Chapter 517: Taking the Top Three
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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 compet.i.tion 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 compet.i.tions 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 compet.i.tion.
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 compet.i.tion; 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.
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 pa.s.sed 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 compet.i.tion. 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 partic.i.p.ate 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-cla.s.s strength. Paired with Dai Li’s training, their strength was on another level.
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 pa.s.sed the 8.30m mark would ensure first place in a typical international compet.i.tion.
In the Olympic Games and the World Champions.h.i.+p, the level of the athletes was undoubtedly higher than a normal international compet.i.tion. 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 partic.i.p.ated 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 surpa.s.s 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.
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.