other on the field, trying their best to compete with each other. Hu Kai's condition was obviously better. After a short stalemate, Hu Kai was already half a body ahead of Jin Ke.

At this moment again, a figure passed by Hu Kai. He was Zhang Guan.

"Being overtaken by someone, it feels so familiar. I feel like I have experienced this scene this morning, why is it Zhang Guan again!"

The same scene happened in the rematch in the morning. At that time, Hu Kai was just half a length ahead of Pang Guibin and was surpassed by Zhang Guan. However, Hu Kai never expected that this scene would happen again in the afternoon semi-finals. Being overtaken twice by the same person in the same way on the same day on the same field, Hu Kai suddenly felt very depressed, but he had no choice. Hu Kai's own speed could not catch up with Zhang Guan.

Next, Zhang Guan caught up with Northeastern flying star Liu Dapeng. He overtook him without even giving Liu Dapeng a chance to maintain a stalemate, and then caught up with Gong Wei, the record holder in Guangxi Province.

"It's Zhang Guan, he's really fast!" Gong Wei thought silently in his heart. He once heard his teammate Pang Guibin talk about it at noon. At that time, he was surpassed by Zhang Guan in just an instant. That kind of speed was not on the same level at all. Pang Guibin simply gave up chasing, and now Gong Wei also deeply understands this.

Yin Hanzhao, who was in second place, found that he was already far behind Shen Bao, who was in the lead. However, Yin Hanzhao always believed that he had a chance to catch up, because he knew that in the second half of the race, Shen Bao would slow down.

Shen Bao's strongest point is the indoor 60 meters. He won the third place in the indoor 60 meters at the International Indoor Track and Field Championships in Vienna in March. Therefore, Shen Bao's indoor 60 meters is the world's top level. Shen Bao is characterized by quick starting reaction, strong explosive power, and early breakout point, so he can achieve excellent results in the indoor 60-meter event. However, in the 100-meter race, Shen Bao cannot always compete with the same level of explosive power as the 60-meter event. It is precisely because of this that he can never outrun Chen Jian in the 100-meter event.

The fact is as Yin Hanzhao expected. After 50 meters, it is the time when many athletes increase their speed to the extreme, but Shen Bao is not as fast as before.

"Here's your chance! Maybe we can catch up with Shen Bao before the finish line! Wait, someone is catching up from behind!" Yin Hanzhao had already noticed the approaching Zhang Guan.

70 meters later, Shen Bao, who was in the lead, also discovered that two people were approaching from behind.

80 meters later, Zhang Guan completed his overtaking of Yin Hanzhao.

Shen Bao turned his head slightly and happened to see Zhang Guan surpassing Yin Hanzhao.

"This is the newcomer Zhang Guan! He should have started much slower. How could he catch up so quickly?" Shen Bao's mind flashed back to the morning's rematch, when Zhang Guan passed from last place to first place. One scene. Then he looked ahead and saw the end was right in front of him.

"The end is coming soon, hold on! How can I lose to a newcomer!" Shen Bao gritted his teeth and tried his best.

After 90 meters, Zhang Guan was already on par with Shen Bao. At this time, neither Zhang Guan nor Shen Bao had any reason to give up. This was no longer a fight for promotion, but a battle of honor as an athlete.

At this moment, Shen Bao was trying his best every time he advanced one meter. He didn't want to lose, but he desperately found that every time he advanced one meter, he would fall a little behind. He watched helplessly as people passed by him and crossed the finish line, but he tried his best to fight back, but he seemed so helpless.

Shen Bao crossed the finish line, slowed down until he stopped, then looked at the scoreboard and found his score. The final result of 10.31 seconds is a very satisfactory result in everyone's eyes. This result could rank second in the year last year.

Then he looked at the first place, which was Zhang Guan's result.

"10 seconds 28!" Shen Bao gasped. He didn't expect this young man who suddenly appeared to run into the 10.3 seconds mark. This result is enough for Zhang Guan to advance to the ranks of the top players in the country.

10.28 seconds is already the best time in the domestic 100-meter event this year.

On the rostrum, Director Yu suddenly realized something, and then clenched his fists excitedly.

"This ticket is a waste. I have been waiting for a year, and finally there is an athlete who can achieve this result... "

Then Director Yu glanced in the direction of Chen Jian, the number one long-distance runner in the country, and murmured to himself: "It's time for you to work hard, otherwise you will be surpassed by this junior, and you may not be able to go to next year's Olympics." !”

At the same time, Chen Lao and other teammates who were watching the game also ran up. Even the coaches of other teams came to express their congratulations, looking beaming.

"What's wrong? Are you all here? Why the big battle?" Zhang Guan was shocked by the battle.

Mr. Chen was the first to grab Zhang Guan and said: "Zhang Guan, good job! You have won this ticket for our country."

"Admission ticket? What admission ticket?" Zhang Guan asked strangely.

"Of course you have a ticket to the Olympics!" Mr. Chen continued: "You ran 10 seconds 28 and reached the Olympic B mark!"

Zhang Guan understood immediately.

The Olympic Games are the highest level sports competition in the world. In order to prevent lower-level athletes from participating and thus affecting the level of the entire competition, the Olympic Organizing Committee has established Olympic standards. The standard line for track and field events is based on the official competition results of the National Olympic Committee and above in the past two years. There are Olympic A standards and Olympic B standards.

According to the regulations of the Olympic Organizing Committee, in individual track and field events, each Olympic Committee can send up to three athletes who meet the Olympic A standard in each event to participate; if there are less than three athletes who meet the Olympic A standard, the athletes who actually meet the standard will be used. Sign up to compete; if no one reaches the Olympic A standard but someone reaches the Olympic B standard, only one B standard athlete can be sent to participate; if even the Olympic B standard cannot be reached, they will not be allowed to participate in the Olympic competition in this event.

Under this rule, if only one player from a country reaches the A standard, it is obviously the most disadvantaged situation, because the number of participating countries is the same as that of a country with only B standard, and only one person participates. It can also be said that if there is only one A bid in the competition, it is equivalent to the B bid.

In addition, if athletes who have not reached the standard want to register for track and field events, the IAAF will determine based on the athlete's performance level and the number of people who have reached the standard in the relevant event. Registered athletes must reach a certain international level and prove their strength by participating in international events recognized by the IAAF. To put it bluntly, it is a "back door" entry.

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, in the Olympic men's 100-meter track and field event, the Olympic A standard was 10.21 seconds, while the Olympic B standard was 10.28 seconds. 10.28 seconds is also the minimum standard for athletes to participate in the Olympic Games. This standard was still followed until the 2008 Capital Olympics. By the 2012 London Olympics, this standard was raised to A standard of 10.18 seconds and B standard of 10.24 seconds.

The men's short track event in track and field has always been a weak point of the national team. Athletes participating in the Olympics basically rely on the Olympic B standard to compete. The performance recognition period for individual track and field events at the Athens Olympics next year is from July 1, 2002 to the deadline for registration in July 2004 (except for marathon, race walking, and all-around events). All results achieved in Olympic Committee-level competitions count, and the best time achieved by domestic athletes after July 1, 2002 is 10.32 seconds, which means that no one in China has reached the Olympic B standard of 10.28 seconds.

Of course, the national team does not bother to compete "through the back door", but for more than a year, no player has reached the Olympic B standard. This is also a very shameless thing. Of course, the level of domestic players will certainly not be satisfied with the B standard. However, Zhang Guan’s time of 10.28 seconds today can be regarded as a guaranteed ticket for the national team.

From this moment on, Zhang Guan’s name truly entered the domestic track and field circle.

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