In the subsequent days of the compet.i.tion, Yun Duo gradually found her groove and did not make any more mistakes. She produced quite a few decent ma.n.u.scripts which were accepted by the news agency, while several more of her ma.n.u.scripts were published on the website of Sports Weekly. Besides that, that candid photo she had snapped which included Qi Rui-Feng, Tang Yi-Bai, and Ming Tian had also been selected for use by the agency, becoming the final picture in the series of photos ill.u.s.trating the summary of the tournament.
In this compet.i.tion, Qi Rui-Feng was as dominant as ever. He had signed up for 4 solo events and 2 group events, and had netted 4 golds and 2 silvers, continuing his legend as the King of Swimming in China.
Coincidentally, both of his silvers had been gained through losses to Tang Yi-Bai.
As for Tang Yi-Bai himself, he had signed up for 2 solo events and 2 group events in total. These were, respectively, the men"s 50-metre freestyle, the men"s100-metre freestyle, the men"s 4x100 metre freestyle relay, and the men"s 4x100 medley relay. He achieved gold for the first three, but lost in the fourth event to Qi Rui-Feng"s team, earning a silver.
Based solely in terms of the number of medals, Tang Yi-Bai was no match for Qi Rui-Feng, but judging by their actual encounters, it was really hard to tell who was better or worse.
In fact, in Yun Duo"s opinion, this comparison was untenable because their strengths laid in different areas. Tang Yi-Bai had great explosive power and so was good at short-distance events, while Qi Rui-Feng had great stamina more suited for long-distance events. The two were not at all comparable.
However, some media outlets were doing so with relish. A possible reason for this was that their lives were really too empty and lonely, so they needed to find something at all times to talk about ...
Then there was another small group of media — mainly those represented by Yun Duo"s "enemy" — who criticised the aforementioned comparison with a great deal of malice. They believed that Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng were completely incomparable, but not because of their differing specializations, but because these two people were not of the same level. Qi Rui-Feng was an Olympics champion, and Tang Yi-Bai? He had never even partic.i.p.ated in a world championship before.
This was not without logic, but what was infuriating was how they used it as a springboard to extend their points and make vague inferences. Although they did not clearly state anything outright, reading between the lines would bring readers to a specific understanding: Tang Yi-Bai was stepping on Qi Rui-Feng to promote himself.
Tang Yi-Bai himself happened to read this report, and he was left unsure whether to laugh or cry. "躺著也中枪: Literally, "to be shot at even when one is laying down". Basically, being thrown into the fray as an innocent bystander.Even when I do nothing I"m dragged into it."
Qi Rui-Feng consoled him by saying, "There are not many who are compared to me in discussion. Be content!"
Even though these words were rather aggravating, they were also true.
Other than those discussions, more of the media focused on some objective a.n.a.lyses. Quite a number of people think that Tang Yi-Bai starts quick, has very powerful explosive power in the water, performs even better during team events ... and so on. As for shortcomings, he was not quick enough during turns. This was his most obvious weakness.
When Yun Duo once again interviewed Tang Yi-Bai, she tossed out a professional question in a proper manner. "What do you think is the reason for your mediocre speed when executing turns in the water?"
Tang Yi-Bai pressed his lips together briefly, and then, with a mildly embarra.s.sed tone, he said something that would incite envy among the average people. "My legs are a little long."
"Uh ..." It looked like she was still not professional enough; she had not guessed that this would be the ending to her question.
Just like that, her following question "how can you target that for improvement?" had become unusable — it"s not like he could lop off a section of his leg ...
Based on the prep work Yun Duo had done before this, she knew that the selection of swimmers usually prioritised those with long upper bodies and arms. However, a long upper body does not mean short legs, because there was still a certain absolute height to consider. For example, no matter what, a 1.9-metre tall swimmer should have longer legs than an average person who was 1.7 metres tall. The athletes Yun Duo had seen these past few days had all had pretty long legs, so she had never paid too much attention to this issue.
So having long legs was also a problem!
No wonder she always felt that Tang Yi-Bai was different than the others. Was it because of his long legs that he seemed out of place?
Yun Duo found herself pitying Tang Yi-Bai a little. She felt that Tang Yi-Bai had entered the wrong field of work. This face, this figure — why the heck was he in swimming? It would have been better for him to go dominate the entertainment industry!
There wasn"t much content for the final day of the compet.i.tion; after the events ended, there was still the closing ceremony to be held. On this day, the athletes" schedules were also much freer. Yun Duo saw Tang Yi-Bai being surrounded by people asking for photographs — there were media people and also staff from the compet.i.tion as well as volunteers. She remembered that she herself had yet to take a photo together with Tang Yi-Bai, and so she rallied her spirits and walked over to him.
Tang Yi-Bai was 189cm tall with a long torso, tall and st.u.r.dy as pine. He was taller than everyone there asking for photos, and so his line of sight very easily pa.s.sed over the crowd to see Yun Duo.
Yun Duo found herself suddenly tongue-tied when she met his gaze. "I, that, I, I want to take a photo with you ..."
A smile pulled at the corners of Tang Yi-Bai"s lips. It was warm, like a breeze sweeping over spring gra.s.s, lifting others" spirits without any reason at all. He nodded. "Okay." Having said that, he pushed the crowd aside and made his way over to her.
What an honour. Yun Duo was a little overwhelmed with excitement, but Teacher Sun was even more excited. With camera in hand, he ordered them around to get them to pose and stand in position even as he joked, "It"ll have to be a full body shot. We won"t be able to see Yun Duo in a half body shot!"
Yun Duo sweatdropped, scowling as she protested, "I"m not that short!"
Just as Teacher Sun was about to press the shutter, another person appeared beside Yun Duo. she turned to glance at the person but could only see an arm. She tilted her head up, and up, and up ... and finally saw a face — it turned out to be Qi Rui-Feng.
Qi Rui-Feng"s expression was cool as he said, "No need to thank me."
She really wanted to send him flying with a good kick! Yun Duo stared sullenly at him as she considered it. But, if she really tried to do so, it was probably far more likely that she would be the one sent ricocheting back ...
Qi Rui-Feng had just settled in when little boy Ming Tian zipped over to his side like a gust of wind. Removing the lollipop from his mouth, he said, "Big Bro Feng, I"m here!" And then, he waved and called out, "Big Bro Ling-Ye, come take a picture!"
Zheng Ling-Ye silently made his way over as well to stand mutely beside Tang Yi-Bai.
Consequently, the originally planned two-person shot had now been expanded to include five people. Yun Duo"s expression was a little stiff as she stared at the camera. "Teacher Sun, take the picture, quick." She was truly worried that if they delayed any longer, the whole national swimming team might end up in the photo.
After the photo was taken, Yun Duo took out a brand new white T-shirt from her backpack. This T-shirt was promotional merchandise she had purchased from the organizers — it was printed with the name and location of this compet.i.tion. The blue lettering on the shirt had been designed in the shape of waves; it was really quite beautiful. Yun Duo spread the T-shirt open and looked at the athletes. "Can you all help me sign this?"
She had initially planned to just ask Tang Yi-Bai for his autograph, but now, a few more signatures wouldn"t hurt.
The white cotton T-shirt was soon adorned with numerous rough scrawls.
Yun Duo kept the T-shirt away, and then, it was time for her to say goodbye to these people. The compet.i.tion was only for a short eight days — she had not spent a long time with them, but they had left a deep impression on her. Even though she had originally come purely for work reasons, getting to know them made this trip of hers feel more worthwhile. From the heart, Yun Duo said, "Good luck. I hope that you all will produce even better results in future."
Qi Rui-Feng: "That"s not even worth mentioning!"
Tang Yi-Bai: "Okay."
Ming Tian: "Big Sis, can you leave me your contact details? We can chat more in future!"
Zheng Ling-Ye: (⊙_⊙)
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