Xue Li had a look of surprise on his face. He never expected that it would be Zhao Yue who finally won the championship.
Zhao Yue was not originally part of the national team's plans. If Li Dai hadn't interceded, he might not even have been able to enter the Asian Games training camp. Zhao Yue was finally able to participate after many twists and turns, and it was not confirmed until the last moment of registration deadline.
But now, this unplanned athlete has won the championship, which makes Xue Li feel like he won a lottery ticket.
Zhao Yue's winning time was 20.60 seconds, which is not a very top result. It did not even reach the Olympic A standard of 20.59 seconds. Calculated by the standards of the Asian Games champion, this result is really a bit watered down.
This is also because Zhao Yue was really lucky. Clark, Onaid and Xie Jun withdrew from the competition, and there were suddenly three less favorites to win. Wei Zitao had a fever before the game, which greatly reduced his strength, and Sarafa was not used to the rain. In the battle, he did not perform as well as he should have. This gave Zhao Yue a big advantage.
However, competitive sports originally focus on results. After a game, people will remember who is the champion, but it is difficult to remember the process of the game. Regardless of luck or not, Zhao Yue is a well-deserved Asian Games champion.
Moreover, in many cases, luck is also a part of strength. Sports competitions are inherently full of uncertainties. The more competitions you participate in, there will always be times when you win by luck, and there will always be times when you lose to luck.
Looking at Zhao Yue on the award podium, Xue Li still showed a satisfied smile on his face.
Unknowingly, the national team had already won both gold medals in the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Originally, the national team only hoped to get one medal, but this has already exceeded the plan set by the national team.
"Now all that's left is tomorrow's relay final!" Xue Li started to have a headache when he thought of this.
Wei Zitao still has a high fever. Without the use of medicine, it is impossible to reduce the fever in a short time just by drinking more water and applying cold towels to physically cool down.
…
Late at night, the athletes had all rested, but the coaching staff of the national team was still in the conference room.
"We just measured Wei Zitao's temperature half an hour ago, and it was 39 degrees 2. We don't have to expect his fever to go down tonight, and we're thankful that his temperature doesn't continue to rise." Xue Li paused, and then said: "I We do not plan to send Wei Zitao to participate in the relay race, and his current condition makes it inappropriate for him to continue participating."
"In the 4x100-meter relay race, aren't we missing one person? Are we going to increase our manpower from other events?" someone immediately asked.
Xue Li nodded: "So for today's meeting, I also invited Coach He from the long jump team. We are going to borrow people from the long jump team this time."
In a track and field competition, if there is a shortage of people in the 4x100-meter event and it is necessary to borrow people from other event teams to make up the number, the first thing that comes to mind is not the 110-meter hurdles athletes, nor the 400-meter athletes, but the long jumpers.
The long jump and sprinting have a lot in common, and the physical demands on the athletes are similar. Both the long jump and the 100-meter dash require athletes to have strong explosive power, while the long jump run-up also requires athletes to have extreme speed.
The sprinting speed of ordinary long jumpers is definitely not bad. The 100-meter speed of top long jumpers is faster than that of ordinary sprinters. If sprinters practice long jump, as long as they master the technique, they will definitely achieve good results.
There have been athletes in history who won world championships in the long jump and 100-meter sprint at the same time.
Now that there is one less person in the 4x100 meters, the national team will naturally have to borrow one person from the long jump team to make up the number, so Xue Li specially invited Coach He, who is in charge of the long jump event, to give him some opinions.
"Coach He, I need help from your long jump team this time to recommend a suitable athlete for the 4x100 meter relay!" Xue Li turned to Coach He and said.
"I think that young man Fang Haiquan is good. He has good physical fitness and strong explosive power. In terms of sprint speed, he is better than other long jumpers. Moreover, Fang Haiquan just won the Asian Games long jump championship, and he has also won the long jump championship recently. My confidence has greatly increased. Lao Xue, from my perspective, Fang Haiquan is a suitable candidate." Coach He said.
Coach He is over sixty years old. He is a coach who returned to the national team after retirement. He is several years older than Xue Li. He is one of the few people in the national team who dares to call Xue Li "Old Xue".
"I have also watched Fang Haiquan's game. When he was running, his explosive power was indeed very good. He is a suitable candidate." Xue Li said, looking at the crowd: "Do you have any other opinions? You can put them forward. Let’s discuss it together.”
No one spoke, and after waiting for more than ten seconds, Xue Li saw that no one spoke, so he said to himself: "Since everyone has no opinions, the 4x100 meter competition is decided to be in Fanghaiquan! "
Xue Li wrote Fang Haiquan's name on the list in his hand, and then said: "Zhao Yue, Yang Sijie, Niu Guohong and Fang Haiquan, this is the list of participants for tomorrow's relay final. But Fang Haiquan is a long jumper, he has never run The 4x100-meter relay requires special training for Fang Haiquan. The relay final is at 7:30 tomorrow night, which means we still have a day tomorrow to train."
After Xue Li finished speaking, he looked at everyone again: "One day of training, time is very tight, and the task is very heavy. Who among you is willing to give it a try?"
As a sprint coach, you look at me and I look at you, but no one expresses their opinion.
In fact, everyone knows that this is not a good job. From a certain perspective, it is likely to be a hard job that gives people the blame.
In the 4x100-meter race, in addition to competing for speed, the more important thing is to compete with the athletes' coordination in passing the baton. Athletes try their best to gain a 0.1 second advantage. If the baton handover is not coordinated well, it may ruin them all, or even cause a loss. It is possible to fall behind.
Under normal circumstances, it takes at least one to two weeks of training for athletes to develop a tacit understanding. It is undoubtedly a fantasy to train athletes to develop a tacit understanding in one day.
What's more, the national team's 4x100-meter lineup includes three Asian Games champions. Yang Sijie is the 100-meter sprint champion, Zhao Yue is the 200-meter sprint champion, and Fang Haiquan is the long jump champion.
Such a lineup sounds very bluffing, at least to those who don't understand relay races. This is simply a lineup that must win the championship. It's like many people think that if the four fastest people in the world are put together as a team, they will definitely be able to win the world championship in the 4x100 meters.
However, the real situation is not like this. The relay race still depends on cooperation. Although the national team is a three-champion lineup, if there is a lack of cooperation and tacit understanding, it may be difficult to even get a medal, let alone a gold medal.
So taking over the relay team at this time is more like picking up a hot potato. If the team of three champions wins, it will be considered worthy in the eyes of the people, but if it loses, it will definitely be scolded.
As the host team, the audience has high expectations for the national team, but ordinary people often only look at the results and whether they have won the gold medal. They don't care about professional knowledge in sports! Many people may even think that a relay race is just running and passing a stick. It’s nothing special.
The coaches on site were all talented people. How could they not have thought of this? No one wanted to take the blame, so when Xue Li asked who wanted to be in charge of training the relay team, everyone was dumb.
Xue Li's face darkened, and he looked at everyone with a bit of hatred. Everyone present was the best coach of the national team, but when the critical moment came, no one dared to stand up and take charge.
At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from the corner of the conference room:
"Coach, can you let me try?"
This voice was so familiar to Xue Li that he knew that the speaker was none other than Li Dai without looking at it with his eyes.
Li Dai took the initiative to ask for help!