The US National Track and Field Team held its first intensified training in Eugene, the capital of track and field.
In the afternoon, the main track of the field had been cleared out to hold the men"s 400-meter test match.
In addition to three Olympians and one subst.i.tute, the other four were all training partners, but they would"ve been strong enough to partic.i.p.ate in the Olympic Games in other countries.
You could find high-level training partners in nearly all track events, especially in Eugene, the capital of track and field. Besides, these training partners were willing to train with the national athletes.
Aylwin was standing on the best track, with an unstoppable momentum. Although it was just an unimportant training match, the king of the 400-meter event showed his momentum without any hesitation.
Both the compet.i.tors and training partners looked at Aylwin with admiration. For the 400-meter athletes, this training match was also a process of pursuing a star. It would also be a literal pursuit, because Aylwin would definitely be in first place.
The US coaching group were talking about Aylwin beside the field.
"Aylwin"s performance has been really good since he returned. I think he seems to be the same as before," said one coach.
"I think if there is a comeback player of the year award, it must belong to Aylwin. He certainly has a chance at the Olympic champions.h.i.+p this time. Four Olympic champions.h.i.+ps in a row. It"s really exciting," another coach responded.
"He is 34 years old, yet he is as strong as a young man in his twenties! I don"t know how he kept it," said the third coach.
"Genius is genius. We ordinary people will never understand it. I got my beer belly when I was 34." The first coach patted his belly.
"Personal factors are important, but the coach"s training is also significant. That kind of training must be very reasonable and effective to make a 34-year-old athlete fresh again. Do you know where Aylwin trained after coming back?" asked the second coach.
"You must have heard of Aylwin"s coach. His name is Dai Li, the Chinese coach in Los Angeles," answered the first coach.
The second coach nodded. "It"s him! So he"s Aylwin"s coach too!"
"Too? There"s an athlete other than Aylwin under his training?" asked the first coach.
"Justin Alexander and Shawn Ford," responded the second coach.
"Alexander had been suspended for years and his condition is similar to Alexander, but he is younger than Aylwin. He also returned back to his peak time not long after coming back. It seems that Dai Li is an expert in helping those athletes who haven"t played games for a long time to come back," the third coach commented.
"What I"m concerned is that all three have the possibility of winning Olympic gold medals judging from their results. That will be awesome if they all could win champions.h.i.+ps! There are only a few gold medals in track events, right? It"s incredible to cultivate one Olympian, but he might have three in just one Olympic Games!" The first coach heaved a deep sigh.
"That"s impossible. You know how hard it is to win a champions.h.i.+p. If that Chinese coach could make it, then he is definitely the best track coach in the United States!" said the second coach.
But the first shook his head. "Not only in the US; in the world!"
"Hus.h.!.+ You two keep your voices down in case Sebastian..." the third one reminded them.
...
In the meeting room, a group of coaches were sitting around a table. Like Sebastian, they were all recruited by the USA Track and Field to take charge of different events.
Kevin, the vice coach of the US national team who presided over the meeting, waved a sheet of paper and said, "We have held training matches for three days consecutively, and the results are in your hands. The results of the training match basically reflect the real level of the athletes."
"Our scientific research group has input all the results into a computer and compared the statistics with our counterparts in other countries. The comparison had calculated the probability of each athlete of winning gold, silver, and bronze medals in the Olympic Games. Look at page two. Here is the result of the comparison."
"Surely, the computer"s calculation can"t be taken seriously, considering the many variables in real races. However, the calculation results can be regarded as a reference indicator, which can help us see more clearly and intuitively in which events we might win medals. Today we"ll discuss the probability of the various results. Begin with the 100-meter das.h.!.+"
They all looked down at the papers in their hands. One coach who was in charge of sprint frowned as he said, "I think the probability of winning is too small generally. Taking Warton as an example, his probability is only 12.5%. We know that his best result now is within 9.80 seconds, which means that he surely can win the champions.h.i.+p now since Kittell retired. How could his chance only be 12.5%! The same with Alexander. He is only 12.8%, higher than Warton, but we all know he lost to Warton in the qualification trial. Besides in the three practice matches, Alexander won only once while Warton twice. I don"t think the result is reasonable."
Kevin listened to what he said and explained, "The first thing you said is about the low probability calculated by the computer. According to the calculation, all the athletes put together have one hundred percent chance of winning the champions.h.i.+p, so the figure will be small for each athlete. But if we add all three probabilities of our runners, the figure is greater than 33.3%, which means that the US will have a one in three chance of winning the gold medal."
"As for the second point, about Alexander"s winning probability being higher than Warton"s. The fact is that during the data collection, the statistics of athletes" experience and honor also will be included. Alexander has attended many international games, including Olympic Games. He has more experience than Warton. Therefore, the winning probability of Warton is smaller than Alexander in comparison."
After hearing Kevin"s explanation, the sprint coach shook his head soon and said, "That"s not true either. Shawn Ford"s winning probability is 18.1% in 200-meter sprint. That"s too high! As far as I"m aware, Ford only attended one World Champions.h.i.+p, and no other international compet.i.tions. Both Mayer and Foster have richer international experience than him, so why are their probabilities still lower than his?"
Kevin continued to explain, "It"s because Ford"s most recent three practice matches were so excellent! Three times were all within 19.90 seconds. His state can"t be better now. Especially since he is much faster than others during the first bend."
"This result is a half second slower than Kittell in his peak, but it"s fast enough. Since Kittell retired, the level of sprint events has declined a lot in the world, especially the 200-meter event with few games and specialized compet.i.tors. All the champion results last year were over 20 seconds. Even a 20.10-second result would have won the world champions.h.i.+p. Considering this, Shawn Ford definitely has more probability of winning now."
"How about Aylwin? 55%? His winning probability is higher than all the other compet.i.tors put together, right?" that coach asked at once.
But Kevin smiled and asked him instead, "Don"t you think Aylwin could win the fourth champions.h.i.+p consecutively? I"d say 55% is too small."
That coach didn"t know how to respond. There was no doubt that Jimmy Aylwin was the most promising athlete in the national team this year. As the king of the 400-meter event, Aylwin"s state now was as good as it had been four years ago. Winning the fourth Olympic champions.h.i.+p consecutively had become a national consensus.
...
Leaning back in his chair, Sebastian wasn"t listening to the discussion of the other coaches, but was thinking of something else entirely.
So many days have pa.s.sed, but why there is no any new information from Franklin"s Lab? The Olympic Games will begin soon!
Sebastian looked at the report in his hands. The probabilities of the report made him so anxious.
Aylwin, Alexander, and Ford—they are all still in a good state. If they remain that way, they will all probably win gold medals. The Olympic champions.h.i.+p! D*mn it! How did Dai Li get such a kind of powerful drug? If I had it, I certainly could create an army of world champions!
I can"t wait on Franklin"s Lab now. I have to take the initiative instead of waiting so pa.s.sively! Whether or not it works, I must talk to these three athletes. Maybe I can get some information about the new drug if I am lucky.
...
Mission: Gather information about the new drug.
Target one: Justin Alexander.
Sebastian walked up to Alexander with a big smile.
"Hey Justin, nice day today, right?" Sebastian greeted Justin blandly.
Alexander just snorted without saying anything and turned away as soon as he saw Sebastian.
After all, the two were at odds.
Mission failed!
...
Target two: Shawn Ford.
Sebastian walked up to Ford with a big smile.
"Hey! Shawn, nice day today, right?" The same corny greeting.
"Hi, Coach Sebastian. Today is nice for exercise," Ford said politely.
"Shawn, how"s your recent training? Is there anything you"re unaccustomed to?" Sebastian asked again.
Ford shook his head. "No, I"m used to training here."
"Actually, I"m curious about why you have made such fast progress recently? I know you just performed so-so in recent years until several months ago. There must be some unique training method, right?" asked Sebastian.
"Yeah, I have received some different training." Ford nodded.
"Really? What kind of training?" Sebastian asked, full of expectation.
"Well..." Suddenly Ford remembered that Dai Li urged him before to never disclose the fact that he changed his way of running.
Therefore, Ford said, "That"s a secret!"
"Secret? What secret?" Sebastian immediately asked.
"Surely a secret that cannot be told." Ford smiled simply. "Many athletes have their own unique skills. That"s a secret!"
Sebastian was being stalled by a simple-minded Ford, but he didn"t give up. He continued to ask, "What kind of nutrition and health care products do you use? Fish oil, vitamins, protein powder, or lycopene?"
Sebastian wanted Ford to reveal some information about the new drug, but Ford shook his head, "I don"t use those things."
"You don"t? Probably not?" Sebastian didn"t believe this answer.
However, Ford seemed to have something to say.
Well! Maybe I can get some useful information! Thinking of this, Sebastian lowered his voice and said, "Did you use some niche brand products or special nutritional products? Trust me, you can tell me. I am your coach and we have the same goal, to win the Olympic gold medal. So we are brothers, you can trust me completely!"
"Okay!" Ford sighed, looking embarra.s.sed, and he lowered his voice. "Those special nutritional products for athletes are expensive. I haven"t got any good results recently. Without regular income, I even need to do part-time work to support myself sometimes. The usual training is expensive, so I can"t afford those nutritional products."
Can"t afford... Well... Sebastian suddenly got frustrated. He never thought of such an answer.
Mission failed again!
...
Target three: Jimmy Aylwin.
Sebastian walked to Aylwin with a big smile.
"Hey! Jimmy, nice day today, right?" Also the same greeting.
"Coach Sebastian! What"s up?" Obviously Aylwin wasn"t as polite as Ford, for he was a legendary athlete.
"Nothing important. I just want to know your recent training," said Sebastian.
"Everything is okay, the same as before," Aylwin answered.
"Actually, I"m curious about why you became so successful after coming back? To be honest, I never thought that you could run as fast as a young man in the twenties since you are 34 years old now. I have never seen such a condition since I became a coach. You really surprised me! I guess you must have used some very special training methods to return back to such a good state, right?" Sebastian said as he watched Aylwin"s face intently. He wanted to find some clues.
To Sebastian"s disappointment, Aylwin"s face didn"t change at all.
Aylwin said, "Actually, there is no special training. I think it has something to do with my good maintenance. Many athletes don"t keep working out hard after retirement, so they lose their shape quickly. I am different. Even after my retirement, I still played sports for two to three hours a day."
Aylwin"s response was exactly the same as what he gave in the journalist"s interview, not even changing a word. However, it was a perfunctory answer to Sebastian.
Sebastian was certainly unhappy with the answer, and he asked again, "Did you use any dietary supplements? Like fish oil, vitamins, protein powder or lycopene..."
"I seldom use those things, and I mainly rely on getting nutrition from food. My nutritionist changes my diet every week, and I have a special chef for this." Then Aylwin continued, "As for this point, I have some suggestions. I hope the national team can have more vegetables in their food. I mean the variety, not the quant.i.ty. Like the lunch today, we only had salad for vegetables, and there are lots of mangoes and strawberries in it. There are not many real vegetables."
"Additionally, I suggest they should supply boiled eggs for athletes, which are boiled directly in water. Although they don"t taste that great, they can provide more absorbent proteins. Now we only have omelets in our dining hall, and it"s too thin, which allows the eggs to absorb too much oil. It"s too greasy for me. As a track and field athlete, I shouldn"t eat something so greasy, but I have to because I need protein."
"What"s more, we don"t have whole grain bread in the dining hall. Milk also contains too much fat. It"s more than 2%. Besides, there are so many varieties of red meat, while the varieties of white meat are so few. You know, the saturated fatty acid content in red meat is 3%, while in white meat it is less than 10%. The throwers may need more red meat to maintain their strength, but we sprinters need white meat."
"And I think our dining hall should provide almond tablets..."
"And I"ll say something about the training. Our fitness training room actually opens at 8:30am and closes at 5:00pm. It"s too short. You know we are basically doing outdoor training during this time. When we need to use the training room, it"s closed."
"And about the training partners..."
"By the way, about the coach"s training plan..."
"Coach Sebastian, next let me give you a little bit of personal advice..."
Sebastian nodded helplessly as he listened.
Other athletes wouldn"t dare talk to the chief coach of the US track team. But Aylwin was different. He was a legendary athlete. Since his status and position in sports was much higher than Sebastian"s, Aylwin was well qualified to advise the chief coach of national team.
"Well, that"s it for the moment! It"s getting late. Coach Sebastian, I need to train now." Aylwin finally ended giving his tips and turned away, leaving Sebastian standing there still.
I came here for information, not for suggestions! He just listed dozens of suggestions, huh? Is he the chief coach or am I the chief coach?
Mission failed for the third time!