Chapter 539
It was another Sunday, the second-to-last day of the Olympics .
The final for the women's high jump was starting on the field .
Two American players had advanced to the finals . One was an experienced 32-year-old athlete named Jennifer and the other was a young athlete named Ayman .
The older athlete was too old, while the younger was too young . This was thought of the entirety of the U . S . team in this Olympic Games . Influenced by the scandal of doping, the most of the American track and field team had not shown up . Therefore, it had to rely on its old athletes who were no longer in their prime and freshmen who were far from being mature .
However, the team had acquired 20 gold medals, a record for the American team .
Normally, athletes past their prime were not well regarded . However, today was different; everyone feared the older athlete because she was American
Those 20 gold medals really were scary! It showed the power of the American team . The U . S . team had brought many dark horses into competitions this year . There were veteran athletes returning to their primes and young sportsmen winning huge upsets . No one dared to doubt the team might make other miracles happen .
Dai Li was quite relaxed because all of the women were evenly matched, so the State Scale would play a big part in deciding the winner .
There were 17 athletes in that day's final . Normally there would only be 12 players in the final, but six of the women tied in the qualifier .
The initial height was 1 . 88 meters, which was quite easy for the women in the final . All of them made it over .
The second height was 1 . 93 meters, which stopped six jumpers from continuing .
Then, the height reached 1 . 97 meters . Ayman was knocked out here and, in the end, only five athletes were promoted: Jennifer and athletes from Spain, Bulgaria, Russia, and Italy .
Unexpectedly, the five remaining all failed to jump over the next height, which was two meters .
It was quite disappointing that, in the Olympics, none of the women could jump over two meters . The world record for this event was 2 . 09 meters and the Olympic record was 2 . 06 meters . In recent Olympics, the gold medal would be gotten by someone who jumped 2 . 03 meters or higher .
This being the case, the height was lowered by one centimeter, making it 1 . 99 meters .
Jennifer was the first to try this jump . For her, 1 . 99m should not be too difficult, she could easily jump it when she was young . Even though she was 32 now, it was not that hard .
She took a deep breath, ran up, jumped into the sky before and crossed over the bar quite gracefully .
1 . 99 meters! Her first try had been a success!
The coaches of the American team roared with joy . This successful jump had meant Jennifer should win .
This event's tiebreaker worked similarly to the way overtime does in some sports . Because Jennifer had cleared the bar on her first try, everyone else only got one try to make it as well .
For example, if Jennifer succeeded in her first attempt, other athletes would be out of the running if they failed on their first try . If someone else succeeded on their first attempt, the height would be increased for the successful players and it continued until the winner was decided .
Now, the other four players needed to succeed in their first jump if they wanted to jump for the next height as Jennifer had been successful on her first try .
As a result, the pressure on the athletes left to go increased . Their three tries had just turned into one .
Affected by the pressure, the Italian and Croatian athletes failed and were kicked out, putting more pressure on the other two players .
The Russian jumper followed also failed, meaning that she, together with the failed Italian and Croatian players, would earn bronze medals at least .
The high jump permits multiple people to win bronze and silver medals, but the gold medal is only given to one .
So, the eliminated hoped that the still-untested Spanish athlete also failed . If she failed, the four of them would be tied for second place and they would all get silver medals instead of bronze ones .
Their wishes came true . The Spanish athlete bumped the bar down and then failed . The four of them all got the silver medals .
The gold medal was Jennifer's .
…
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"21 gold medals now!" Downey had a huge smile on his face . "With the last 4x400 meters relay races, we will get 23 gold medals!
"23 gold medals aren't enough . As I said before, we are aiming 25 gold medals," Dai Li told him .
"Haven't you given up on that yet? 25 gold medals, that's quite difficult . We are still two away from that goal . Getting 23 gold medals is excellent . There are 47 gold medals in total for track and field events and we got half of them . Isn't that satisfying? No team in track and field history has ever been able to get 23 gold medals in just one year!" Downey said .
"Well, we may be witnessing a 24th winner soon enough . " As Dai Li said this, he pointed at the javelin competition .
The final of the men's javelin was about to begin .
"The javelin?" Downey shook his head and said, "That has never been our strength . "
"The men's pole vault was not our strength, either," Li answered with a smile .
"In the pole vault, Muller was quite competent, but we can't expect every event to have a Muller . Marcus Allen is in the final of the javelin throw . I don't believe he has the strength of Muller," Downey said .
Dai Li shook his head and explained: "In the pole vault, Muller was strong, but his opponents were also not bad . That is different from this event . Marcus Allen is not as competent, but his rivals are of similar strength . The one earning the gold medal may not be the strongest athlete as long as he overcomes the others . That means either he has to be strong or his opponents must be weak . Now that we know he isn't strong, why not pray for the weakness of his rivals?"
…
20 minutes later, Downey had forgotten how he had questioned Li . He celebrated more than anyone else .
The American Marcus Allen had acquired the gold medal with a throw of 85 . 38 meters . The German player who came in second, threw for 85 . 32 meters, so the American team won by just six centimeters .
In the javelin event, six centimeters is a very small difference . When looked at as part of the bigger picture, six centimeter was equal to 7/10000 of the total distance . It was quite a pity for the German team to lose because of 7/10000 of the total distance . However, it was thrilling for the American team .
This win was also the worst one in the recent Olympic Games . The world record for the men's javelin was 98 . 48 meters and the record at the Olympics was 90 . 57 meters . The winners' results at the last several Olympic Games were all over 88 meters .
This echoed what Dai Li said before the event, the participants had not been very strong . As an athlete, if one wants to win, there are only two possibilities: be strong enough to overcome the others or don't be as weak as the others .
If you want to be strong, you have to work at it . If you want others to be weaker than you, it is tough to make your competition weaker . In sports, the competition is rather fair . As an athlete, it is basically impossible to weaken the competitor . The only real thing an athlete can do is become stronger and defeat his opponents on the field .
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…
On the track, the men's 1500m was about to start .
The American athlete, Lamon, was in the final of this event . Lamon was 25 years old this year . He had participated in many international competitions and won the IAAF Super Grand Prix . Being experienced and competitive, he was one of the few athletes who did not fall prey to the performance-enhancing drug scandal .
Lamon was likely to win the championship, but he was going to be challenged . Algeria, Uganda, Kenya and other African countries all had strong runners .
This was another event in which competitors were similar in terms of strength . Unlike the high jump or the javelin throw, the athlete couldn't try multiple times, so the State Scale didn't work .
It all depends on Lamon now . Dai Li took a deep breath, hoping that Lamon would pleasantly surprise him .
At the moment, Lamon was standing on the track . His mind was not on the race, however, but the awards ceremony for the men's javelin .
Lamon had arrived in Rio de Janeiro with the U . S . team 10 days ago . In the eight days of competition, he had witnessed American athletes win championships and gold medals one by one .
Among them, there was Jimmy Elvin, who had dominated an era; Justin Alexander, an athlete who had made remarkable comeback after his suspension; Shawn Ford, who many had thought had passed his prime; Elis Meter, who hadn't been supposed to make it past the first round; and Franz Muller, who hadn't even qualified . They had all won gold medals .
Just that day, he had seen the experienced Jennifer and the mediocre Marcus Allen win championships . He was in turmoil .
Lamon could win this event . He had come in first at the domestic qualifier . The doping scandal didn't affect him at all .
In comparison to Elvin, Alexander and Ford, he was young . 25 was the prime of an athlete's career .
He was more experienced than Meter and Muller . He had won the IAAF Super Grand Prix .
Compared with Jennifer and Marcus Allen, who had just won their championships, he was more talented . He wasn't a common athlete, he was the best in his event .
They can get the gold medal, so can I! When Lamon thought of winning a gold medal, he got excited and felt more confident .
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In the eight days of track and field race, he had envied so many times . Every day he could see several teammates showing off their gold medals . And today, he would fight for his own gold medal .
…
Dai Li looked at his timer .
"The runners are going a bit slow . If it continues at this speed, the final time will be more than 3 minutes and 50 seconds . " He said, talking to himself .
The men's 1500m was not a split run, so the speed of the runners depended on the speed of the athletes in the front . Now, the front-runner was not very fast, so others were going more slowly .
The world record for this event was 3 minutes and 26 seconds, and the Olympic record reached 3 minutes 32 seconds . A final time of 3 minutes and 50 seconds would not be satisfying .
"The runners are slower and more energetic . The final lap will be fierce, " Downey said, standing next to Li .
"That is where Lamon's strength lies . He is not great at allocating his energy and retaining his stamina, but he is great in the final sprint," Dai Li said .
As the head coach, he was well-acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses of his athletes .
Sure enough, after entering the final lap, Lamon's pace picked up and, in the final 100 meters, he was in the lead .
"This race will be ours . " Dai Li passed his own judgment .
"Will we really get 25 gold medals?" Downey suddenly realized that it was possible .
Lamon began his final sprint, crossing the finish line in first and getting exactly 3 minutes and 50 seconds, as Dai Li had expected .
Unexpectedly, the American track and field team had won 3 gold medals .
With the 4x400 meters relays, the team would get 5 medals of gold .
Adding to the previous 20 gold medals, the American track and field team had actually won 25 gold medals at this Olympics .
Dai Li had been correct at his interview yesterday!Please download our sponsor's game to support us!