London, England.
As the main venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, the London Bowl was completed on March 29, 2011, and some events have been held successively to test the London Olympic Games.
Today, the London Bowl welcomes a distinguished guest, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
After all, the Olympic Games are related to the face of a country. For this British Prime Minister, hosting the Olympic Games is definitely a very important thing during his term. There is now less than a year before the opening of the Olympic Games, and the Olympics have also entered the agenda of Mr. Prime Minister. He will listen to progress reports on the preparations for the Olympics every week, and will personally inspect the preparations for the Olympics from time to time.
Many venues for the London Olympics are still under construction and are not suitable for the Prime Minister to inspect in person. However, the London Bowl, which has been completed, as the main venue for next year's Olympic Games, has obviously become an excellent location for the Prime Minister to inspect. So, accompanied by the Mayor of London and Sebastian, the Chairman of the British Olympic Organizing Committee, the Prime Minister came to the London Bowl.
Sebastian happily introduced the preparations for the London Olympics to the Prime Minister. As the chairman of the London Olympic Organizing Committee, Sebastian will definitely be the busiest person in London in the next year, but he enjoys it very much. This kind of busyness, for a person who is involved in politics, the position of chairman of the London Olympic Organizing Committee is definitely a very glorious record in his resume, and a successful Olympic Games is enough to become the most dazzling part of his resume. , which will be very helpful for his future development in the political arena.
"As the host of next year's Olympic Games, we must achieve good results before we can explain to the people. Regarding this, does the Olympic Organizing Committee have any plans?" the Prime Minister asked.
Sebastian knew that the Prime Minister was asking himself how many gold medals Britain could win in tomorrow's Olympics, so he answered: "Our goal is to get 25 to 30 gold medals."
"25 to 30? I remember that in the last Olympic Games, we won 19 gold medals. If we can get 25 gold medals this time, it will be a very good improvement." The Prime Minister then asked: "What about 25 gold medals?" If I get 30 gold medals, where will I be on the gold medal list?"
"We estimate that we can get third place, which will rise one place in 2008." Sebastian continued: "There is no doubt about the strength of the American team. They will definitely win first place. China The strength of the team cannot be underestimated. They were the hosts of the last tournament and should be ranked second this time. If we want to rise to third place, we must surpass the Russian team."
"Beyond Russia, that is also a very good achievement." The Prime Minister nodded with satisfaction.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was undoubtedly the world's number one sports power. After the Cold War, Russia is still the sports hegemon second only to the United States. For those Europeans who have experienced the Cold War era, Russia is like a big mountain. , Conquering the mountains is something to be proud of.
"Chairman Sebastian, I hope your assessment is accurate. After all, we are the host of this Olympics. If our results do not improve, or are even worse than the previous one, the people will not accept it. Once this happens, In that case, someone must take on this responsibility." The Prime Minister said and glanced at Sebastian.
Sebastian knew that the person the Prime Minister mentioned as taking responsibility must be himself. For Sebastian, this was an advance warning.
Sebastian snorted in his heart. He did not doubt that the Prime Minister would use him as a scapegoat. After all, he was from the Conservative Party, and the Prime Minister was the leader of the Labor Party. From a political point of view, if the London Olympics failed, the Labor Party would not Do you mind taking action on yourself as a member of the Conservative Party
"Please rest assured, Mr. Prime Minister, I am very confident about this result. Our athletes have been preparing for this Olympics for eight years. Our results will definitely be better than the last Olympics!" Sebastian is confident. He said full of words, and his statement was more like a military order. At least the goal of "higher results than the previous year" must be achieved.
"Then I'm relieved. But I still hope that our athletes can work hard and go one step further to defeat the Chinese and become second in the gold medal list." The Prime Minister said.
"In the last Olympic Games, although the Chinese team played at home, 61 gold medals was still a very scary result. We predict that in this Olympic Games, the number of gold medals won by the Chinese team will still remain at 40 Around, this is the number after restrictions." Sebastian said.
"Restrictions?" The Prime Minister caught the word sensitively.
"It's a restriction." Sebastian smiled slightly and said: "The IAAF has just announced a new rule. Each athlete can only participate in a maximum of three track and field events in the Olympic Games, including relay races. Kind of a group project.”
"Three events?" The Prime Minister was slightly stunned, and then immediately thought of Zhang Guan. He knew that except Zhang Guan, no one could participate in the fourth track and field event.
"IAAF rules? Who doesn't know that you, Sebastian, are the chairman of the IAAF?" Thinking of this, the Prime Minister looked at Sebastian with a half-smile and asked, "This rule seems to be just Is it appropriate to limit Zhang Guan to one person? Isn’t this appropriate? Isn’t the IAAF worried that the Chinese will protest?”
"Since it is a rule, of course everyone needs to abide by it. No one can be special, and there will be no special restrictions on a certain athlete." Sebastian continued: "Besides, when one family dominates, for a certain athlete This is not good news for the development of this sport. The Olympics is inherently a grand event with participation from all over the world, and monopolizing it is obviously not in line with the purpose of the Olympics, nor is it in line with the interests of other countries."
Sebastian's last sentence was to the point. The reason why this rule he formulated to restrict Zhang Guan was passed relatively smoothly was precisely because of the word "monopoly". It is precisely because Zhang Guan is so strong that he has won championships in too many events by himself, so he has touched the interests of many countries and many athletes.
For example, the United States, Jamaica, Middle Eastern countries, etc., originally hoped to compete for the Olympic gold medal in a certain event, but as soon as Zhang Guan appeared, he broke all kinds of world records, which was equivalent to directly erecting a tall and tall barrier in front of other athletes. Strong barriers. If other athletes want to win gold medals, they have to break world records. World records in track and field may not be broken for many years. Breaking world records is almost an impossible task for those athletes.
So when Sebastian's move to restrict Zhang Guan became something that everyone expected. Even though the General Administration of Sports used many connections, it still did not prevent this from happening.
Since I can't defeat you, then change the rules to restrict you!
However, this kind of move is often seen in the sports world.
For example, the rules of basketball games have always been biased towards European teams. Although the rules of many professional leagues in the world are closer to those of the NBA, FIBA is still unwilling to integrate with the rules of the NBA. Because once it is aligned with the rules of the NBA, American muscle sticks will become even more unbridled on the world stage.
Another example is table tennis rules, which have been changing over the years, including restrictions on rackets, changes to the balls used, restrictions on serving, adjustments to the rules, restrictions on the number of participants, and even the cancellation of doubles and the replacement of doubles with team competitions. All adjustments are aimed at the Chinese team.
It's just that the American team is too strong in basketball and the Chinese team is too strong in table tennis. No matter how many restrictions are imposed, they cannot prevent them from winning the championship. The only way to stop them from winning the championship is to cancel the sport.
Most of the rule restrictions are very useful, such as the reform of the archery rules in 2008. The new rules increased contingency and uncertainty, which began to break the Korean team's monopoly on archery. In the past, the Korean team won all four archery gold medals, but after the rule change, players from other countries were able to steal at least one gold medal from the Korean team.
Now, the new rules' restrictions on Zhang Guan have also given hope to track and field athletes from many countries.
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(End of chapter)