Chapter 531: 531
It was the seventh day of track and field events at the Olympics .
The American team was likely to win gold medals in the men's shot put, the men's 400m hurdles, the women's 400m hurdles, the men's decathlon, and the men's 200m dash . Additionally, the preliminary round of the 4x100m relay race was also held this day .
Considering the strength of American team, as long as they didn't drop the relay baton, they'd get through this preliminary round easily .
Actually, Dai Li was known for his practice he called continuous iron chain, which strengthened the cooperation of players on a team . Dai Li use this to successfully help the national team win the championship of the 4x100m relay race in the Asian Games .
With the aid of the continuous iron chain, the American players cooperated with each other very well and successfully advanced to the final .
After the end of the relay race, the day's first track and field final took place, the men's 400m hurdles .
Since the boom of track and field sports in the 1980s, America dominated this event and continuously won several Olympic championships in the 400m hurdles .
The American team was powerful in this event because they had a group of excellent athletes . In fact, this was a difficult event and many athletes who ran the 400m hurdles changed from the 400m dash . Therefore, sometimes athletes from the 400m hurdles could act as substitutes in 4x400m relay race .
The American team had the most 400m dash athletes as well as 400m hurdles athletes . It was known that quantity often led to success . When there were many athletes engaged in a certain sport, more of them would be talents . The average talent level of American athletes was world-class .
However, in today's final of the men's 400m dash, the person who was thought to win the gold medal was a typical American but a naturalized one .
. . .
"Klett, you look nervous . Guess the finals in the Olympics is different from those common events . Considering your experience, I didn't expect you would be so nervous!" said Dai Li with a smile .
"I'm sorry, coach . I'm a little nervous . I will try to adjust," said Klett . "After all, this is my first time representing the American team . "
Klett was a 31-year old black athlete . He was representing the American team in the 400m hurdles .
He was born in Trinidad and Tobago, a small country along the Caribbean Sea . The people of this country loved sports and there were many excellent athletes; Klett was one of them .
At first, Klett attended events as an athlete for Trinidad and Tobago . He had many outstanding performances at the World Championship in Athletics, the IAAF Grand Prix and Diamond League, and the Olympic Games . However, at that time he was a Trinidad and Tobago athlete .
Later, he was naturalized into the U . S . and became an American athlete . This caused him to miss the last Olympic Games . According to the rules of I . O . C . , after changing nationality, an athlete may not represent the state in any games for three years .
In this Olympic Games, Klett benefited from the drug scandal . In the beginning, he came in third place in the qualification trial . However, both the first place and the second place withdrew from the competition due to the drug scandal . So, the last one suddenly became the first one, shouldering the task of winning the gold medal for the American team .
Dai Li was very optimistic about Klett, who was very hard-working and self-disciplined .
Dai Li knew Klett must have worked hard to stand out as he did . The 400m hurdles was the strongest event for the American team, and he was not an American-born athlete .
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Klett was different from the champion of the pole vault, Muller . Although Muller was born in Germany, he came to America with his parents when he was very young . He lived in the United States, was educated according to the country's standards, and grew up in America . He was influenced by the culture and he integrated into the United States . Besides, being Germanic, he was accepted by Americans more easily .
However, Klett was a naturalized athlete . He couldn't integrate into American culture so easily because he didn't grow up there . Above all, he was black . This part of his identity was a barrier to his acceptance in the predominantly white country .
Therefore, for Klett to achieve the success he had, he must have worked harder than any other American .
Dai Li was not an American, so he could understand Klett's eagerness to be part of America . When Dai Li wanted to run a training center in America, no one trusted him and Americans didn't believe in his ability as a coach because he was Chinese . Later, Dai Li proved himself . as he accomplished great things . Now, he had won his place in Los Angeles .
Obviously, Klett couldn't be as almighty as Dai Li . For Klett, his biggest issue was his identity . Dai Li had to untangle this knot in Klett's mind as much as he could .
Dai Li asked, "Klett, you trained according to the plans I made for you, right?"
"Of course . Coach, I finished all the training you arranged for me . I took it very seriously . " Klett nodded, but he didn't understand why Dai Li had asked him this question .
"Why did you follow my instructions?" asked Dai Li .
"You are my coach!" Klett answered .
"Did you doubt my training?" Dai Li asked again .
"You are the head coach . Why should I doubt you? Besides, the training plan you arranged for me was excellent . It completely solved my problems . " Klett had no idea what the coach was getting at .
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"Very good . " Dai Li nodded and continued, "Look, I'm the head coach of the American team and I lead the entire U . S . track and field team . All the members of this team obey me and no one opposes, or even questions, me . I am the head coach, and I lead this team with supreme authority .
"However, I am not an American . Why do you choose to obey me? It's because I have the ability to lead . I have abilities that you can trust!"
He patted Klett on his shoulder and went on . "Klett, I know what you are worried about, so I hope you understand what I'm saying . People will only accept you based on your talent . In sports, especially in the Olympic Games, people only accept that gold medal!
"Therefore, you don't have to think or worry too much . Look at the finish line . You just need to cross that line first . Get that gold medal and you are a hero of America!"
Klett nodded as he realized something . "Coach Li, I see . I know what to do . "
Dai Li was satisfied with Klett, who had enough experience with competitions and enough strength, would have a high probability of winning if that mental knot in his head was untangled .
In fact, Klett didn't let Dai Li down . In the competition, he didn't perform well to start, but he got better . In the end, Klett won the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 47 . 70s .
After the event ended, there was the usual break in the track and field events . In the evening, the first event was the final of the men's shot put .
Both Russia and Poland were powerful in this event, but the top two men's shot-putters in the world were Americans .
America had never been short of strong men . In this Olympic Games, the shot-putters were two talented men: Divac, the winner of the World Championship in Athletics, and Luther, the best in the world at the moment .
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The world record in shot put was 23 . 12m and the Olympic record was 22 . 47m . Both Divac and Luther got over 22 . 50m in other games, which meant that both of them had the ability to break the Olympic record .
Besides, both of them were young . Divac was 24 years old and Luther was 23 . For male shot-putters, they had potential . Many sports commentators thought that one of them could break the world record .
For the American team, this gold medal was expected . Nothing happened out of the ordinary . Luther won the championship with 22 . 52m and broke the Olympic record, while Divac won the second prize with 22 . 18m .
On the seventh day of the Olympic Games, the first two gold medals went to the United States .
At the end of the men's shot put, there came the final in women's javelin . However, no American players had qualified for the final in this event .
During the women's javelin, Dai Li focused on the track, where the last event of the men's decathlon, the 1500m run, was beginning .
American players took first and the second place in this event in the last Olympic Games . After the javelins, the ninth event in the Olympics, American players held first place securely, with a score of more than 7500 points, which was 70 points more than the second place .
Therefore, in this last event, the 1500m run, they didn't have to get the first place or even rank among the top . They could win the championship if he didn't fall too much behind the second place athlete .
This American athlete didn't let Dai Li down . Although he only came in eighth place in the 1500m run, he was still number one on the scoreboard and finally won the gold medal in the men's decathlon .
The next event was the final in the women's 400m hurdles . Although the Jamaican team had three players in the final, they couldn't compete with America and Russia . At last, the American team won the gold and bronze medals, while the Russian team won the silver .
There were five gold medals in that day's track and field events so far . The American team had won four of them, which was a considerably good harvest .
Now there was only one event left that day, the men's 200m dash .Please download our sponsor's game to support us!