Zizhao Chuan: The Biggest Sportsman

Chapter 655 The preliminaries of the American team
Faced with the current strength of the Jamaican men's sprint relay team, not only outsiders are beginning to look down on the Chinese team, but even the Chinese team itself is facing a lot of pressure.

The next morning, on the training ground of the Chinese track and field team, Feng Shuyong and coach Mai Shaoqiang also watched the relay players who were warming up, and chatted worriedly.

"It seems that everyone is in a good state today. I hope that everyone can perform well in the game tonight!" Coach Mai Shaoqiang also watched Guo Zizhao leading the players to train on the court, and couldn't help feeling emotional I got up, "Alas... Nowadays, the international track and field world has made great progress in the men's sprint event. We are still complacent about our own progress, but we don't know that others have made greater progress than us!"

"You're right! Wen Yongyi's 10 seconds in the 08-meter semi-finals broke through the 10 mark again. Hu Kai's performance this time was also good, and he happened to run 10 seconds. Here are the results. If it was in the past, they would have had a great chance to enter the finals, but this time, the sides of the finals are not even next to each other!"

Head coach Feng Shuyong also shook his head depressingly, and continued, "In addition to the 400-meter sprint, Xu Ziyu and Liu Xiaosheng also performed poorly in the 110-meter semi-finals, and they both failed Enter the finals! Except for the [-]-meter hurdles, we are already far behind in several other events!"

"Ah... A few years ago, Chen Haijian, Yang Yaozhou, Xu Ziyu and others could occasionally make it to the finals of the World Championships or the Olympics. Although they didn't win medals, they could still show our strength in these events, but In this year’s Olympics, they all ended in the semi-finals!”

After listening to Feng Shuyong's complaints, Coach Mai Shaoqiang could only echo, "Yeah... In this kind of sprint event that competes purely for strength and speed, and for physical fitness, the gap between us and Europeans is still Not small. On the contrary, we still have a bit of an advantage in hurdling events that are more technical. Um... the same is true for relay events! Otherwise, how could we have won so many championships!"

"Yes... the relay event is also our advantage! But the Jamaican team is aggressive this time, and the outside world is not optimistic about us. I just don't know if Guo Zizhao and the others can handle it!"

"Hehe...you have to carry it if you can't bear it! I think Guo Zizhao is full of confidence! Let's see it in tonight's preliminaries. Even if you can't win the gold medal, judging from the current results, at least a silver medal is a running Stop it!"

"The silver medal is not a big problem! It's just that if this is the case, Guo Zizhao has tied with Phelps again this time! Guess Guo Zizhao is not reconciled..."

"It's good not to give in! Haha... Then we have to look at Guo Zizhao's methods! Haha..."

……

At eight o'clock in the evening on August 8st, the men's 21x4m sprint relay preliminaries will officially start soon.

The preliminaries of this relay race were divided into two groups. The US team, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Poland, Brazil and Japan were divided into the first group, while the Chinese team, Jamaica and the United Kingdom Teams such as China, France, Germany and Italy were placed in the second group.

The top three in each group will directly enter the final, and the remaining two groups with the best results will eventually qualify for the final.

Guo Zizhao was quite impressed with the relay race of this Olympic Games in his previous life. In addition to Bolt leading the Jamaica team to break the world record again in this Olympic Games, this relay race is also the first time that the Chinese men's relay team broke into The final round of the world's top competition.

Of course, in addition to the memorable events above, the tragic performance of the US relay team in this Olympic Games has once again become the object of complaints from all over the world.If Guo Zizhao remembers correctly, at the Beijing Olympics in his previous life, the US team suffered an unprecedented defeat in the sprint event.

In addition to failing to win a gold medal in the men's and women's 100-meter and 200-meter sprint events, the U.S. team failed in both the men's and women's 4x100-meter sprint relay races, and even failed to make it to the final.I just don’t know if in this life, the American relay team will repeat the tragic fate of the previous life?

Soon, when the first group of relay athletes came on stage, Guo Zizhao couldn't help but start shaking his head.

Let me go... What kind of players did the US team send this time?The first player Martin, the second player Padgett, the third player Barton, and the fourth player Gay, except Gay who has the world's top strength, the other three are only at the world's first-class level.Spilmont was not on, and Dix was not on!

What Guo Zizhao complained about in particular was that Guy actually ran fourth this time!Damn... You know, since Gay joined the national team, he has always been the third runner on a regular basis!Why did you suddenly switch to running the fourth bat this time?Could it be that Guy is the same as himself, with such an awesome handover technique, he can change whichever one he wants...

In Guo Zizhao's original speculation, the main player of the US team this time should be Spielmon, who is good at corners, the first batter, the second baton to the weaker Patton, and the third batter is still the most comprehensive strength. Yi, the last stick should be handed over to the young player Dix who has performed outstandingly in this Olympic Games!

But now, how did they come up with such a messy relay formation?No wonder the U.S. team in the previous life always dropped bats at every turn. This arrangement is too random!

……

In fact, Guo Zizhao's guess is not wrong.After the Olympic trials for the U.S. team, the main players of the relay team were Spielmon, Patton, Gay and Dix, but something happened later!

Guy was actually injured in the 200-meter final of the trials, and because of repeated injuries, he was unable to participate in the joint relay training during the Olympic preparation period.This time, the American team was in a bit of a dilemma.Your sister...the third player is injured. How can we conduct joint training now?The rest of the contestants are unable to compete with each other...

To be on the safe side, the U.S. team had to temporarily move Gay to the fourth club, so that not only would it not have too much impact on the joint training, but if Gay could not recover in time, it would only be adjusted to the fourth club. Just a substitute player!

Therefore, Gay's fourth run in this preliminaries has actually been arranged for a long time, but the other players have gone through a period of joint training, and Gay's fourth run They only practiced together a few times after arriving in the capital.

In addition, the two substitutes, Martin and Padgett, played in this preliminaries, which can be regarded as an unwritten tradition of the US team.

For a long time, the overall strength of the US team in the men's sprint event has been the strongest. Sometimes, the strength difference between the main relay players and the substitute players is not very big.There was even a period of time when the powerful American team was able to win the championship just by relying on those substitutes!

In this way, it is also a headache for the national team to choose the main players.Moreover, the agency companies behind each team member are also difficult to deal with. Everyone wants their athletes to show their faces in the world's top competitions!
No way, finally, with the joint efforts of the national team and various brokerage companies, the US team has such an unwritten unspoken rule.In the finals, the strongest athletes will naturally be sent, but in the preliminaries, one or two substitute players will also be given a chance to show their faces.

Because in everyone's opinion, just relying on the strength of these substitutes is enough to win medals, let alone participate in a preliminary round!Of course, the initial strength and results of the US team also proved the correctness of everyone's judgment.

But what the U.S. team did not expect is that in the past ten years, due to the strength of the substitutes and the lack of cooperation, the U.S. relay team has frequently made mistakes in handing over the baton or even dropping the baton in top international competitions. The situation!

Especially after the rise of the Chinese team led by Guo Zizhao, the US team has never tasted the men's 2001x4m sprint relay championship in the world's top competitions since the 100 Edmonton World Championships.But even so, the US team has no intention of changing the unspoken rules that have been formed over the past few decades.

After all, the various aspects of interest transactions involved are not so easy to change!

It wasn't until last year's Osaka World Championships that the American relay team led by Gay once again reached the pinnacle of the world, which made all Americans breathe a long sigh of relief.

And now, the U.S. team has brought this tradition to the preliminaries of the Beijing Olympics, but this time, hehe...

(End of this chapter)