Three Stars and Stripes were raised at the Maracanã Stadium at the same time, and the "Starry Banner" was played again.
The Brazilian audience at the scene was indifferent to the American national anthem. They were discussing the strength of the United States.
"There was news before that the U.S. track and field team was affected by the doping scandal and its strength was greatly weakened. But now it seems that this is not the case."
"Don't believe the media. When have they told the truth? So far, there have been five gold medals in track and field, and the American team has won two of them. This is not weak at all."
"The U.S. team's track and field strength is really the best in the world. Even though it was affected by the doping scandal and many capable athletes were unable to participate, it is still a team with good results in track and field events."
At this time in the United States, many Americans watching sports games in public places celebrated with excitement.
USATF CEO Williams did not go to bed this time, but stayed in front of the TV to watch the Olympic games.
The sight of three stars and stripes raised at the same time reminded him of the Olympic Games eight years ago, when the U.S. team won the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men's 400-meter event.
"When did our long jump become so strong?" Williams murmured to himself.
Williams looked at the three strong young men on the podium. Only one of them was familiar to him, and the other two looked familiar. Obviously, these two new faces only joined the US team after the doping scandal. of.
"These two young men I don't know must have been selected by Dai Li. Counting Vince Jackson, who won the women's shot put yesterday, Coach Li has really good vision."
At this moment, Williams suddenly admired Dai Li.
"I suddenly felt that maybe we shouldn't let Coach Li be our scapegoat. At present, it seems that the athletes he has selected are all great. If he is given another four years, by the next Olympics, our U.S. track and field team will Be strong again!”
…
The three American players, draped in stars and stripes, were being interviewed by reporters. Dai Li looked at all this with a smile on his face, secretly applauding his condition.
The strength of these three players is good, but if they just perform normally, they are still not enough to win the Olympic gold medal. At this time, the status scale becomes a big help. The nature of the competition in the long jump also determines that the balance of condition can work wonders. With six trial jump opportunities, an athlete may win the championship if he is in perfect condition once.
Moreover, Dai Li's luck was good enough today. In the first trial jump, two people were in perfect condition. This directly put great pressure on athletes from other countries, allowing the American team to take the lead at the beginning of the competition. If the American team did not put pressure on the strong players from other countries at the beginning and allowed them to slowly adjust to their form, then the outcome is still uncertain. After all, this is the Olympic Games, the highest-level competition in the world. A result that has just reached 8.4 meters can only be regarded as the lowest level compared with the long jump champions of previous Olympic Games.
While the men's long jump finals were going on, the women's 100m semi-finals also ended.
Two players from the U.S. team entered the finals, and all three players from Jamaica entered the finals.
The final women's 100-meter trapeze battle will begin in two hours.
The next event in the track and field competition is the men's 10,000-meter long-distance race.
A total of 34 runners participated in the men's 10,000-meter long distance race. Almost all the runners were Olympic A-standards, and most of the participating countries sent three runners.
In the 10,000-meter long-distance race, it is necessary to use the alternating lead tactic to save physical energy. If a country sends three athletes, it is easy to form a small-scale tactic of taking over the lead; if there is only one person, it will be difficult to support alone. Leading alone will definitely lead to physical exhaustion. If you follow, you will fall into the rhythm of others. Therefore, it was really too difficult for the Chinese team to win the women's 10,000-meter event with only one person.
Africa's long-distance running duo, Ethiopia and Kenya, are undoubtedly the strongest in this event. Other countries, such as Uganda and Eritrea, are also on par with the US team in terms of strength and are considered to be in the second group.
Although the American team is second only to the African duo, Dai Li has no intention of competing for the men's 10,000-meter medal. Kenya and Ethiopia are too strong. This obvious gap in strength cannot be made up by Dai Li in the short term. Understand.
The results of the competition did not surprise people. Kenyans took the first two places, and Ethiopians finished third or fourth. The long-distance running event is still dominated by the African duo. An American athlete competed for fifth place, which was also a good result.
After the men's 10,000 meters, it is the semi-finals of the men's 800 meters. Kenyan players still performed very strongly. All three players entered the finals. Two people from the US team also advanced. If nothing unexpected happens, the gold medal will be between Kenya and the US team. Decide.
What followed was the finale of today's competition, the women's 100-meter trapeze.
…
Dai Li's eyes turned to a black man not far away. This man's beard and hair were already white, and he was at least sixty years old.
"That person is Fraser, the head coach of the Jamaican team, right?" Dai Li asked Downey, the leader of the American team next to him.
"Yes, he is Fraser." Downey nodded.
Downey has served as the leader of the U.S. team more than once, so he knows many coaches from other countries, especially Jamaica, which is the United States' biggest competitor in sprint events.
"Coach Frazier is a legend in track and field. He has trained no less than ten world champions, including the world's number one flying man Gittel. I had just graduated and was studying with coach Xue Li in the national team. I know Frazier, coach Xue Li admires him very much. I never thought that in just a few years, I would be able to compete with him on the same court." Dai Li thought to himself.
At the same time, for the Jamaican team, Fraser's deputy also reminded: "Coach, the head coach of the US team is looking at you!"
"Look at me! Does that Chinese coach want to provoke me?" Frazier turned to look at Dai Li, deliberately widening his eyes, showing a sharp look.
However, what Frazier didn't expect was that Dai Li just smiled at him, and he smiled very kindly.
Frazier suddenly felt like he had been punched in cotton.
On the other side, Dai Li patted his chest lightly and said to himself: "This old man from Jamaica is really vicious!"
…
The Jamaican team is bound to win this gold medal. For this reason, they have sent double insurance. These two female flying women are also the first and second ranked players in the world.
As for the U.S. team, its strength has suffered a lot due to the impact of the doping scandal.
Every time a doping scandal breaks out in the United States, sprinting is the most affected, because doping should always have the greatest benefits in sprinters. Taking the 100-meter dash as an example, improving the performance by 0.1 seconds is equivalent to improving the level by several levels.
Therefore, although the American team has two athletes entering the finals, it is not a threat to the Jamaican team to win the gold medal. If the Jamaican team only had one "strong point", Li Dai might bet on his luck. Maybe the Jamaican players were not in good condition and the American team could win a gold medal. However, what the Jamaican team sent was "double insurance". ", Li Dai simply will not challenge the Jamaican team.
The result was as predicted by the outside world. The Jamaicans won the gold and silver medals, and the American players won a bronze medal. This can be considered a gain.
…
"I got one gold, one silver and two bronze medals today, which is pretty good." Dai Li was quite satisfied with the US team's performance today. He stretched out and prepared to go back to the hotel to rest.
At this time, the list of participating athletes for the next event appeared on the big screen of the Maracana Stadium.
"I almost forgot, there is another women's heptathlon competition, and the only event left is the 800 meters. After this event is over, the gold medal for the women's heptathlon will be born. There are also athletes from the US team participating in this event. , then I’d better wait until the game is over before leaving.”
The men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon have always been two events that Li Dai paid little attention to. Of course, this does not mean that these two projects are not important, but because these two projects are too complicated, Li Dai does not have so much energy to focus on these two projects.
When Dai Li accepted the U.S. national team, it was only one month before the opening of the Olympic Games, and there were still many young rookie athletes in the U.S. team who needed to train and improve their performance as soon as possible. At that time, it was impossible for Dai Li to focus on the all-around event. superior. Take the men's decathlon as an example, which includes ten events: 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter run, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500-meter run. The same time and energy With dedication, training decathlon athletes can only get one gold medal. It is better for Li Dai to train athletes in these ten individual events, and maybe he can get a few more gold medals.
Moreover, the training of all-around events is a long-term accumulation process, and performance cannot be improved by leaps and bounds through short-term surprise training.
If you slightly improve your technical shortcomings in a certain individual event, such as the 110-meter hurdles, javelin, shot put, etc., the improved performance may elevate the athlete's level to a higher level.
However, the all-around event is the accumulation of scores in multiple individual events. The improvement in one individual event will be evenly distributed to other events. At this time, the improvement in performance will not be so obvious, and it is definitely not enough to raise the athlete's level to a higher level.
In modern sports, the professional requirements for athletes are getting higher and higher, and it is increasingly rare for one person to hold multiple positions in track and field sports. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many sprinters and long jumpers. Even when we just entered the 21st century, there were still many long jumpers and triple jumpers. But now, such cross-sport players are almost extinct. In sprinting, you can run 100 meters and 200 meters, in middle running, you can run 800 meters and running 1,500 meters, in long-distance running, you can run 5,000 meters and running 10,000 meters, or 10,000 meters and running marathon, and in race walking, you can run 20 kilometers and 50 kilometers. These are probably the only ones left. of wearing many hats.
An athlete may have great athletic talent, but a person's energy is limited after all. It is not easy to achieve the world's top achievements in one of the sports. Once engaged in multiple sports, the results will be reduced. It is impossible to reach the top level in the world. The so-called "omnipotent" also means "omnipotent".
Developed countries in Europe and the United States have always been the strongest countries in the all-around event. This sport comprehensively tests athletes' speed, explosive power, strength, flexibility, jumping, endurance, balance and other indicators. White people are obviously stronger. Their Their explosive power, jumping ability and endurance are stronger than those of yellow people, and their flexibility, balance and strength are stronger than those of black people. They are very suitable for this kind of sport that tests comprehensive ability.
…
The order of competition in the women's heptathlon is the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter run, long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run. All competitions will be completed within two days. Among the field events such as high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin throw, etc., each person only has three opportunities, which is different from the six opportunities for individual individual events.
After an athlete completes each event, he or she will receive a corresponding score based on the performance of the event. For example, in the shot put, the scores obtained for throwing 20 meters and 19 meters are completely different, even if an athlete wins first place in the shot put event. , but if the results are not good enough, you will not get a high score. In the same way, even if an athlete ranks several places away, as long as his performance is good enough, he will get a high score.
The final comparison is to see who has higher scores. This competition system also determines that even if a certain individual event fails, as long as other events perform well enough, the points will eventually be recovered.
Now, the first six events have ended, leaving only the last 800-meter middle distance race.
At this point in the competition, the clues to the championship can already be seen. The scores of the athletes have already opened up. Only the players with the highest scores still have the possibility of winning.
The current top scorer is a Ukrainian player with a score of 5838, the second is a German player with a score of 5777, the third is an American player with a score of 5702, and the fourth is A Russian player has a score of 5650. The score difference between the following athletes and the first place is within 200 points, so they still have a chance to win the gold medal.
The fifth place score is 5614, and the score difference has exceeded 200 points. This is basically a difficult result to overturn, but it is possible to win a medal.
The final event of the women's heptathlon is the 800-meter run.
For the 800-meter middle-distance race, the first 100 meters of the start are run in separate lanes. After 100 meters, the athletes begin to merge into the innermost track and then complete the rest of the race. Therefore, the final results of the athletes will be greatly affected by the leader. If the leader is fast, the athlete's performance will be better. If the leader is slow, the athlete's performance will be worse. In the official 800-meter preliminary or semi-finals, it is often the case that the third place in the group with the best performance advances. At this time, the third place in the slower group will definitely suffer.
In view of the characteristics of the 800m, in the women's heptathlon, the 800m is arranged as the last event, and the eight people with the best results will be grouped according to scores, so that they will not be in the same group because of the lead. The speed of the students is inconsistent, causing some of them to fall behind in performance and suffer a loss when the final score is calculated.
The same is true for the men's decathlon. The 1500 meters is not run in separate lanes, so it is arranged in the last event. The people with the best results will also be placed in the same group.
The first to appear are the eight people with the lowest scores.
"It is not unreasonable that these eight people are ranked last, but we can see from the 800-meter results that the best is just 2 minutes and 14 seconds." Li Dai looked at the players' results and shook his head slightly.
The performance of athletes in all-round events is originally lower than that of athletes who specialize in individual events. The results of the eight worst people among them are naturally even more disastrous. If a female athlete specializes in practicing the 800 meters, she can basically run within 2 minutes in the Olympic finals.
The athletes who appeared in the second round were in better condition, with a best time of 2:13.65. Then the athletes who appeared in the third round, the leaders kept pushing the pace, and the best time of this group was actually 2:15. Seconds away.
The fourth group of players ranked 9th to 16th. In theory, if their results are good enough, they can hope to win a medal. Therefore, the athletes in this group also ran very hard, and several players achieved results of He ran 2 minutes and 10 seconds, and the first place even ran a time of 2 minutes, 08 seconds and 55 seconds. According to the scoring rules, he can get a score of more than 980 points.
Finally, it was the turn of the eight best people to take the stage.
Dai Li used a morale-boosting guide on the athletes of the American team, and then began to watch the game with peace of mind. Although the American team players ranked third, they were a full 136 points behind the first place. This was not an easy gap to catch up with.
However, what Li Dai didn't expect was that the Ukrainian athlete who ranked first seemed not to be very good at the 800-meter run. After the merge, she actually fell to the last place.
"Is she deliberately conserving her strength? It is possible. After all, she is now 61 points ahead of the second place and 136 points ahead of the third place. It is normal to seek stability." Dai Li thought to himself.
However, more than a minute later, Dai Li discovered that his judgment was wrong. This Ukrainian athlete was really not good at the 800 meters.
On the contrary, American players have always been in the top three positions.
"This game is interesting!" Dai Li suddenly realized this.
The players rushed into the final straight and started sprinting, and Dai Li couldn't help but stand up and cheer for his team members.
In the end, the Russian was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 2:06.50, followed closely by the American player with a time of 2:07.34. The difference between the two sides is only 0.84 seconds, and their previous score difference was 52 points.
"2 minutes, 07 seconds and 34 seconds, that's almost 1,000 points. The Russians are 0.84 seconds faster than us, so there shouldn't be a 52-point advantage. The Russians' total score will not exceed that of the United States." Dai Li immediately made the decision made judgment.
Dai Li is now concerned about the second-place German player and the first-place Ukrainian player. The second-place German player leads the United States by 75 points, while the first-place Ukrainian leads the United States by 136 points.
The German athlete's result was very poor, only 2 minutes, 15 seconds and 21 seconds. She was not good at running 800 meters either.
"2 minutes, 15 seconds and 21 seconds. Based on the scores of athletes in the previous rounds, this score should be less than 900 points. As long as we get 975 points, we will surpass the Germans." Li Dai calculated in his heart at lightning speed.
"I just estimated that our players should be able to score around 1,000 points. In this case, we have also defeated the Germans and are now in second place."
It only took Dai Li more than a second to calculate all this. At this time, the Ukrainian athlete who ranked first had already crossed the finish line. She was still in last place, with a time of 2 minutes, 17 seconds and 72 seconds.
"Before, we were 136 points behind Ukraine. The Ukrainian only ran 2 minutes, 17 seconds and 72 seconds. This result should be between 850 and 870 points. If my player gets 1,000 points, then the Ukrainian only needs to get 1,000 points. You can win the championship with 865 points!”
Thinking of this, Dai Li's heart was in suspense. The final results hadn't come out yet. He didn't know if his player could surpass the Ukrainian and become the first place. He looked at the big screen anxiously.
The athletes' scores were tallied up and displayed on the big screen.
"In 2 minutes, 07 seconds and 34 seconds, we scored 1,004 points. Our final score was 6,706 points!"
"The Germans were 2 minutes 15 seconds 21 and scored 890 points. The final score was 6667 points, which was less than us!"
"The Ukrainian only ran 2 minutes 17 seconds 72 and scored 855 points. His final score was 6693 points, 13 points less than us! We won!"
Dai Li clenched his fists excitedly.
He didn't expect that in today's last event, the American team won another gold medal, and it was an event that Dai Li didn't pay much attention to.
This is a bonus!