Chapter 517: 517
The U . S . national team had one a gold medal and Dai slept peacefully .
The next morning, Dai Li arrived at Maracana Stadium .
The first event was the qualifier for the women's triple jump . It began at half past nine in the morning .
In this event, the competition was tight . European, as well as North and South American countries, all had athletes with a shot at the gold medal . As such, the U . S . wasn't definitely going to win .
In the end, one American athlete made it into the final . Her name was Mamina Kim . She was only 20 years old . She was one of the athletes who did not have the chance to take part in any competitions before being scouted by Dai Li .
As Dai Li saw Mamina Kim make the final, he decided that he would continue using the state scale in the final .
The event that followed was the preliminaries of the women's 3,000m obstacle course .
The obstacle course was an event that the U . S . team was historically good at . However, this was almost a long-distance run and there were obstacles to overcome, so the stamina expended was around the same as the stamina expended in a 5,000m race . The two African powerhouses, Kenya and Ethiopia, were also influential in this sort of long-distance sport . Those two countries were the U . S . team's chief opponents .
There was a total of 18 slots available for the final of the 3,000m obstacle course . As such, it wasn't that hard to make it into the final . In the end, all three athletes from the U . S . team advanced . However, all three athletes from both Ethiopia and Kenya also made it . Apart from that, Germany and Australia both had two athletes advancing through to the final . Among the Asian countries, only an African athlete from Bahrain made it into the final .
After that, the event that used the track was the first round of the women's 400m sprint . It was an event the Americans dominated . It was possible that they take home the gold, silver, and bronze medals . Getting through the first round was a given .
The field event happening at the same time was the men's discus . All American athletes were eliminated in the preliminaries, so Dai Li did not pay attention to the final result of the competition .
The last track and field event of the morning was the first round of the men's 100m sprint . The 100m sprint had always been one of the most popular events . It was also one of the events with the most contestants . Among the contestants, around one-third of them were considered B standard athletes . They would definitely be eliminated in the first round . Another third of the athletes had just reached the Olympic A standard . These athletes were also there to simply take part in the competition; they would be thankful if they made it to the second round .
American athletes were naturally there to win, especially Justin Alexander . Before he was banned, he was the world's second fastest man . For him and all the American athletes, the first round was a warmup .
No track and field event was scheduled in the afternoon . In the evening, the preliminary of the men's pole vault and the semi-final of the men's 400m sprint began almost at the same time .
The men's 400m sprint was one of the best events for the U . S . team . They had the "King of the 400m," Jimmy Irwin, with them . The gold medal was as good as won by the U . S . team . The only unknown was whether the U . S . team would be able to take all three medals .
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Franz Muller was to make his appearance in the preliminary round of the men's pole vault . Although the German fellow did not take part in the qualifiers, his talent potential was S grade . Under Dai Li's training, he quickly passed the six-meter mark .
The world record for men's pole vault was 6 . 16m and the Olympic record was only 5 . 97m . A result of over six meters was enough to become an Olympic gold medalist .
Franz Muller did not let Dai Li down . He was the only one from the U . S . team to make it into the final .
The other countries were in a similar situations . For example, the traditionally strong Russian team also only had one athlete going into the final . Another country, Germany, of similar strength also only had one representative in the final . Apart from that, Czech Republic, France, Poland, and etc . all had only one athlete making it into the final . The complete list of the 12 finalists was a list of athletes from 12 different countries . That meant that no single country had an absolute advantage in this event, everyone's strength was equal .
The event that followed was the final of the men's long jump competition . It was an event that the U . S . team had a chance at winning . Three American representatives made it into the final .
. . .
The long jump event was affected by the drug scandal . Several famous long jump athletes weren't able to participate in the current Olympic Games .
However, there were a lot of reputable long jump athletes in the U . S . Even if they were replacement athletes, they still had world-class strength . Paired with Dai Li's training, their strength was on another level .
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Moreover, Dai Li had the state scale . For sports like the long jump that recorded only the best jump out of multiple attempts, the state scale was an essential power .
Dai Li was not disappointed . After the first jump, one of the American athletes triggered a lousy condition, achieving a result of no more than 7 . 5m . The other two athletes triggered the incredible conditions, obtaining results of 8 . 38m and 8 . 37m respectively .
The world record for the men's long jump was 8 . 95m . The Olympic record was 8 . 90m . However, those crazy results were the byproduct of the golden era of track and field records in the 1980s and 1990s . It was difficult for modern athletes to jump even 8 . 50m . A jump that passed the 8 . 30m mark would ensure first place in a typical international competition .
In the Olympic Games and the World Championship, the level of the athletes was undoubtedly higher than a normal international competition . However, an 8 . 30m jump was still an impressive feat .
One 8 . 38m and another 8 . 37m . For the athletes from other countries, these results were two critical blows to their chest . Even if they survived, they received severe internal injuries . The weaker athletes probably thought of quitting when they saw those results .
Great athletes also felt a twinge of bitterness when they saw umps that were close to 8 . 40m . Everyone participated with the gold medal as their target . If they could not win the gold medal, the silver medal was a good alternative . Now, the gold and silver medal were already almost out of reach . For the athletes who aimed for gold, it was a very tough pill to swallow .
With the Americans obtaining two excellent results right off the bat, the contestants from the other countries would have to utilize extreme techniques in their next five jumps . It was impossible for them to surpass those two jumps if they played it safe . There was additional pressure on these athletes because using extreme techniques mean increasing your likelihood of failing .
The athletes from other countries had no choice, they had to give it their all . Some of them would succeed and some of them would fail .
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After three rounds, the best result was still the record set by the American athlete at 8 . 38m . The second-best result was the 8 . 37m set by the other American athlete . The third-ranked result was also from an American athlete, set at 8 . 31m . The American athlete who didn't even make it to the 7 . 5m mark in the first round finally triggered a maximum condition on his third attempt, improving his result to 8 . 31m .
With that, the gold, silver, and bronze medals seemed to disappear from any other athletes
. . .
The famous long jumper from Great Britain, Rutherford, stared at the scoreboard in despair . He had just recorded an 8 . 33m jump, sending the previously third-ranked American into fourth place .
However, that American athlete immediately made a leap of 8 . 39m, leapfrogging everyone into first place .
Rutherford was brought more despair when the last American athlete to make his attempt achieved a result of 8 . 41m .
Rutherford felt like crying when he saw a jump that went over the 8 . 40m mark .
What's wrong with the U . S . team today? Did they all grow wings? If we continue like this, the Americans will win all of the medals in long jumping . Rutherford felt immense sorrow . He lost all ambition to fight for victory .Please download our sponsor's game to support us!