Chapter 535: The Luckiest Draw
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“He Saved American Track and Field!”
“Chinese Coach Becomes the Savior of the American Track and Field!”
“From Weakest to Strongest, He Made the American Track and Field Team Comeback!”
Looking at the t.i.tles of articles, James realized that he was actually a man of principles compared to these sports reporters. At least his article was not as exaggerated.
Generally speaking, it was normal for American reporters to use a flashy t.i.tle to attract readers’ attention. Sometimes, the content had nothing to do with the t.i.tle at all.
James sighed helplessly. He was a professional sport commentator and he wanted to provide readers with a more professional a.n.a.lysis. Unfortunately, he had to yield to the market to survive. Therefore, he wrote the article that readers wanted to read, rather than those that he wanted to write.
When can I end this kind of life? Feeling depressed, James stood up and opened a bottle of whiskey, hoping alcohol could make him feel better.
Meanwhile, Dai Li was speaking to American journalists in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Today was the eighth day of track and field events, and only two events were scheduled for the day: the men’s 5km and the women’s 20km heel-and-toe walking race. These two events were not held in Maracana Stadium. The American team was not like to win the gold medal in these two events, so they didn’t have their hopes up. Dai Li had no real compet.i.tions all the day, so he had time to do interviews.
The journalist this time was arranged by U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation. The company the journalist worked for got several great advertising contracts from the a.s.sociation, so the journalist was going to report something that benefited the a.s.sociation.
Because of this, the questions the journalist asked were favorable to the team. He actually tried to stay away from any unpleasant information about the American team.
“Coach Li, as of yesterday, our team has won 18 gold medals. This is the best result in the history of American track and field team at the Olympic Games. There are three days left until the end of the Olympics so, may I ask you, how many gold medals do you think your team will win by the end?” This was the journalist’s last question.
“As of right now, we won’t have a problem getting 20 gold medals. We are still favored in the relay race. However, I am not setting my target at 20.” Dai Li paused for a while and said, “I want my team to win more than 25 gold medals by the end.”
“25!” The journalist was astonished. He said, “Coach Li, you see, on the last day, the marathon is the only track and field event. Therefore, track and field events are only tonight and tomorrow. That means that your team has to win at least 7 gold medals in those two days.”
“It’s a little difficult, but not impossible. I have faith,” said Dai Li confidently.
The journalist nodded. He took his recording pen and put it into his pocket. He asked, “Coach Li, your answer to my last question may be controversial. Should I make some modification or just report it as you said?”
Dai Li immediately understood the journalist, who was afraid that Dai Li would come across too braggy.
It’s normal to talk big before a game in American culture. Why doesn’t it work for me? Dai Li complained in his head. Out loud, he said, “It doesn’t matter. Just report it as I said. You’ll hear the good news by tomorrow night.”
…
“Interview with Dai Li, the Head Coach of Track and Field Team: His goal is 25 gold medals”
In the afternoon, this headline was all over America.
A conversation could be heard in the coach lounge of the University of Oregon.
“25 gold medals? How dare he say that!” A bearded coach said angrily, pointing to the tablet computer in his hand. “There are only 13 track and field events that have not yet been decided. If he wants to win 25 gold medals, he has to win 7 from the remaining 13 events. It’s impossible!”
“Take it easy,” Coach Logan waved his hand to motion the man to calm down. “Young men are always arrogant after success. Even if he can’t win 25 gold medals, he can surely win 20, which is still a record. Could any of you do that?”
“Dai Li is just lucky. These achievements belong to the powerful athletes!” said a coach angrily.
“Do you think that he is just lucky? Would you have let Muller on our team without tryouts? Would you have the guts?” Logan snorted and went on, “I told you before, every successful person has quality and merit that others don’t. If you were the same quality, you would as successful as him.”
“Well, I know I’m not as good as him. I just can’t stand his arrogance! He’s a mean guy,” the bearded coach said.
“If he were an American coach, would you think so?” Logan said indifferently. “We American people have thought of ourselves as the best for too long, and we naively think that the other countries are inferior to us. When countries less advanced than us make progress, our first reaction is to deny it and say it’s fake. In fact, sometimes our subjective judgment is totally opposed to reality. We always believe what is most appealing. Maybe we need to lose badly so we realize that we aren’t as great as we think we are.”
…
After seeing the journalist off, Dai Li started to consider the compet.i.tions that night.
In that night’s field, there were only two preliminary events, the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay races. Considering strong the American team was in 400m events, it would be fairly easy to win these two gold medals. Dai Li didn’t have to worry about these two preliminary games.
Other than the relay races, the other events were finals. That night was the women’s pole vault, the men’s weight throw, the women’s 5000m running, the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay race.
No American athlete qualified for the final of men’s weight throw. With Kenya and Ethiopia in the compet.i.tion, it was nearly impossible for other countries to win the gold medal in women’s 5000m running. As for the women’s pole vault, many strong European athletes were qualified in the final so it might be hard for American athletes to win the gold medal. However, it was possible for them to win one medal.
Dai Li mainly focused on men’s and women’s 4x100m relay race.
This event had been viewed with respect for a long time. It was seen as a way to measure a country’s overall sprinting ability.
Before the rise of the Jamaicans, the American team had always been dominant in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay race. The American team always won the champions.h.i.+p as long as they didn’t make any mistakes.
However, the Jamaican team had overshadowed the American team in sprinting events recently, and they had won the gold medal for the 4×100 relay race for two consecutive years. Many people regarded Jamaica as the largest sprinting power in the world.
The Jamaican team doesn’t have Gittell in the men’s relay race, so they are much weaker than before. Our team has Alexander and Ford. This time the Jamaican team is not better than the American team.
It will be harder for the women’s team. In the 100m dash and the 200m dash, there were two Jamaican females that were compet.i.tive. The women on my team can’t be compared to them, even with the help of my t.i.tle “continuous iron chain”. Our probability of winning is just 50-50.
I need to find a way to increase our chance of winning. Li thought for a while and remembered the new prop he received recently.
Should I try that prophecy box? Maybe it can help me. Thinking this, Dai Li entered the system and took out that prophecy box.
He shook it a few times and one bamboo stick came out from the box.
Dai Li took up the stick and saw two words on it: the luckiest.
The luckiest draw! I’m lucky. Dai Li couldn’t help looking down and he saw a few words appeared on the stick:
“Let Halyna Bob be the third runner.”
“Let Halyna Bob be the third runner? Is this the luckiest draw? Really? How can it be the luckiest draw? I think it’s more like the worst draw. I must have read it wrong,” Dai Li talked to himself.
Halyna Bob was only 19 years old. She was the worst among the four athletes in the relay race and she had the least experience. If the American team had not been affected by the drug scandal, she would not have had the chance to even be in the relay race because more famous sprinters would have been available.
In the relay race, the weakest runner was always the first runner. The one strong at sprinting went second, the one with the best overall ability went third, and the most powerful went fourth.
Generally, the third and the fourth runner were the most significant. The third runner was an important link and, therefore, was often the most trusted by the coach.
On the American team, Halyna Bob was the first runner.
Dai Li dared not expect too much of her. She was not fast enough and was too young. However, she was youthfulness gave her a quick reaction time. This qualified her to be the first runner.
Nevertheless, the luckiest draw said that Halyna should be the important third runner. It really was the worst decision Dai Li could think of.
“How can I put Halyna in such an important position? She is not the fastest, most able, most stable, or most experienced. More importantly, she just learned how to pa.s.s the baton and she never learned how to receive the baton at all! Maybe the luckiest draw is wrong,” said Dai Li.
A difference between the first runner and the third was that the first one only had to pa.s.s the baton, while the third runner not only had to pa.s.s the baton but also had to receive the baton. This made being the third runner more complicated.
The transfer of the baton in the relay was not simple. The runner who received the baton should run slowly at first before receiving the baton. Given the speed of the athletes, the transfer of baton was not easy work.
Besides, it would be a foul if the athletes didn’t complete the transfer within the pa.s.sing zone. The pa.s.sing zone was only 20 meters long. It was a quite long distance, but it only took 10s for athletes to finish 100m. Therefore, the athletes only had two seconds to complete the transfer of the baton. Neither side could make any mistakes or they would lose the whole compet.i.tion.
As Halyna Bob was the first runner, she didn’t need to receive the baton. She just practiced pa.s.sing without practicing receiving. Without regarding her ability or experience, how dare Dai Li let the athlete who hadn’t practiced receiving the baton be the third runner.
At this time, the system in Dai Li’s head said, “Don’t doubt the prophecy box. The power of the prophecy box is not telling you which decision is the best or the worst but it’s telling you its prophecy.”
“I see. You mean that the decision of the prophecy box must be correct.” Dai Li nodded, but he was still hesitating whether he should believe the words of the luckiest draw.
Then the system spoke again, “You humans are always afraid of the unknown. How much are you willing to pay to know the future?”
Dai Li was still hesitant but he didn’t know how to respond to that question.
“I don’t know,” Dai Li shook his head. “I don’t know how much it will cost.”
“You think that any cost is too high for the ability of prophecy, right?” asked the system.
“You are trying to remind me of the value of prophecy?” asked Dai Li.
The system didn’t say anything, and Dai Li knew what to do.
“Well, I’ll let Halyna Bob be the third runner just as the luckiest draw indicated I should!”