Dai Li walked over to the judges.
"Hi, I'm the coach for Tsinghua University. I'm wondering, the candidate Yue Zhao in Group K, is he the one who joined the national team before?" Dai Li asked.
Dai Li was playing dumb. He knew Yue Zhao had been on the national team, but he wanted to hint at it by asking questions.
The judge laughed. "You are from Tsinghua University? No wonder you asked. Your school is famous for sprinting, and Yue Zhao will be a difficult opponent for you! If Yue Zhao was not here, Guohong Niu would win the gold medal without a doubt."
Dai Li blinked his eyes awkwardly. The judge continued, "Yue Zhao used to be on the national team, but he does not violate any of our rules."
Dai Li had a confused look on his face. "According to the rules, any athlete who has been in national competitions is not allowed the sign up for the university games. Does that mean that Yue Zhao never attended a national track and field competition, not even once?"
Competitions like the national track and field competition invited numerous athletes from all over the nation. As an excellent athlete on the national team, Yue Zhao couldn't have missed the opportunity to go to the national track and field competition.
The judge explained, "Yue Zhao's case is quite special. He was on national team, yes; but two years ago he retired due to illness, and the national team erased his name from their list."
"Yue Zhao is so young, how could he have retired due to illness?" Dai Li didn't understand, so he asked, "Can a retired athlete can join this game?"
"Retirement is one reason. But, more importantly, Yue Zhao hasn't competed in any official games in the last two years, and we can't find any record of him doing so. His name is not even in the athlete query system.
"Yue Zhao is now a graduate student in Nandu University, and has enrolled in the Joint Secretariat of the Student Sports Association of the Ministry of Education. In addition, he is currently 26 years old, which meets the 18-28 years old age criteria. To sum things up, he is qualified in every aspect."
Dai Li finally understood after the explanation. The University Games were held by the Ministry of Education. The General Administration of Sports was also involved, but they were not the one who made the decisions. Therefore, only the Ministry of Education had the right to decide who could be in the games.
To the Ministry of Education, Yue Zhao was no longer an active athlete, and his name was no longer on the General Administration of Sports' name list. Because of this, he was able to join the competition.
The duties of the National General Administration of Sports actually covered the entire sports industry, including competitive sports, teenage sports, exercises for everyone, etc.—all except for student sports. The reason for this was because affairs related to universities were handled by the Ministry of Education, which included sports. The Ministry of Education had even built a student sports association.
The Ministry of Education wouldn't give up their rights to the General Administration of Sports. The University Games had ruled top athletes out of the competition to make the boundaries clear, this way the Administration of Sports wouldn't interfere with the university students' sports affairs.
When I left the Beikou Training Center, Yue Zhao was still on the national team. That means that when he retired I had already left Beikou. I remember that he was around 23 at the time—a track and field athlete's prime. Yue Zhao must have had a serious illness, otherwise he wouldn't have chosen to retire.
Thinking of this, Dai Li looked at the training field. Group J had finished their competition, and Group K was about to start theirs. Yue Zhao was already on the track.
Not practicing for two years is a disaster for any professional athlete! Yue Zhao was at the top of the national team two years ago. I wonder how good his performance is now. Dai Li stared at the training field. He wanted to observe Zhao Yue's performance.
The race began. Yue Zhao wasn't the fastest in the beginning, but when the athletes reached the 30-meter mark, his real ability showed. It took him little effort to get out front and get first place in his group.
Yue Zhao didn't try his best. Dai Li shook his head. He couldn't tell what Yue Zhao's real ability was based off this first round competition alone.
Looks like I'll have to rely on my detector. Dai Li stepped forward and detected Yue Zhao's speed.
B-level talent, just like Guohong Niu. No wonder he was doing well on the national team. However, Yue Zhao's current level is almost 600, which is a lot higher than Guohong Niu's. This is the result of being trained by the national team. Dai Li looked serious.
Yue Zhao and Guohong Niu were both B-level talent, but Yue Zhao had been an excellent member of the national team, and had been under the best training for a long time. This would surely make him perform much better than Guohong Niu.
This is not Yue Zhao's best. If he can stay at the Beikou Training Center, his resting talent level should be around 700. It seems that the retirement has had a bad effect on him. Yue Zhao had good technique and a ton of experience. He will surely be more confident and stable when it comes to big competitions.
Dai Li thought about this for a while, and ultimately realized that Guohong Niu did not have any advantage over Yue Zhao.
With the help of the explosive force halo and confidence, will Guohong Niu be able to have a better performance in the competition? Dai Li thought.
After the first round of the 100m sprint, the judging committee divided the candidates into new groups. Dai Li received the name list for the second round as soon as it was released.
In the second round, Guohong Niu will be in Group B; Sijie Yang, Group C; and Xiaotian Xin is in Group E, the same group as Yue Zhao. Yue Zhao and Xiaotian Xin are in the same group! This is not good. I have to encourage Xiaotian Xin and get him to try his very best. It will be embarrassing if he fails this round. Dai Li called Xiaotian Xin over and conversed with him in a low voice.
Meanwhile, Coach Wu, the coach of the Nandu University sprinting team, also received the new name list for the second round.
"Yue Zhao, you have an athlete from Tsinghua University in your group," Coach Wu said.
"Oh." Yue Zhao didn't bother to raise his head, continuing to play with his phone. He had paid zero attention to what Coach Wu had just said.
Yue Zhao had once been a top athlete, so he assumed these student athletes were all too lame to worry about. He was confident that he could use a bit of his skill to.
Coach Wu continued, "You have to pay attention to the next round. Tsinghua University is different from other universities. Although they don't have a specialized sports department, their athletes are much better than students from other schools. Many of the athletes in Tsinghua University are qualified to go to the national team."
When Yue Zhao heard "National Team," he finally raised his head. He looked in the direction of where the Tsinghua University athletes were, his eyes stopping on Dai Li.
"That guy looks so familiar. I feel like I've seen him before," Yue Zhao said quietly.
It had been three years since Dai Li had been to the Beikou Training Center, and Dai Li had only hung out with Feixiang Lin. That was why Yue Zhao did not recognize Dai Li immediately. He had only thought Dai Li looked familiar.
"What? You know each other?" Coach Wu looked at Dai Li and continued, "From what I know, Tsinghua University has invited coaches from the national team to train their athletes. I assume that young coach is one of them. He looks really young!"
No wonder he looked familiar. He is from the national team! I must have seen him before. There was a hateful expression in Yue Zhao's eyes.
Beating him is like beating the National Team!