Of course Dai Li hopes that Sean Ford will win the championship. This championship is not only an honor, but also because there are many business opportunities behind it.
Dai Li and Sean Ford signed a revenue-sharing training contract. The more advertising sponsorships Ford can obtain, the more shares Dai Li will receive. An athlete's advertising endorsement income is linked to fame, which increases fame. The best way is to get better results, win more championships, gain recognition from more audiences, and fame will naturally rise.
Alexander and Li Dai signed an ordinary training contract. Although Li Dai's fees are also very high, they are not income sharing after all. For Li Dai, it would be the best if Alexander can win the championship. It doesn't matter if he cannot win the championship. As long as the results are good and it can reflect the effect of Li Dai's training, it is enough. Now Alexander's ability to run within 9.90 seconds has proven Li Dai's training level. No one will be dissatisfied with the effect of this training.
The 200-meter race has slightly fewer contestants than the 100-meter race, and the number of rounds is one less, but the competition is no less intense. It's just that Sean Ford's absolute strength is dominant, so in the preliminary and semi-finals, Sean Ford doesn't need to show 100% of his strength to pass easily.
In the semi-finals, Sean Ford finally got serious and advanced to the finals by finishing first in the group.
The 200-meter final was scheduled on the last day of the Olympic trials, and it was also the final event. This day happened to be a weekend, so the stadium was already full of spectators, and the TV ratings also increased significantly. Obviously good news for the 200m final.
Generally, in large-scale track and field competitions, the final event is a relay race. However, track and field competitions in the United States are registered on an individual basis, so there are no team events such as relay races.
…
The athletes' locker room was a little empty. After all, there was only the last game left, and there were only eight athletes participating. In the huge locker room, there were only about twenty people including coaches.
Foster, who is from Boston, should be considered a relatively big-name player among the participants. At the age of 25, he is at the peak of his career as a sprinter. Sprinters of this age are often the strongest.
In the 100-meter dash three days ago, Foster's performance was second only to Walton and Alexander, and he won a bronze medal. He has already qualified for the 100-meter dash, which also shows his strength. Today he still has to fight for a qualifying spot in the 200 meters. Since neither Alexander nor Walton participated in the 200 meters, once Foster enters the top three, he will be the only one on the US team to participate in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. players.
At this time, Foster was sitting on the bench tying his running shoes, and his coach stood beside him, whispering something.
"You have to pay attention to Meyer. Although he didn't even make it to the finals in the 100-meter dash, his cornering skills are very good, so in the 200-meter event, his strength is very strong. His This advantage is exactly your shortcoming, so if you are lagging behind when exiting a corner, don't panic, sprint forward with all your strength, and show the same level as you did in the 100-meter dash, and you will definitely be able to overtake it. .Come on, try to win a championship!"
Foster nodded and asked: "I heard that there is a former World Championship champion in the final."
"You're talking about Sean Ford! I haven't seen him on the court for a long time. I thought he had retired. Having said that, when he won the World Championships, you hadn't become a professional athlete yet, right? ?" the coach said.
"I was still in high school, my senior year, and I was preparing for college interviews. I wanted to find a better university that could provide me with a full scholarship, so I didn't pay attention to that World Championships at the time." Foster then asked: "Should we pay special attention to Sean Ford? After all, he is the world championship champion, so he should be very strong."
"Very strong? Then why haven't you met him in the competition in the past two years?" The coach smiled relaxedly: "You don't need to pay attention to him at all. That guy was just a flash in the pan. He never appeared again after the World Championships." In recent years, he has only been reduced to participating in some small competitions. So many people know that he was just lucky enough to win the World Championships. I remember someone gave him a nickname a few years ago, but It’s only spread on a small scale, and not many people know about it. What do you think this nickname is?”
"What is it?" Foster asked immediately.
"The most impressive World Championship champion in history!" The coach replied with a smile: "So you don't have to worry about him at all. This kind of player has no strength at all. If he wants to win, he will have to have bad luck again."
…
Sean Ford took a deep breath, with an expression of enjoyment on his face. The taste of the final gave him a rippling feeling in his heart.
It has been a long time since he appeared in the finals of such a large track and field event.
There are not many 200-meter races. In recent years, Ford has been running the 100-meter race as well. However, his long and short legs have greatly hindered him in the 100-meter dash. Therefore, in slightly larger track and field competitions, It is difficult for Ford to have a chance to show his face, otherwise Ford would not participate in such small competitions. The so-called equipment is not good and the level is not high, so you can only grind some dungeons with relatively low difficulty.
However, it was precisely because Fu Fu was reduced to participating in small competitions that he was met by Li Dai.
Although Ford has now entered the finals of the Olympic trials, he is still the most inconspicuous. He has not achieved any decent results for too many years, and his name is no longer loud. Those who know him have already regarded him as Forgotten, and unknown to new audiences, was the former world champion.
Coaches like Sebastian who have always been active in the front line of track and field have to think for a long time before they can remember who Ford is after hearing Ford's name. Then ordinary viewers will forget about Ford. It is also a reasonable thing.
On both sides of the track, most of the opponents looked at Ford with curious eyes. They didn't understand that Ford, the world championship champion who had been out of fashion for many years, the so-called "most popular world championship champion in history", today How on earth did he "sneak" into the finals
Ford's mentality is very peaceful. The former World Championship champion has become worthless. Over the years, he has long been accustomed to everyone's questioning and ridicule of him. More often, he even hopes that people will forget him. At least that way, people wouldn't look at him strangely.
But habit does not mean compromise, nor does habit mean giving up oneself.
Ford has always wanted to prove himself with his strength. He hopes to return to people's attention. He wants to say to everyone: I am back!
Ford has been working hard on this too. Even though his efforts were never rewarded, he kept persevering and never thought of giving up.
And today, Ford finally got the chance to clear his name...