Tang Yan was already half a body"s length beyond the shadow line for the Asian record."This...! They are still accelerating! They are on track to beat the Asian record! After being taken away by j.a.pan for two years, it will return to China again!"
With the excitement of the commentator, Tang Yan and Ning Xuantao were heading straight towards the pool wall.
What people didn"t expect was that Ning Xuantao, who was originally behind by a small margin, began to slowly close in on Tang Yan.
The head coach of the Hubei team was shaking with excitement. Ning Xuantao had transferred to the 100-meters freestyle last year. His potential and explosive power made it clear instantly he was a rare genius that Chinese swimming had rarely seen before.
"Come on, you"ve got this! Close the gap!"
He was constantly screaming by the sidelines.
Tang Yan also noticed the acceleration of Ning Xuantao and he accelerated in desperation to maintain his lead.
The two flew together towards the pool wall.
Ning Xuantao"s arm was longer but Tang Yan"s speed was faster. He hit the pool wall first, and the sensor on the wall followed up.
Tang Yan"s time was displayed on the electronic screen.
47 seconds 91!
When they saw the results displayed on the screen, the entire venue lit up.
"47 seconds! 47 seconds! This is a historical moment for Chinese swimming!" The live commentator excitedly shouted.
In the 100m freestyle compet.i.tion, surpa.s.sing 48 seconds had been a long term goal for Chinese swimmers, in fact for all Asian swimmers.
The current Asian record was held by the j.a.panese swimmer Fujii Takuya at 49 seconds 36.
Which was still a way from breaking through the 48 seconds barrier but now in a domestic trial, it was actually broken by Tang Yan.
"Genius! Absolute genius! There is hope for swimming in China!" said the guest commentator sounding choked with emotion.
"And Ning Xuantao only a tad bit slower has scored a time of 48 seconds 22 also breaking the record, what prodigies!" said the commentator full of excitement.
Next to the pool, Ye s.h.i.+wen had long been cheering hysterically.
Brother Tang was truly the best.
In the swimming pool, Ning Xuantao breathed out with a sharp gasp. He took the initiative to reach out to Tang Yan and shook hands with him.
He said with a look of acknowledgement: "Well played, good race."
Before the race, he wanted to defeat Tang Yan but Tang Yan"s strength was enough to convince him and stir up his potential, which was more valuable than the gold medal.
"I"ll catch you next time" said Ning Xuantao with a sly smile as he swam away.
Tang Yan smiled and replied: "I look forward to it."
When Tang Yan climbed out of the pool, the cheers of the audience were already deafening.
"Tang Yan! Tang Yan!"
He didn"t know who took the lead but soon more than 3,000 people began to shout his name in unison.
The shouting seemed to be overturning the swimming centre.
As the first Chinese swimmer to break the 48 seconds barrier, tonight Tang Yan deserved everyone"s cheers.
At this time, Shen Qing came up to give Tang Yan a tight hug. In the test trials, Tang Yan had scored a time of 49 seconds 32 breaking the record unofficially and now he had replicated... no.....improved on his performance, surprising the whole country.
Embracing Shen Qing, Tang Yan then saw Ye s.h.i.+wen jumping about excitedly. He reached out to pat her head and Ye s.h.i.+wen quickly laughed whilst evading him.
.....
Beijing Boxing Center.
"Wow, this kid is really too much! Another one under his belt" Qin Hailong said with a bitter laugh looking at the live stream in front of him.
He really didn"t know how to react to Tang Yan"s constant exploits. The more Tang Yan achieved the more pride he felt seeing him grow but seeing him taking on even more on his plate made him very hesitant.
He feared Tang Yan"s attention s.h.i.+fting away too much. But there wasn"t much he could do or say, after all the very reason they had Tang Yan was due to him deciding to take on boxing alongside archery.
Creak!
Just then, his door was opened.
He was in his office currently and most would usually knock on the door first. When he heard the sound of the opening door, his gleeful mood was interrupted.
Who wasn"t sensible enough to understand basic courtesy and was entering without knocking.
However when he saw the person who entered, he swallowed his words because the person who came in at this time turned out to be the head coach of the national archery team, Tian Zhenzhe.
"Ahhh it"s you!"
"Old Qin, have you seen the live broadcast, Tang Yan that kid actually swam under 48 seconds!" Tian Zhenzhe came in and rushed to say.
"Yeah, that kid is certainly something else." Qin Hailong smiled and pointed to the computer, indicating that he was watching the live broadcast.
"No, this isn"t a good thing!" Tian Zhenzhe said while walking to the opposite side of Qin Hailong.
"Swimming the 100m freestyle under 48 seconds and breaking the Asian record. If this is not a good thing, then nothing is good." Qin Hailong said with a smile.
"It"s a good thing but not for us. Tang Yan said after the new year, he would report in. But we"ve had to continuously delay everything. You said that he was trying to gain weight right, how effective do you think that"ll be with him swimming like this?"
Listening to Tian Zhenzhe"s words, Qin Hailong put away his smile.
"Look how complicated everything is with him doing boxing and archery at the same time, how is he gonna divide his time between three sports. I think we made a mistake allowing him to take on swimming."
Qin Hailong"s face fell and he fell into thought, this was truly a troublesome issue.
Tang Yan was a genius in every sense of the word.
But he was human and only had so much time and energy.
And after his display tonight the national swimming team would definitely be coming after him.
Which would mean a three way split because at this point certainly no one would be willing to let him go, not after seeing what he could do.
Tang Yan was beginning to look like a certified gold mine, printing out gold medals like it was nothing.
And the truth of the matter was that every gold medal he earned meant another achievement on their records, another step closer to a promotion.
The General Administration of Sports was an intense place and being a coach under it was like having a sword over your head at all times.
The only way to gain safety and power came from being promoted into an administrative position within the bureau.
A goal on which they all set their eyes on.
All manner of thoughts whirled through Qin Hailong"s mind but he quickly calmed himself and said placidly.
"This isn"t too big of an issue, as long as he can stay in shape and top form. Allowing him to do more sports is okay. Besides we can"t really stop him. "
"But..." said Tian Zhenzhe about to argue.
He felt that Tang Yan was becoming more distracted and was being drawn elsewhere and if it came down to Tang Yan having to give up something in favour of taking up another sport it would likely be archery which he dropped.
After all it offered the least fame and money.
As such if his suspicions were correct, he would take the biggest loss.
"Let"s go out." Qin Hailong suddenly said interrupting him and turning off his computer and getting up, he pulled Tian Zhenzhe up and said "Let"s talk while walking."
"I don"t think this is a big deal but I will remind him later not to forget his appointment with you. The kid"s face is thin, so don"t worry he won"t just run off. Not after everything you"ve done....."