Chapter 527: The Person Who Uses the Axe
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After the men’s high jump, the next final was going to be held in two hours. Before that, there would be six events: the women’s javelin qualifiers, the men’s 110m hurdles semifinals, the women’s long jump qualifiers, the women’s 400m hurdles semifinals, the men’s 400m hurdles semifinals, and the women’s 200m semifinals.
The American team performed as expected in these six events, without anything unusual happening.
Later, the final of women’s 1500m event was decided.
Two American athletes were in the final. Ethiopians made up the majority of the athletes. However, they just had quant.i.ty, not quality. In other words, those Ethiopian athletes were good, but not good enough to place.
The Turkish athletes performed remarkably well in women’s 1500m event. In the last Olympic Games, they won both the gold medal and the silver medal. They had also won the World Champions.h.i.+p. They were the biggest opposition to the American team. However, two years ago after the World Champions.h.i.+p, Turkish athletes were found to have used illicit drugs and were banned by the IAAF. Therefore, the last winners of the gold and silver medals missed this Olympics.
The Russian team was also very powerful in women’s middle-distance races and the Soviet Union had even dominated this event for a long time. Nevertheless, as in most racing sports, African and Middle Eastern countries were not to be taken lightly.
Bahrain, Morocco, and Katar also had powerful compet.i.tors. The unique climate of west Asia and north Africa, along the eating habit of Muslim countries were very suitable for training middle-distance athletes. In many middle-distance races, people from west Asia and north Africa often could defeat African compet.i.tors from Sub-Saharan.
Unfortunately for them, there were many African-Americans competing for the U.S.
African-American athletes were much stronger than African athletes.
Many people felt this was because America was better and American people had a high quality of life.
This was just one aspect. For example,, there were lots of African-European people. Moreover, European social security was better than American, and poor people could get more social welfare and nutrition than American poor people. However, African-European athletes from England and France were not as strong as African-American athletes.
The real reason why African-Americans people were stronger could be traced back to colonial era.
When European colonists sold slaves to America, they mainly chose Africans, who were tall, strong and full of strength. They were physically ideal slaves. When the slave trade boomed, the population in Africa declined rapidly.
At that time, the long distance from Africa to America was really a big challenge. The people were huddled in the s.h.i.+p’s hold and there was little food and water. The people who survived the journey had to have been physically impressive. If not, they would have been thrown into the sea to feed sharks. The descendants of these strong men and women could have inherited their physicalities.
The trip from Africa to Europe was not as bad. Many slave traders went through the Strait of Gibraltar, so there was little risk during the transit. Therefore, the same physicality that Africans transported to America needed to survive was unnecessary in those transported to Europe.
…
In the women’s 1500m event, Turkish athletes were banned for having used illicit drugs, which benefited the American team most. Two American athletes performed excellently and won a gold medal and a silver medal.
After the final of the women’s 1500m event, there was only one event left. The final of the men’s 110m hurdles.
Hurdles had always been a strong event for the American team. America had been dominant for years, especially in the men’s 110m. During the last twenty years, only Feixiang Lin from China had beaten them.
However, after his retirement, the Chinese lost much of their hurdling ability, while America regained the dominant position.
Nowadays, the country America worried most about was Jamaica. After succeeding in 100m and 200m events, the Jamaican team began to develop other track and field events. They had become strong in the 400m and short-distance hurdles.
The 400m and 200m races were related. In the 1990s, many 400m athletes could partic.i.p.ate in 200m compet.i.tions. Short-distance hurdles required the same explosive force. It was known that Jamaican athletes were good at short-distance races. When faced with fierce compet.i.tion in sprints, many Jamaican sprinters chose to practice short-distance hurdles.
For the American team, their most powerful athletes were not at this Olympic Games because of the drug scandal.There was only one American athlete that reached the final of the men’s 110m hurdles. Ellis Metter, who hadn’t made it through the first round of Olympic qualification, was one of the athletes chosen by Dai Li.
Without the powerful American athletes in the men’s 110m hurdles, the outcome of the event was unpredictable.
…
Fraser, the head coach of the Jamaican team, was inspiring his athletes.
“America doesn’t have powerful athletes in this Olympics. This is the best chance we have to win the champions.h.i.+p. The only American athlete in the final is named Ellis Metter. Based on the information we got, he has never attended any international games. He even didn’t make it through the first round of Olympic qualifications in America! Sending such an athlete to the Olympic Games, America must really have no talent.
“In the men’s 100m dash, an American athlete grabbed the gold medal from us. This time, we should pay it back. We should let them know how it feels when your gold medal is stolen! Reed, it’s your turn now. Come on, go get the gold medal!” Fraser said.
The Jamaican athlete partic.i.p.ating in this event was named Reed. Two years ago, in the World Champions.h.i.+ps in Athletics, he won the bronze medal in the men’s 110m hurdles. Now, without the powerful American athletes in this event, Reed was hoping to win the gold medal.
On the French team, there was an equally ambitious and fierce athlete.
His name was Baccus, a 29-year-old veteran athlete. This was his third Olympic Games.
Baccus was a powerful athlete, but he had bad luck. When he began to partic.i.p.ate in international games, Feixiang Lin was in his prime. At that time, even American athletes couldn’t defeat Feixiang Lin. Young Baccus hadn’t win stood a chance.
When Feixiang Lin was injured, Baccus had become famous. However, it didn’t last too long because Dai Li cured Feixiang Lin. At that time, Baccus who was just reaching his prime, became a supporting role once again.
After Feixiang Lin’s retirement, American athletes rose to fame and became the main players in the men’s 110m hurdles again. Therefore, Baccus still didn’t get much recognition.
Baccus had been a top athlete for more than a decade, but there had always been stronger athletes. He hadn’t yet had a good chance to win.
However, this time was different. Without the powerful American athletes, Baccus also saw a chance.
I have never heard of that young American athlete. He didn’t even qualify originally. He can’t be a threat to me. I should pay attention to that Jamaican, Reed. He won the bronze medal in the World Champions.h.i.+p in Athletics the year before last.
Looking at the podium, Baccus looked determined.
May G.o.d bless me. After all these years, it should be my turn to win a champions.h.i.+p!
…
When all the compet.i.tors were on the track, Dai Li smiled.
At first, Dai Li had been worried about Metter. However, after detecting the other compet.i.tors, Dai Li became calm. None of the other seven compet.i.tors matched Metter in neither ability nor talent.
Metter’s talent level was S+, which was really rare. Even in top international games like Olympics, athletes with A+ level talent were not common. In most cases, there might be only one athlete with an A+ talenin every two events. Basically, those athletes with A+ talent won the champions.h.i.+ps. It was really unlucky to face Aylwin who had S+-level talent.
Surely Metter can win a medal. If he performs normally, he should win the gold medal. However, Metter didn’t perform well in the Olympic qualification round so he didn’t pa.s.s the first round. Perhaps I need to use the state scale for him.
Dai Li put all the weights on the stability side of the state scale.
At this time, Downey said to Dai Li, “You look confident.”
“Of course. I selected Metter myself,” said Dai Li.
“He didn’t even make it through qualifiers,” said Downey.
“Muller didn’t even partic.i.p.ate in qualifiers, right? He still won a gold medal,” said Dai Li.
“Muller is different from Metter. Muller didn’t attend the qualifiers, but he could have won them. Metter partic.i.p.ated in the qualifiers, but he didn’t pa.s.s the first round. This means that he doesn’t have the necessary ability.”
Downey paused for a moment. “If there is an axe, it could be sharp or blunt before we use it. If the axe has been used to chop firewood and it doesn’t work well, we can be absolutely certain that this is a blunt axe. I don’t know why you are so confident with a blunt axe.”
“Because I’m the woodsman who uses the axe! Whether the axe is sharp or not is just one factor in chopping firewood. The most important part is the person who swings the axe. Even with a sharp axe, a three-year-old child can’t chop firewood.” Dai Li smiled and said, “Do you think you could chop firewood faster than Captain America if you had a sharp axe while he had a blunt one?”
Downey didn’t how to respond to this question. He couldn’t chop faster than Captain America with an electric saw, let alone a sharp axe.
“This metaphor is off. Captain America is a superhero. How can an ordinary person be compared to a superhero!” said Downey, unconvinced.
“The difference between superheroes and ordinary people is that superheroes can do things that ordinary person can’t. In other words, they perform miracles.” Pausing for a moment, Dai Li continued. “Don’t you think my putting together this team was miraculous? Besides, I can promise you, Metter isn’t a blunt axe.”
Downey frowned. He felt scorn for Dai Li’s arrogant expression. However, G.o.d had not yet punished this arrogant person.
…
After dinner, Williams stayed in front of the television to watch the Olympic Games.
The American team won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal today. Naturally, he was quite satisfied with this result. Leonard had defeated two powerful compet.i.tors and won the gold medal of high jump, which gave Williams a long-lost sense of excitement.
Now came the last event, but Williams turned off the television.
“Today’s events are not over yet. Aren’t you going to watch it?” asked his wife.
“No, there is no need. It’s getting late. I should go to bed. I’ll go the bathroom first…” said Williams.
“Why don’t you go to sleep after watching it? This should be the last track and field event, right? There is one American athlete,” his wife continued to ask.
“Yes, there is one American athlete, but he can’t win. This athlete is named Metter. However, he didn’t even qualify. He was selected by Coach Li. I was shocked he even made it into the final. I don’t think he has the ability to win a medal,” said Williams.
“You go to the bathroom, and leave the television on. You can turn it off when you came back. That way you can know the result before you go to sleep,” said his wife.
“Alright,” Williams put down the remote and went to the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Williams was urinating.
He heard a burst of cheering on the television.
It looks like the compet.i.tion is over, and the champion is decided. I wonder who won.
Standing in front of the toilet, Williams turned to look out of the bathroom at the television.
The next second, he froze. He didn’t believe what he saw on the television.
“Isn’t that a mistake?” Williams said to himself.
Suddenly, Williams felt something warm on his hands.
“d.a.m.n it! I p.i.s.sed on my hands.”