Chapter 521: Two World Champions and One Newbie
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Justin Alexander crossed the finish line!” The live commentator was excited, and the timer stopped at 9.78 seconds.
“9.78 seconds. Justin Alexander just ran the best time in the 100m sprint this year! And it’s the first score within 9.80 seconds after Gittell’s retirement!” said the commentator excitedly.
To win with a time within 9.80 seconds made Alexander’s Olympic gold medal even more precious.
Alexander didn’t laugh out loud after he crossed the finish line. He didn’t even look excited. He hit his own chest with his right hand and shouted out as if he couldn’t express himself accurately.
Macnee of the Jamaica team seemed to be driven out of mind. For him, it was a disaster that Jamaica didn’t win this race again. As the top sprinter on the team, he felt guilty.
“We lost and I am the one to blame,” Coach Fraser said in low voice.
“Coach, it’s neither your fault nor ours. That Alexander ran too fast. He ran within 9.80 seconds. No one could beat him and take the gold medal unless Gittell had come back,” his a.s.sistant said.
“What we need to do now is show the world that Gittell is not irreplaceable. We must tell the world that Jamaica is still the No. 1 sprinting superpower in the world even without Gittell!” Frazer said and, suddenly, he sighed, “Unfortunately, we failed. We lost the 100m sprint gold medal. Maybe the world will see Jamaica as nothing without Gittell!”
“Sir, we lost only one important gold medal. The 200m sprint and the relay race are on the way. We still have four gold medals to fight for. We can still prove to the world that Jamaica is the most powerful country in the field of sprinting if we get the four gold medals smoothly,” added the a.s.sistant.
The a.s.sistant’s words made Fraser refreshed. He regained courage and said, “Yes, you’re right. This isn’t over. We must get the other four gold medals!”
…
“Congratulations, Coach Li! You helped the American national team win the gold medal of the 100m sprint again. America has not won the gold medal of men’s 100m sprint in the last three Olympics. The last time we won this gold medal was 16 years ago!” Downey said, clearly excited.
“Well, we worked so hard to get this gold medal,” Dai Li said with satisfaction, looking at Alexander who was still celebrating the victory near the finish line.
Dai Li knew that Alexander faced many obstacles to get this gold medal. His continuous challenge to Gittell, the ban in the prime of his life, and coming back to track and field in his thirties had all been difficult. It all paid off though.
He hadn’t beat Gittell, but right now he was on top of the world.
“We’ve taken the gold medal of the 100m sprint. Today we have won two gold and two silver medals in total. Today is a great day.” Dai Li was happy.
There had been four compet.i.tions that day and the American team, led by Dai Li, had won two of them. This was indeed an excellent achievement.
…
The CEO of the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociations, Williams, didn’t miss any race that day.
Even when the last program, men’s 100m sprint’s final, and the following award ceremony had all finished, Williams still sat in front of the TV, gazing at the screen.
After a long time, he sighed deeply and spoke to himself. “Finally, we got the Olympic gold medal of men’s 100m sprint again after 16 years.”
The gold medal of men’s 100m sprint meant a lot to America’s track and field team.
The fastest man in 100m sprint was also considered the fastest man in the world. This t.i.tle meant not only a gold medal or glory, but also a world record. Men’s 100m sprint was the most influential track and field program.
America had ruled men’s 100m sprint for the last several decades. Many “flying men” were Americans. Americans had always kept the world record of the 100m sprint before the rise of Gittell from Jamaica that ended the American rule and kept Americans away from the Olympic gold medals of the 100m sprint for a dozen years.
An U.S. National Track and Field Team without a world champion of the 100m sprint was like an empty dumpling that was tasteless. It lost the most important part.
The need to get a world-cla.s.s champions.h.i.+p in the men’s 100m sprint had always burdened Williams. America signified to him that the country was once again the best at track and field.
It is the fifth gold medal of the track and field team. This year’s team, which is weaker than those of previous years, got five gold medals in three days of compet.i.tions. What an achievement! Dai Li’s training is great! Maybe the schedule has to be changed. The press conference that is going to blame him for the failure might be changed to a celebration party for him!
…
It was the fourth day of the Olympic track and field games. There were still many discussions about the men’s 100m. No new world records were created this time, but the story about Alexander’s gold medal was the headline of many sports articles.
Dai Li paid little attention to the news stories. His focus was on the races that were being ran that day.
The first program of the fourth day was the qualification for men’s triple jump, where the U.S.A was likely to win gold. Two American athletes entered the final, one of which was Thales, the defending champion.
However, Dai Li was surprised that Europe did not perform well. The three traditional superpowers in the triple jump, Britain, Italy, and German, sent no athletes to the final. there was only one Russian athlete that made the final. However, all three of the Chinese athletes entered the finals.
The first round of women’s 100m sprint happened at the same time as the triple jump qualification. Three American female sprinters pa.s.sed the first round easily.
The third program was the preliminary round of men’s 3000m steeplechase. Three American athletes performed very well and they all entered the final.
The first gold medal of track and field programs of the day was going to be revealed after the men’s 3000m steeplechase. It would come from the final of women’s hammer throw.
Dai Li liked field events the most. The state scale, which was like gambling was effective on the high jump, long jump and the four throwing events.
To Dai Li’s surprise, although he gambled well with all three of the American women, they didn’t win the compet.i.tion.
…
It was the third throw of women’s hammer throw. The Polish athlete Ullodzinke stood on the throwing area. She got the hammer and turned three times to throw the hammer out. The hammer left her hands and went flying.
The hammer flopped on the ground. Dai Li was surprised by where it landed.
It’s longer than 81 meters!
The Olympic record for the women’s hammer throw was 78.18 meters, and the world record was 81.08 meters. According to the statistics from the world-cla.s.s compet.i.tions, a distance longer than 76 meters would give the athlete a gold medal.
Will it be a new world record? Dai Li looked at the scoreboard.
The scoreboard showed a score of 82.29 meters after a careful measurement and the referee’s confirmation.
OK. That’s a new world record, 1.21 meters longer than the former record! Dai Li took a deep breath. He knew that America wouldn’t get the gold medal for this program. Facing a new world record, athletes from other counties could not get the gold medal either.
The state scale couldn’t solve this problem. An athlete without the strength to break the world record could never win the compet.i.tion even with his best performance.
In the end, America got a bronze from women’s hammer throw, which made Dai Li a little disappointed. All he could do was accept it. The rival broke the world record after all.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase followed. This was the second event of the day which awarded medals.
The compet.i.tion was seen as between America, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Kenya won gold, America won silver, and Ethiopia won bronze.
The first two finals that day brought America no gold medals, only one silver, and one bronze. However, that was a big achievement in and of itself.
The following three programs were the first round of men’s 400m hurdles, the first round of men’s 110m hurdles, and the qualification of women’s discus throw.
The 400m hurdles and the 110m hurdles were all where the US was likely to win gold. In women’s discus throw, no American athlete entered the final.
The third medal round that day was in the men’s pole vault.
The rules of the high jump and the pole vault were different from the rule of the long jump. In the long jump, the top eight athletes in the first three jumps would then jump three more times. The one who jumped the longest of the eight would be the gold medalist.
The goal of the high jump was to clear a set height that gradually increased. An athlete had three chances to try to clear every height. The athlete could challenge the next height as long as he or she jumped over the current height in any of his or her three jumps. The athlete was eliminated if they missed three umps. The height wouldn’t stop increasing until there was only one athlete left. They would be the champion.
The pole vault allowed an athlete to pa.s.s at any height. The athlete might choose to pa.s.s all the jumps at a certain height in order to save his or her energy for a higher one. The pa.s.s would not be counted as a jump. To put it simply, an athlete could skip a height and directly choose to jump at the next height.
What’s more, the athlete could choose to pa.s.s the current height if he or she failed in the first or the second jump at this height. He or she could only use the chances left for this height to jump at the next height. For example, if one failed in the first jump at a height and he chose to pa.s.s, he would only have two chances to jump at the next height, with the failure counted as one jump.
Meanwhile, an athlete was not allowed to jump again at a height if he chose to pa.s.s at the height. You pa.s.sed the height and then you must attempt the next height.
When the height was increased so high that only one athlete was left, the one must jump, and was not allowed to pa.s.s.
Theoretically, an athlete could always choose to pa.s.s until no one else left. Such a strategy would give him or her the highest height. The athlete would be the champion if he or she jumped over the height. Otherwise, the athlete’s score would be zero.
…
The day’s compet.i.tion’s first height was 5.50 meters. Athletes from France and Russia chose to pa.s.s. They thought it too easy for them and could not even consider it a warm up. So, they decided not to jump so that they could save some energy.
The other ten athletes jumped. It was an easy height that could be a warm up for them to get familiar with the compet.i.tion field or to gain their compet.i.tive mindset.
The height of 5.50 meters was not so difficult for those who could be in the Olympic final. All athletes jumped over it except one Latvian athlete.
Eleven athletes remained on the field. The next height was 5.65 meters, 0.15 meters higher than the previous height.
According to IAAF’s rules, the height increased every time in the pole vault should be at least 5 centimeters. Athletes in the Olympic Games were all the top-level in the world. At the beginning of the compet.i.tion, an increase of 5 centimeters each time would force athletes to jump too many times, which would slow down the compet.i.tion and make athletes exhausted. That would make the compet.i.tion boring to watch and the athletes’ scores low. So, the height was directly increased by 15 centimeters.
5.65 meters was a relatively difficult height in an Olympic final. One unable to clear this height could never win the gold medal.
This height made five athletes leave the final. Six remained.
The next height was 5.75 meters, which saw the elimination of another athlete. Five remained in the final.
The fourth height was 5.85 meters, 10 centimeters higher than the previous one. Four succeeded in clearing this height and one chose to pa.s.s after he failed twice, which left him only one chance to jump at the next height.
The fifth height was 5.93 meters, 7 centimeters higher, not 10 centimeters. That was because that the Olympic record was 5.97 meters.
The Olympic record was 5.97 meters.It required that the final must set a height of 5.98 meters to see whether anyone could clear it and break the record. According to rules from the IAAF, the increase in height should be at least 5 centimeters each time. So, the height before 5.98 meters was 5.93 meters.
Two athletes were eliminated at this height. A French athlete, a Russian athlete, and an American athlete were still competing. The next height they would challenge was the Olympic record of 5.98 meters.
…
“The next height is 5.98 meters and we still have three athletes. Pat Riley, the defending champion from France, Kurayev, the world champion from Russia, and Muller from the US,” said the commentator.
Pat Riley was the champion in the last Olympic Games. It was him who had created the Olympic record of 5.97 meters in men’s pole vault.
The Russian athlete, Kurayev, was the gold medalist of the world champions.h.i.+p two years ago. He was excellent.
With such a fame and strength, the two could undoubtedly challenge the Olympic record.
But the American, Franz Muller, was a newbie to the world-cla.s.s compet.i.tion.
At that moment, the head coach of Russia, Merkulov, looked at the handsome Muller in surprise.
Who can tell me who this Muller is? Where does he come from? How could he make it? How could it be possible for this guy whom I never heard of to challenge the Olympic record together with world champions?