The 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
For Zhang Guan, this award no longer has much appeal. The Lawrence Trophies at Zhang Guan’s home are already lined up. But for other players of the men’s basketball team, this is a very important honor, especially for those few players. A young player, regardless of the Chinese New Year, has long been eager to come to the United Arab Emirates to receive the award.
The Best Team Award is a very important award in the Lawrence Awards. It is ranked second only to the Best Male Athlete and the Best Female Athlete. It is very difficult to win, and the competitors of the Chinese Men's Basketball Team are not just ordinary people.
The biggest competitor of the Chinese men's basketball team is the Spanish men's football team. The most popular sports event last year was undoubtedly the World Cup in South Africa, and the Spanish men's football team was the champion of the World Cup in South Africa.
According to the Lawrence Awards in previous years, the 2007 Best Team Award went to the Italian men's football team, who were the champions of the World Cup in Germany; the 2003 Best Team Award went to the Brazilian men's football team, who were also the World Cup champions in South Korea and Japan. In other words, the World Cup champions all won the Lawrence Best Team Award the following year. According to this convention, the Best Team Award should be awarded to the Spanish men's football team, so the Spanish team's call for winning the award is also very high.
In addition, the Italian giants Inter Milan, which won five crowns last season, the Los Angeles Lakers, which won the NBA championship last year, the Red Bull Racing team, which won the F1 team championship last year, and the European Ryder Cup golf team also won. Best Team Award Nomination.
Normally, Inter Milan's five-time champion would have been qualified to win the best team award, but it is a pity that there was a competition of the World Cup level last year. Moreover, it is also a football sport. The gold content and influence of the Hercules Cup far exceed the sum of Serie A championship, cup championship, Super Cup championship, Champions League championship and Club World Cup championship. Inter Milan is also destined to only accompany the Spanish men's football team. .
Football is undoubtedly the largest sport in the world. In terms of influence, the Men's Basketball World Championship is far inferior to the Football World Cup. Compared with the champions of the Basketball World Championships and the Football World Cup, they are definitely in a disadvantaged position.
However, in terms of strength, the Spanish team is originally the favorite to win the World Cup, while the Chinese team is a mid-range team in the Men's Basketball World Championships. The difficulty of winning the two is very different. Although it cannot be said that Spain won the World Cup championship with ease, it was not difficult, and China won the World Championship championship with difficulty. Especially the five-overtime final showed how difficult the game was, far more than Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the World Cup final.
What's more important is that China attaches great importance to this kind of award. The Sports Federation or the Basketball Association are willing to spend money to run it. For them, they finally have a chance to nominate, so they must not miss it. If they are nominated next time You don’t have to wait ten or eight years! When you get the award, you gain face, and naturally you have political achievements.
In the end, the best team award fell to the Chinese team. When the senior executives of the Basketball Association came to the stage to receive the award, their faces were all smiles.
…
Feeling hungry after sitting for a long time, Zhang Guan unceremoniously picked up a piece of dessert with his fork and almost died after taking one bite!
Not too salty, but too sweet.
Many people think that Arabs like to eat barbecued meats and the like. In fact, they prefer to eat sweets. Arabian sweets not only contain honey but also sugar, so they are particularly sweet. Abu Dhabi is rich in oil, so it will naturally not be sparing in terms of ingredients. This is definitely delicious to Arabs, and may be acceptable to Europeans, but it does not conform to Eastern eating habits.
Zhang Guan swallowed half the glass of champagne in one gulp, and then he felt better. The waiter next to him immediately brought black tea.
"Give me another glass of champagne!" Zhang Guan said immediately. He knew that when people in the United Arab Emirates drink black tea, a lot of sugar is added to it.
"Hey, Zhang! Long time no see!" A voice sounded from the side. Zhang Guan turned around and saw a bald man with a long face standing there.
"Congratulations, Zinedine! Congratulations on winning the Lifetime Achievement Award!" Zhang Guan said immediately.
This bald man is the famous football player Zinedine Zidane. He retired after the 2006 World Cup and this year won the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award.
The two began to chat. After a few words of greetings, Zidane brought a semi-bald middle-aged man closer and said: "Zhang, let me introduce you to a friend. This is Mr. Prudhomme, who is from the Tour de France." President of cycling.”
Zhang Guan had already understood, and Zidane ran up to him to talk, most likely to introduce Prudhomme to him, and to introduce himself to Prudhomme.
The three chatted for a few more words, and then Prudhomme got to the point.
"Zhang, I heard that you are proficient in many sports. I wonder if you are interested in cycling?" Prudhomme asked.
"Bicycle? You know, every Chinese team can ride a bicycle. When I was in elementary school, I would ride a bicycle to school every day." Zhang Guan said with a smile.
Prudhomme nodded: "Actually, I am inviting you to participate in this year's Tour de France. Of course, it cannot be regarded as a formal competition, but more of a charity performance."
Just listen to Prudhomme continue to say: "This year's Tour de France will start on July 2, and we are planning to invite some famous people as guests to participate in the opening ceremony. Of course, the guests do not need to actually ride the entire race. Just make an appearance on the first day of the competition and just ride a few kilometers to show off. We have equipped each guest with a special car, and you can get on the car to rest at any time. You can even ride to the finish line in the car, and then Just ride a few kilometers to cross the finish line before the finish line. It won’t take long, it will only take you a day at most.”
Zhang Guan nodded. This was similar to the opening ceremony of some events where guests were invited to cut the ribbon. The purpose was to create momentum. But when it came to the Tour de France, the ribbon-cutting was replaced by actually riding two laps.
"Does the equipment of the guests also have the same equipment as the athletes?" Zhang Guan asked with interest.
"It's the same, and it will be provided by the team." Prudhomme continued: "We have initially invited ten guests. Each guest will wear a team's competition uniform, and the competition car will also be provided by the team."
"I remember there were more than 20 teams participating in the Tour de France, right?" Zhang Guan asked.
"Twenty-two teams, so we will conduct an auction when the time comes." Prudhomme pointed to Zidane next to him, and then said: "Let me give you an example, if the Corfinidi team takes a picture of Zidane Ding, then Zinedine will appear on the field wearing the race jersey of the Cofinidi team. All the fees from the auction will be donated to Africa for the prevention of malaria."
"It turns out that Zinedine will also participate!" Zhang Guan looked at Zidane with a smile.
"In addition, we also invited Hollywood star Tom Cruise, singer Justin Timberlake..." Prudhomme named three or four names in succession.
Zhang Guan thought for a while and felt that he could spare some time in one day. Moreover, the Tour de France was also quite influential. It would not hurt to participate in more of this kind of fame-earning activity. So Zhang Guan said: "Since it is for charity, then I have no problem. I will definitely participate when the time comes."
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(End of chapter)