In March, sports events resumed.
For Dai Li's Olympic training camp, this is a small test. The effectiveness of the Olympic training camp will be tested in the competition.
There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Whether an athlete has become stronger or not can be seen at a glance at the results.
The results of the competition are coming one after another. The athletes who participated in Dai Li's Olympic training camp all performed very well, and everyone's performance improved to a higher level. Even athletes like Muller and Zuma who were originally at the top of the world can feel that their condition is getting better.
Results don't lie. When other athletes saw that Dai Li's training camp had such good results, they came to sign up one after another. Dai Li's Olympic training camp accepted many more people.
In May, the U.S. Olympic trials for various events also kicked off.
Athletes in the Olympic training camp are still making great progress, winning Olympic qualifications one after another.
In June, another athlete from Europe and South America came to Los Angeles and entered Dai Li's Olympic training camp.
These are athletes who have already qualified for the Olympics. They come here to make the final sprint for the Olympics. Moreover, there are only two months left before the opening of the Olympic Games, and there are many people who are urgently seeking medical treatment.
For a time, Dai Li's Olympic training camp was overcrowded.
…
In front of the training center, there was a white middle-aged woman lingering. She seemed to want to go in, but was hesitant.
This middle-aged woman is not tall, she looks less than 1.6 meters tall. She is not fat, and even looks a little thin. Her body shape can definitely be called petite. This smaller stature is uncommon among white Americans.
After wandering for a long time, the middle-aged woman finally plucked up the courage and walked towards the door of the training center.
As soon as she reached the door, the door opened and she saw Dai Li walking out and bumping into this middle-aged woman.
"Coach Li!" A trace of bewilderment flashed in the middle-aged woman's eyes.
Dai Li found that the middle-aged woman looked familiar. After a few seconds, he remembered the middle-aged woman's identity.
"Are you Kpanova?" Li Dai asked tentatively.
"Hello, Coach Li, I'm Kpanova." The woman replied hesitantly.
An expression of respect appeared on Dai Li's face, and then he asked: "Ms. Kpanova, are you looking for someone, or do you plan to sign up for a training course?"
"I..." Kpanova hesitated for more than ten seconds before she said, "I want to sign up. I know you have opened an Olympic training camp here, but..."
Kpanova was a little evasive, as if she had something to hide.
"Why don't we go inside and talk." Li Dai made an invitation gesture and took Kpanova to the reception room.
…
In the reception room, the two guests and host were seated.
A cup of coffee was brought to Kepanova, and then Li Dai asked: "Ms. Kepanova, since you plan to sign up for the Olympic training camp, does that mean you still plan to participate in this year's Olympics?"
Kpanova nodded: "Yes."
"You have participated in five Olympic Games, right?" Dai Li asked subconsciously.
"It is the sixth Olympic Games. If you include this year, it is the seventh Olympic Games that I have participated in." Kpanova answered.
"Sorry, I'm going to take the liberty to say that you must be almost 40 years old, right? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean anything else. I just want to remind you that there is no advantage in participating in the Olympics at this age." Dai Li said.
"I am 41 years old." Kpanova did not avoid the issue of her age, but continued: "I know that I have to face a group of athletes who are more than 20 years younger than me, and some of them are older than me. My son is still young! But I have to participate, I have already qualified for the Olympics."
"Are you participating for your son?" Dai Li continued to ask.
"Yes. His condition is well controlled, but he still needs to take medicine. Once he stops taking medicine, his condition will worsen within a few months. Those medicines are very expensive." Kpanova was very honest. replied.
Dai Li let out a long sigh, and sighed in his heart, how pitiful the hearts of parents in the world are!
Kpanova on the opposite side continued: "Coach Li, I know that your place is the best physical training center in the world. There are many older athletes who have regained their youthful form after your training. , so I hope to participate in your Olympic training camp. But I may not be able to afford the training fee. If possible, can you let me pay the training fee in installments..."
…
Dai Li has more respect for Kpanova.
Kopanova is a legendary athlete in women's gymnastics and one of the athletes who has participated in the most Olympic Games. If she also chooses to participate in this Olympics, then the word "one" can be removed.
What an incredible thing it is for a female gymnast to participate in seven Olympic Games!
Kpanova was an athlete in the Soviet era. Before the Soviet Union collapsed, she represented the former Soviet Union in the World Gymnastics Championships.
In the Olympic Games after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the CIS countries at that time formed a team. Kpanova participated in that Olympic Games as an athlete from the CIS and won the Olympic gold medal. Four years later she represented her native Uzbekistan in her third Olympic Games before retiring.
However, misfortune befell Kpanova. Her son Ben was diagnosed with leukemia. Anyone who has watched "I'm Not the God of Medicine" knows that with this kind of disease, you can survive with medicine.
The price of the patented special medicine was simply unaffordable to Kpanova, not to mention other treatment costs, so Kpanova chose to come back and participate in the Olympics for the fourth time.
Later, Kpanova became a German citizen because the medical conditions in Germany were much better than those in Uzbekistan. She represented the German team in two Olympic Games. She was 37 years old at that time.
Germany is also a sports powerhouse with a lot of talents in the country. It obviously does not need a 37-year-old female gymnast. In order to continue to treat her son, Kpanova returned to her mother country Uzbekistan again. She will represent Uzbekistan in this Olympic Games. .
This is also her seventh Olympic Games!
This year, she is 41 years old!
A young athlete who has reached retirement age chooses to come back and continue to compete in order to treat his child's illness. This may not be an exception.
But this is women’s gymnastics!
The peak age of this event is between 16 and 20 years old. Many female gymnasts begin to consider retiring when they are over 20 years old, and few can persist until the age of 30.
However, the 41-year-old Kpanova is still competing! In the competition, she had to face a group of opponents who were more than 20 years younger than her.
Is this a miracle
No! This is the greatness of a mother!
…
Li Dai agreed to Kpanova's request and promised her to pay her training fees in installments.
At the same time, Dai Li also deliberately offered an extremely low training price to avoid placing a huge burden on Kpanova.
Dai Li sympathized with Kpanova's experience. Besides his sympathy, he also showed respect for the mother.
But Li Dai also knew that a 41-year-old female gymnast would not be able to achieve very good results even if she entered the Olympic Games.
Women's gymnastics is the most youthful sport among all the sports in the Olympic Games!
For example, in shooting, even a sixty-year-old athlete can still win the championship as long as his eyesight is not dazzled.
For example, in archery, veterans in their 40s and 50s can still win the championship as long as they are accurate.
In table tennis or badminton, there are many athletes who are still world champions in their thirties and forties.
In basketball or football, the peak age is around thirty years old.
Even in track and field or swimming, sports that rely heavily on the body, you are at your strongest around the age of twenty-five.
Only in gymnastics, especially women's gymnastics, 20-year-old athletes are considered senior athletes. It is normal practice for domestic gymnastics teams at all levels to retire as coaches at the age of 21 or 2.
How can a 41-year-old Kopanova compete with a girl of 18 or 19
So Li Dai planned to use an age reduction card for Kpanova.
The limit of the age reduction card is only to reduce the age by twelve years, and the duration is one month.
The Olympic gymnastics competition will definitely take less than a month, so the time for the age reduction card is enough. But after reducing her age by twelve years, Kpanova is still 29 years old, which is far beyond the peak age of female gymnasts.
A 29-year-old female gymnast is also overage.
"It's better to be 29 than 41!" Dai Li comforted himself.
In fact, Dai Li had another idea, which was to directly give tens of thousands of dollars to Kepanova as her son's medical expenses. For Dai Li, tens of thousands of dollars are still available.
However, Li Dai himself rejected this idea.
Because Kepanova is a great mother, she is completely worthy of Dai Li using an age reduction card. What she deserves is respect, not tens of thousands of dollars in charity.
Li Dai even decided that even if Kpanova did not achieve good results in the Olympics, he would give Kpanova a job and hire her as a coach at the training center so that she could pay for her son's treatment.
As a coach in the United States, the salary is definitely much higher than working in Uzbekistan.
It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish.
…
The quadrennial Olympic Games has kicked off again.
This time, Li Dai did not participate in the Olympics as a head coach, but he was not a bystander, because more than 200 of the athletes competing in this Olympics were clients of the Li Dai Training Center.
Gymnastics is a competitive event that started relatively early, and vaulting is a very important event in gymnastics.
Vaulting has been a competition event since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It is considered a competition event with a relatively long history in modern sports. In recent years, women's vaulting has begun to use more and more men's movements, which makes women's vaulting more and more exciting.
The vaulting competition in the Olympic Games is obviously the highest level vaulting competition in the world, and it is also the most entertaining vaulting competition. Especially in the women's vault finals, the athletes' strength is extraordinary. Very few people do moves with a difficulty coefficient below 6.0. Highly difficult moves with a difficulty coefficient of 6.4 are also common.
Today's women's vault final is also full of stars, such as Russian athlete Natalia, the defending champion of this event, and seven-time Olympic veteran and "mom-level" player, 41-year-old Kpanova.
However, the one who received the most attention was American player Simons.
Simmons is a black athlete. The 19-year-old only appeared on the adult team three years ago. However, it only took her three years to win ten gold medals in the World Gymnastics Championships, surpassing the "Queen of Gymnastics" of Russia and the "Princess of Gymnastics" of the United States, becoming the athlete with the most gold medals in the World Championships in the history of women's gymnastics.
And considering that Simmons is only 19 years old, it is obviously a matter of course that she can compete for at least three more years and win more World Championship gold medals.
Simmons is also an all-around fighter. She is the first athlete in the history of women's gymnastics to win three consecutive all-around titles at the World Championships. There is no doubt that such results mean that she is the superstar of gymnastics in this era and the ruler of women's gymnastics!
However, Simmons, the all-around king, is best at vaulting!
Most ordinary people think that the balance beam is the most difficult event in women's gymnastics. It is such a thin wooden stick that it is difficult for ordinary people to maintain balance when standing on it, but athletes have to perform various difficult movements on it, which is more like performing acrobatics.
But in fact, for professional athletes, vaulting is the most difficult gymnastics event. Because the vault requires a complete set of coherent movements to be completed the moment after taking off, unlike the balance beam or uneven bars, there is a buffer of preparation time before completing the set of movements.
In any sport, when it comes to technical movements, coherent movements are more difficult than single movements.
The higher the level of competition, the more difficult the vault becomes. Although there is only a difficulty factor of 0.2 between a vault with a difficulty coefficient of 5.8 and a vault with a difficulty coefficient of 6.0, the actual completion is completely different.
As far as the United States is concerned, it has maintained the world's top gymnastics level for decades, but in more than a hundred years of Olympic history, the American team has never won a gold medal in the women's vault.
Today, Simmons will become the first person in American history to win an Olympic gold medal in women's vault.
…
The first person to appear was a 16-year-old Canadian. She had never participated in the World Championships or the Olympic Games before. This was her first appearance on the stage of a world-class competition. For her, being able to advance to the finals is already a perfect performance.
The Canadian teenager's strength is also quite good. He chose a technical move with a difficulty coefficient of 6.0 for the first jump and obtained a completion score of 8.766. For the second jump, he chose a technical move with a difficulty coefficient of 6.3 and obtained a completion score of 8.666. of completion points.
In the vaulting competition, an athlete needs to jump twice in a row, and the technical movements of the two times cannot be the same. Before taking off, athletes need to tell the referee their actions to determine the difficulty of the action before starting the competition.
The difficulty score plus the athlete's completion score, and then subtracting the deduction points for errors, is the athlete's score for this trial jump. The scores of the two trial jumps are added and divided by two, and the average score is the athlete's total score.
Take the first Canadian athlete on the stage as an example. The difficulty score of his first move is 6.0 and the completion score is 8.766. Then his total score for this move is 14.766. The difficulty coefficient of the second action increased by 0.3 points, while the completion score decreased by 0.1 points, so his score for the second action was 14.966 points.
If the athlete makes a mistake when completing the movement, the points for the mistake will be deducted from the calculation of the score. For example, if you step out of bounds when landing, according to the rules, 0.1 points will be deducted for this set of actions.
For the first time he participated in an international competition, and it was also an Olympic final, this Canadian teenager's performance can be said to be perfect. However, in the world's top competition, the technical moves with difficulty coefficients of 6.0 and 6.3, even It is impossible to win the championship even if you perform perfectly, and it is even difficult to win a medal.
As expected, the players who appeared later had very high difficulty selections and excellent completion scores. The scores of the players also exceeded 15 points, or even exceeded 15.5 points.
As masters came on stage one after another, the competition also entered a fierce stage.
The last women’s vault champion, Russia’s Natalia, made her first jump and directly chose the technical movement of back handspring-straight back somersault 900 degrees. The difficulty level of this set of movements is 6.3.
The strength of the defending champion cannot be underestimated. She scored a high completion score of 9.250 points, and the total score for this set of moves was 15.550.
In the subsequent second jump, Natalia increased the difficulty. She chose a 180-degree backhand flip and a 540-degree straight forward somersault with a difficulty coefficient of 6.5. This is a very difficult set of moves. Ordinary professional players simply don't have the strength to challenge it. The difficulty coefficient of 6.5 is also the highest difficulty coefficient among today's Olympic finals.
With this jump, Natalia scored a high score of 15.750, and her ranking jumped to first place. And the score of 15.650 is difficult to surpass.
Many people at the scene felt that Natalya's successful defense of the title was still a close call.
…
It's Simmons' turn.
Natalia's high score of 15.650 really made Simmons feel the pressure.
Her first set of moves was also a back handspring with a difficulty level of 6.3 - a straight back somersault 900 degrees, which was the same technical move Natalia chose just now.
Then, Simmons used his strength to tell Natalya that there is no harm without comparison.
The same is a back handspring - straight back somersault 900 degrees, Natalia's completion score is 9.250 points, while Simmons's completion score is an astonishing 9.6 points!
A full 0.35 points more!
This is the difference in strength.
The first jump was a terrifying 15.9 points. This score is worthy of the title of "the strongest in the world"!
And a 0.35-point lead is almost irreversible in this level of competition.
Everyone believes that the Olympic gold medal in women's vault has fallen into Simmons' bag.
With a 0.35-point lead, Simmons could have chosen a slightly less difficult move for his second jump.
Natalya's second choice was a technical move with a difficulty score of 6.5 points, so Simmons chose an move with a difficulty score of 6.2 or above to complete the surpass more safely.
With the entire audience watching, Simmons told the referee his next move.
The referee was slightly stunned, then discussed for a long time and finally decided.
180 degree - straight front somersault flip 720 degrees, difficulty coefficient 6.4, and this is a new action, and it was Simmons himself who released this action.
If Simmons completes this trial jump, then this set of technical moves will also have the opportunity to be named after Simmons!
Simmons took a deep breath and started a quick run-up, taking off and flying into the air. The height of the flight was perfect, and the posture in the air was comparable to art!
With both feet on the ground, Simmons used a steady tactic, then puffed out his chest and raised his hands high to end the set of actions.
Impeccable finish!
The referee finally gave a super high completion score of 9.633 points, plus a difficulty score of 6.4 points. Simmons's second jump score was 16.033 points!
An incredible score!
In the vaulting sport, scores exceeding 16 points should appear in the men's vaulting arena.
However, Simmons, a female athlete, has achieved results similar to those of male athletes!
Even the TV station's commentator couldn't help but say: "The competition is over. We can congratulate Simmons in advance for winning the Olympic women's vault championship!"
However, at this time, there is still one player who has not appeared.
That is the 41-year-old veteran Kpanova participating in the Olympics for the seventh time!
…
Kpanova knew what kind of opponent she was facing.
She entered the international arena at the age of fourteen. During her 27-year career, she has seen too many top athletes.
When the Russian "Queen of Gymnastics" first debuted, Kopanova was the world champion. When the "Queen of Gymnastics" retired, Kopanova was still competing; then the American "Gymnastics Princess" took over the Russian "Gymnastics Queen" In the position of "Queen", Kpanova still retired the "Princess of Gymnastics".
It can be said that Kopanova has witnessed the rise and fall of women's gymnastics in the past thirty years as a witness, witnessed the rise of each king, and then witnessed their transition.
Today, there is another king of women's gymnastics, Simmons, a person who is stronger than the "Queen of Gymnastics" and "Princess of Gymnastics" back then.
Kpanova herself had to admit that Simmons, a black girl half the size of her son, was indeed the most talented female gymnast she had ever seen.
Kpanova also knows that even at her peak, she may not be Simmons's opponent, and now that she is 41 years old, this is almost a battle of egg against stone.
But Kpanova still stood on the court. For her son, she had to fight again.
Kpanova reported to the referee the action she was about to complete, which was a front handspring-body pinch somersault 360 degrees, with a difficulty level of 6.4.
This was originally a set of movements for men's vaulting. Because it was too difficult, no female athletes could complete this set of movements.
The first person to use this set of movements was Kpanova herself. This set of movements is also a vault named after the first set of Kpanova.
Twenty years ago, Kpanova won the World Championships with this set of technical moves. This is her signature move. For her, this is a familiar set of moves that cannot be more familiar.
Run-up, take-off, and soaring into the air, Kpanova successfully completed this familiar set of technical movements without making any mistakes!
The finishing score was 9.30, which is a very high finishing score, even surpassing that of Russian player Natalia.
Perhaps in terms of completion, Kpanova is not perfect, but with the aura of "a 41-year-old mother who insists on participating in the competition to treat her son's illness", the referee will give a few tenths more points.
With a difficulty score of 6.4 and a completion score of 9.3, Kpanova’s total score was 15.7. This is an excellent score!
But it was far from enough to win the championship, because American player Simmons' first jump was 15.9 points, compared with which Kpanova was still 0.2 points behind.
More importantly, Simmons' second jump score was 16.033 points, which was so incredible that it was impossible to surpass!
Kpanova took a deep breath. Of course she knew that it would be almost impossible to catch up with the 0.2-point gap. If she wants to win the championship, she must score more than 16.233 points in her second jump, so that she can beat Simmons in total points.
Even among male athletes, a score of 16.233 is a high score. A female vaulter’s score of 16.233? It’s just a joke!
But Kpanova has no retreat. For her, winning the gold medal will mean she can get more national bonuses, which are her son's medical expenses and his son's life!
Originally, Kpanova planned to choose a front handspring-straight forward somersault 540 degrees in the second jump. This is also a technical move with a difficulty coefficient of 6.4, and it is also the first time Kpanova uses it. It is also based on her A named technical move.
Kopanova has also practiced this set of movements for more than ten years, and is also extremely familiar with it. She is confident that she can complete it very well.
But it is impossible to get a high score of 16.233 points with this set of actions!
The technical difficulty is 6.4. If you want to get 16.233 points, you must have a completion score of 9.833 points.
No one can do this! Even if he recognized the referee as his father on the spot, it would be impossible to get a completion score of 9.833!
Kpanova has been cornered.
The next second, a decisive expression appeared on her face.
Then, she reported her second jump technique to the referee.
"Front handspring - double front somersault!"
The referee was stunned for ten seconds. He felt that he must have heard wrongly.
"Can you repeat it?" the referee asked.
"Front handspring - double front somersault!" Kpanova answered.
"Are you sure? It's a front handspring - a double front somersault!" The referee had an incredible expression on his face.
"Yes!" Kepanova nodded seriously.
If it were a new athlete, the referee might think that the athlete got the name of the move wrong, but the Kpanova in front of him is several years older than the referee himself, and she has spent more time practicing gymnastics than the referee spent as an athlete and referee. If it is long, you will definitely not get the name of the technical move wrong.
The referee opened his mouth, trying to persuade Kpanova, but as he spoke, he remembered his duty. Then he sighed helplessly and passed Kpanova's choice to the referee team at high speed.
…
The technical difficulty of Kpanova's jump was displayed on the big screen at the scene.
7.0!
Women's vault, difficulty technique 7.0!
In front of the TV, Dai Li, who was watching the live broadcast of the game, opened his eyes wide.
Although he is not a gymnast, he still knows what the movements with a difficulty level of 7.0 mean!
At this moment, a set of moves suddenly appeared in Dai Li's mind. It was recognized as the most difficult and dangerous gymnastics move in the world, whether for men or women.
And this set of actions also has a nickname, that is "Death Jump"!
…
Front handspring - a double front somersault, the most difficult set of moves in the history of women's vaulting.
The mounting movement of the front handspring is already relatively difficult. Before the 1990s, the mounting movement of the front handspring was only a specialty of male athletes. The focus of this technique is the second airborne. If the second airborne effect is not good, subsequent movements will be difficult. Very difficult to complete.
A front handspring followed by a front somersault is also a challenge. More importantly, it requires a forward somersault, and it takes two weeks.
When a person is flying in the air, whether in a straight body or a bent body, it is easier to master the balance than in a tuck body. When the tuck body is flipped, the whole person is like a cannonball, with high speed, poor balance and difficulty in control. If you are not careful at all, your whole body will hit the ground like a ball.
Therefore, this set of actions is very dangerous. Since the day it appeared, some people in the gymnastics community have called for the cancellation of this set of actions. There have been many top athletes in the world who wanted to use this set of movements, but they were all rejected by coaches.
This set of actions has only been completed by five people in history, and Kpanova is one of them.
It's just that when she completed this set of moves, she was only 28 years old, and this year she is 41 years old!
…
The audience at the scene has already seen the difficulty coefficient of 7.0.
Those who know how to do it will immediately understand that Kopanova chose the "death jump" of a front handspring and a double front somersault.
"Is she crazy? She chose to jump to death!"
"Oh my God, has she forgotten that she is 41 years old?"
"Fight, Kpanova is trying her best!"
There seemed to be a commotion in the audience. No one could have imagined that the 41-year-old Kpanova actually chose the front handspring-twin front somersault, a set of technical moves with a difficulty coefficient of 7.0.
"Why? Why did she choose this set of moves? Just for the gold medal?" Simmons' eyes widened. She knew that Kpanova would never be able to catch up with her leading score, unless she chose such a top-notch Only with difficult technical movements can one surpass oneself by relying on difficulty points.
But Simmons didn't understand why Kpanova was working so hard!
This is not a competition, but a struggle!
Even if it is for an Olympic gold medal, there is no need to risk your life!
Simmons was raised by her grandmother. She had almost no maternal love when she was young, so she could not understand Kpanova's mood.
In order for her son to live, Kepanova is willing to fight to the death!
Everyone's eyes were focused on Kepanova. People who knew Kepanova's experience could feel at this time that this petite woman in front of them was so great!
Standing on the court, Paknova's identity is no longer an athlete, but a mother!
…
The camera at the scene gave a close-up of Kpanova's face. At this time, she was looking forward with determination on her face.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
In the audience, some people couldn't help but start clapping their hands rhythmically. Immediately afterwards, this rhythm of clapping quickly resounded throughout the audience like an infectious disease.
On the other side, the men's pommel horse competition that was going on at the same time had stopped, and their eyes were focused here.
On the referee's bench, a female referee could not help but stand up and looked at Kpanova with tears in her eyes. She is also a mother and she knows what happened to Kpanova, so she can understand her decision.
Someone made a gesture of prayer to God. They prayed for Kpanova, hoping that she could succeed.
But at this time, Kpanova seemed to be completely unaware of everything around her.
She thought of her son. In her memory, he was always smiling at her. Even when he was lying on the hospital bed after undergoing chemotherapy and enduring great pain, he would still smile at her!
Kepanova knew that that smile was exactly what she was willing to protect with her life.
During the approach, she got on the horse with a front handspring, then turned around and did a double front somersault. When she landed, Kpanova still couldn't control herself and took a small step forward.
In this jump, Kpanova used all her strength to complete the entire set of movements. Although it was not perfect, she made no mistakes!
She completed the death jump with a difficulty level of 7.0!
When Kpanova landed, there was no joy in her heart. She was more nervous.
She must get a score of 16.233, excluding the difficulty score of 7.0, and she must reach a completion score of 9.233.
So Kpanova immediately looked at the big screen, anxious, uneasy, and nervous, all written on her face.
The camera also focused on Simmons in the audience. She seemed very calm. She felt that it would be good if Kpanova could get a completion score of 9 points for this set of moves.
The next second, Kpanova's results appeared on the big screen.
Difficulty score: 7.0.
Completion score: 9.333.
Total score: 16.333!
Kpanova wins!
…
"Why? How come there is such a high completion score!" Simmons looked at the big screen in disbelief. In her opinion, Kpanova's jump did not deserve such a high completion score.
But the coach of the American team patted Simmons on the shoulder and comforted him: "Kid, you actually didn't lose this game!"
Simmons looked at the coach with a puzzled look. She didn't quite understand what the coach meant.
The coach looked at Kpanova who was holding her arms and crying, and then said: "You didn't lose to strength, but you lost to a mother!"