Chapter 235

As for the 110-meter hurdles, Jiang Ning's impression still lingers on the 2004 Athens Olympics in her previous life, when Brother Xiang won the championship, breaking my country's record of no gold medals in the 100-meter hurdles event, and the whole country was excited.

But she never thought that one day she would be associated with hurdles.

This feeling is somewhat novel.

The sport seemed so far away from her that she had no connection with it before.

When it comes to running, she is quite good. After all, she has been running since she was a child and has been used to running in both her past and present lives.

But when she was suddenly asked to jump over the hurdles, she was also confused.

However, she thought that she was just representing the School of Mathematics and that participation was the most important thing, so she went to practice hurdles when the coach asked her to.

It’s not that Jiang Ning has no sense of collective honor or the desire to win glory for school competitions, it’s just that sports are too far away from her in two lifetimes.

There are so many students with sports talents in the school who have been discovered to have sports talents and have been practicing sports since childhood. In fact, there is no need for her to represent the school in competitions or anything like that. The reason she was selected is just that their four major lunatic asylums, especially their School of Mathematics, do not have a single student with sports talents. It is impossible that their School of Mathematics will be wiped out in this National College Students Games, right?

They picked out a tall person from a group of short people, someone with good physical strength and endurance. At least if they spread the word, it would mean that someone from their School of Mathematics participated.

Jiang Ning had been practicing sprinting for a week under her coach. She was indeed physically fit and had a great talent for running, but she started too late. Generally speaking, it was a bit late to start practicing in junior high school, not to mention that she only started in college. Compared with those sports students who had been discovered and practiced track and field since childhood, her physical talent alone was not enough to make up for the gap in long-term acquired practice. Putting her in the sprinting event was really useless.

But her physical fitness was so good. From her previous special events, whether it was cardiopulmonary function, waist and abdominal strength, vertical jump, or the physical strength, endurance, and explosive power she showed when practicing sprinting, the coach was reluctant to give up this good seedling. Anyway, they had to start from scratch. After looking at her sprinting data and a series of physical test data, the head coach asked her to try hurdles.

When Jiang Ning was called to the teacher in charge of special training for the school's hurdles team, the sophomore girl who had been practicing sprint events with her and had surpassed Jiang Ning with her many years of experience in track and field competitions couldn't help but reveal a sarcastic and triumphant smile at the corner of her mouth.

I can’t even make progress in sprinting, let alone the more technically difficult hurdles.

The sophomore girl who had successfully squeezed her out was in a very good mood, especially when she saw her senior brother sitting far away in the stands. She waved to him as if she had won a battle.

Her senior brother naturally noticed her as well and waved to her, while continuing to focus his attention on Jiang Ning, with a camera hanging on his chest.

Since he said he wanted to find out the team behind Jiang Ning, it was not just talk. He not only investigated Jiang Ning's daily class attendance at school, but also her interpersonal relationships inside and outside the school after class.

Since she has a team behind her, it is impossible for her not to be in contact for a long time. As long as they get in touch and are caught by him, he will naturally be able to follow the clues and find out the large team behind her.

At that time, he will apply to the school appeals committee for a review to revoke the serious punishment.

This is the best solution he can think of for his future work.

Therefore, after learning from his junior sister that Jiang Ning was also sent here to train in preparation for the autumn sports meeting, he also came here and watched Jiang Ning training from afar. Naturally, he also saw that during the practice, his junior sister used her experience to interfere with him.

However, as someone who won the gold medal in IMO, her mental quality is indeed strong enough. No matter how her junior sister interfered, she remained unmoved and her mood was not affected at all. Even when she was called away to practice hurdles, she went without saying anything.

Hurdles are different from other track and field events. There is a special hurdles team teacher responsible for special training. When Jiang Ning came over, he first asked Jiang Ning for her physical test data sheet. After looking at her data in the physical test items, he asked the same question, which was: "Have you practiced hurdles before?"

Jiang Ning naturally said no.

The teacher first took a look at her physical condition, then looked at her vertical height data and cardiopulmonary function data, nodded and said: "You are in good physical condition, but you started practicing too late." He said, "Try to take a step first and feel the height."

The university students' games use an international track that is 84cm high and is commonly used internationally. Being too tall doesn't really give you much of an advantage. The hurdle team coach mainly looked at her long legs, strong thighs, and her explosive power as written on the physical fitness form.

Similarly, she asked senior students to teach her the key points and movements of hurdles, and then began to teach her how to run and how to master the rhythm of her steps. This is very important, but the sprinting she practiced before is completely different.

After he finished teaching her, the senior brother asked her, "Do you want to try it? Feel it first."

Because it was her first time to compete in the hurdles, her senior brother did not set the hurdles bar to the international standard height, but lowered it to 76 centimeters for the 400-meter race.

Many people in the school knew her, and when they saw her coming over to hurdle, they all stood on both sides of the track, watching her hurdle with a smile.

Jiang Ning first tried to step over a few railings. She was relatively light, so it was not difficult for her to step over them. The feeling was somewhat similar to when she was a child and played games like standing long jump, rubber band jumping, and haystack jumping with her friends.

She could always leap very far with a light leap, like a frog with excellent jumping ability, or like a nimble swallow.

Hurdles were not difficult. She tried her pace and rhythm again. After nodding to her senior, she made an OK gesture to indicate that she was fine.

Perhaps talent is something that is really invisible and intangible. The first time Jiang Ning jumped over the hurdles, he easily jumped over ten hurdles without falling over any of them.

This surprised the people standing on both sides of the runway.

When these people first learned to hurdle, they all experienced kicking the railing or falling down, but Jiang Ning neither fell down nor kicked the railing. In the process of running across, she seemed to have returned to the feeling when she was a child playing games. The control over her body reached the extreme. This control told her that she could do it, she could easily get over it. Such rhythm, frequency and explosive power are truly amazing.

Although this is also related to the fact that the railings were lowered, reducing some of the difficulty, the height of the railings when they first hurdled was also adjusted to the corresponding height according to their age and height at the time.

The senior brother asked her nervously, "You really have never practiced hurdling?"

After confirming that it was Jiang Ning's first time, he let her do it again.

Jiang Ning took a moment to reflect on the feeling just now, and then easily crossed it again.

Of course, this is just a hurdle, not a speed jump yet.

Being able to hurdle easily is different from participating in a competition, but this has already allowed her to demonstrate enough talent in the sport of hurdles.

This really surprised the teachers of the hurdle team, as there is currently a shortage of talented hurdlers.

Six years have passed since a female athlete set a record of more than 13 seconds at the National Games in 1993, and still no one has emerged who can break this record.

The special teacher asked Jiang Ning to try accelerating again. After accelerating, the difficulty increased by more than a little. What surprised the special teacher was that Jiang Ning's control of rhythm was surprisingly good. She was always able to stabilize her pace. Every step seemed to be precisely calculated and the distance of each step was measured. This allowed her to keep a steady rhythm when hurdling and achieve just the right effect.

"Oh! It's too late for you to practice. You should have practiced a few years earlier. With your talent and physical condition..." He suddenly paused here.

Track and field events have never been the strong point of Asians, but Africans do have a unique talent in this event.

Their country's women's hurdles event has been dormant since 1993, except for a lucky phenom, and no particularly outstanding talents have been found.

Now I have found a person with good talent, who is also a college student. It is too late to train him now. Isn’t it a pity?

If we had discovered it a few years earlier, we might have been able to qualify for the Asian Games, if not world-class sports events.

Jiang Ning also felt it was quite amazing what the hurdle team teacher said.

She knew from a young age that Jiang Song had excellent physical fitness and well-developed motor nerves. In her previous life, when she and Jiang Bai occasionally mentioned their eldest brother Jiang Song, they had laughed more than once and said that if Jiang's father and mother had been willing to send him to a sports school with strict management since childhood, there might not have been Jiang Husky Song who later suffered a bloody head but still felt good about himself and refused to turn back.

But she didn't expect that she also had athletic talent.

Maybe she did, but she had never thought about her athletic talent. In her previous life, she had spent her entire adolescence in hunger and cold, and had no energy or sheer mind to focus on anything other than survival.

Even though she has learned to appreciate herself and see herself correctly, she still cannot learn to overestimate any of her talents.

Just like now, even though the hurdles team teacher said she had a talent for hurdling and that she started practicing too late, she felt that it was unlikely for her to achieve good results in hurdling. However, the ease of hurdling made her feel unexpectedly happy when practicing this event, and she felt a sense of accomplishment psychologically as she jumped over one hurdle after another.

It is precisely because of this that she is very serious and dedicated in every practice. She can also feel her own progress every time. Such progress is very obvious. The main reason is that she has gradually mastered the skills of accelerating hurdles taught by her senior brother.

She practiced like this tirelessly for more than ten times. During these ten times, she always maintained a consistent frequency, as if she was tireless. Each time she jumped better and faster than the last.

Even the coach, who was still paying attention to other people's hurdle connections, couldn't help but glance at her.

One hurdle jump is 110 meters, and ten hurdle jumps are more than a thousand meters. It is a very physically demanding process of running at full speed, which is completely different from the physical exertion of long-distance running at a constant speed. Moreover, she has to jump over the hurdles continuously.

If you don’t have sufficient physical strength, you will find it difficult to even lift your legs later on in the training.

With such physical strength and endurance, it is no wonder that the coaching staff was reluctant to let her go. Since she couldn't achieve good results in the sprint, they threw her to the hurdles team to continue training.

However, since she had never received any systematic training, Jiang Ning stopped only when she felt pain and sluggishness in the movement of lifting her legs while jumping over the hurdles, and her step frequency and rhythm began to become disordered.

I haven't felt this way for a long time.

She found that running and sweating wildly in the stadium was also a way to release herself. She quite liked this pure sport that did not require any brainpower and only focused on one thing.

Perhaps it was because her cerebral cortex had been overactive since she was a child. Jiang Ning's brain never stopped except when she was in deep sleep. Even when she was running, she could not stop. She was either conceiving the plot of a novel or thinking about other things. For example, when she was practicing boxing and Sanda, her brain would automatically think about where to punch in order to knock down the opponent more effectively and achieve a more efficient damage value.

Most of the time, this feeling was unconscious and out of her control. The more she tried to control her brain from thinking about it, the more she would think about it, causing herself to suffer from insomnia.

Like these days, when she was doing hurdles, besides focusing on one thing, she only needed to constantly correct her movements and hurdle postures, without thinking about other things. This was a very rare experience for her.

After she told Song Peifeng about this feeling, she found that Song Peifeng felt the same way. They were both overthinking and their brains were always working non-stop.

The first time she practiced, Jiang Ning's thighs were sore. At that time, her whole spirit was in an excited state, and she didn't actually feel it. When she returned to the rental house, washed up, and lay on the sofa, her thighs were so sore.

When Song Peifeng came back, she immediately shook her big white legs and cried out, "Comrade Xiao Song, it hurts, my thigh hurts so much!"

Jiang Ning kept shouting, and she couldn't help but bury her face in the pillow and laugh.

I don’t know if it’s because of being with Song Peifeng, or because of the influence of her roommates in dormitory 401, but Jiang Ning feels that she is becoming more and more like a child. It’s as if her childhood of being too precocious and too sensible has come back to her all over again. She can act like a spoiled child, act like a spoiled brat, let herself go, and just be herself without restraint. She doesn’t need to think too much, because there will be someone who will respond to her in everything, so that you won’t realize it, just like a child who can cry out in pain when it hurts.

Song Peifeng also noticed her changes. It seemed that the longer he knew her, the more he discovered her childish side which was different from her usual one. He was also willing to indulge her. Her at work and her in life seemed to be separated. At work, she was rigorous like an older sister, while in life, she was childish and naughty like a younger sister.

While enjoying Comrade Xiao Song's massage, Jiang Ning shared her gains with her today, and said with a little pride: "I didn't expect that I have a talent for hurdles. Maybe I can become a hurdle master someday."

What she recalled was her childhood in the mountains.

At that time, she was also lively and naughty. When she was chasing rabbits and pheasants in the mountains, she would not take a detour when she encountered bushes, but would jump over them directly. She was used to jumping over all kinds of stones, pits, and bushes in the mountains.

It seemed that she was not the only one. In her memory, all her friends seemed to do the same. When they encountered a dead tree blocking the road, they would jump! When you come across a thorn bush, jump! Even without these, everyone would create obstacles to jump over and play. The most fun toys were the haystacks piled up on the playground during the double-harvest season. Those were the childhood memories of many rural people of their generation.

Song Peifeng looked at the lively expression on her face and smiled and replied, "You can do it." He then asked her, "Can you make time for study and work?"

Tsinghua University, where Song Peifeng is studying, is also holding an autumn sports meeting. Song Peifeng is participating in the 800-meter and long jump events.

During this time, he was also practicing.

Jiang Ning said: "Don't go to the dance club, martial arts club, and drama club for now. Set aside time to concentrate on hurdle practice."

She was not the only one feeling this way. Because the successful bid for hosting the Universiade this year was no longer a matter for their school alone, the entire General Administration of Sport had attached great importance to it. All activities had to give way to the Universiade next year. Many equally talented students from Peking University and Tsinghua University, as well as students with sports specialties, had suspended many of their after-school activities and concentrated on practicing sports, striving to win glory for the country and for the students of their country. The atmosphere was very lively.

Not only Jiang Ning, but everyone in Dormitory 401, although Jiang Ning was the only one selected into the hurdles team and the others did not make it into the school team, it did not affect their joy and passion for the successful application for the Universiade this year. It doesn't matter if they didn't make it into the school team, they can cheer as cheerleaders, after all, there are also people in their dormitory who made it into the school team.

Ever since Jiang Ning joined the hurdles team, people from dormitory 401 often came in groups to watch Jiang Ning's special training in the stadium.

Zhang Min is the queen of supporting roles. No matter how Jiang Ning ran, she would actively applaud and cheer: "Jiang Ning is great! Come on, Jiang Ning!"

Yu Qianqian, who is now in good terms with Zhang Min, has changed her soft personality when she first entered university. Under Zhang Min's leadership, she is more adept at making noise than Zhang Min, and her cheers are louder than Zhang Min's. If you don't know, you would think that Jiang Ning came in first on the hurdles team.

In fact, she is still a newcomer and is still in the practice and familiarization stage, but her amazing talent allows her to improve at an astonishing speed.

But Zhang Min and the others didn't care about that, they just shouted loudly.

Back in the dormitory, they discussed forming a cheerleading team for Jiang Ning.

"How about we use a white cloth, write 'Come on, Jiang Ning' on it, and then tie it on the forehead?" Yu Qianqian suggested enthusiastically.

She is pursuing fashion more and more but doesn't know how to do it. Recently, she dyed her hair a dull yellow and curled it into lion curls, which made her face look even more yellow. However, she enjoys it and her personality has become more lively and cheerful.

Shen Xinlan, who was sitting at the small square table reading a book, couldn’t help but look up from the book and complained: “Don’t you really think this is like wearing mourning?”

The word "wearing mourning" made Yu Qianqian stunned. She imagined the scene in her mind, shook her head and suggested again: "Then a red cloth! A red cloth will be fine, right?"

Zhang Min imagined the scene of a group of people in the dormitory with red ribbons tied on their heads, going to cheer for Jiang Ning, and she fell on the bed and laughed until her stomach hurt.

Yu Qianqian was so angry that she wanted to hit Zhang Min. Zhang Min held her belly and said with a hoarse voice: "In my hometown, grandchildren wear red cloth strips to mourn."

Yu Qianqian: …

Yu Qianqian didn't give up. She stamped her feet and continued to suggest: "Then, then, then...then the green strip of cloth, green will be fine, right?"

Liu Yan looked up in confusion: "Why do you have to stick to the strips of cloth? Isn't there anything else?"

Shen Xinlan also looked up and asked in confusion, "Right? Can't we just order a T-shirt and wear it?"

Yu Qianqian pointed at her finger in confusion: "But it will cost a lot to make a custom T-shirt, right?"

The little money she earned from tutoring every month was spent on her hair and cosmetics.

I don’t know what’s going on with celebrities these days, but green, purple and blue eye shadows are popular. Yu Qianqian learns how to do makeup by looking at celebrity magazines every day. Her eyelids are either painted green, purple or dark blue.

She originally learned how to put on makeup because she was in love, but ended up becoming obsessed with dressing up itself. She had forgotten about her secret crush and was obsessed with all kinds of skin care and makeup every day, having a lot of fun.

Zhang Min was not very good at putting on makeup, so the two novices got together to tinker with their eyelids. Each time, Zhang Min became more and more fashionable and beautiful, while Yu Qianqian could never get the hang of it. However, she was immersed in her own makeup skills and could not extricate herself from the beauty of it.

Shen Xinlan said, "Leave the T-shirt issue to me."

Liu Yan also joined in and said: "We can also put up a banner."

The students at Kyoto University are very fashionable. There are movies to watch in the auditorium every week. Many of them are the most popular classic movies from abroad, and some include images of cheerleading teams from current Western countries.

Zhang Min, who was always at the forefront of fashion in the dormitory, said, "Why don't we rehearse some cheerleading exercises and then cheer for Jiang Ning on the side of the track, what do you think?"

Liu Yan looked at her own sturdy figure of more than 1.7 meters, and thought about the scene when she was doing cheerleading exercises on the playground. She felt that she would shake the playground to the ground, so she quickly refused: "If you want to dance, you can do it. I won't dance."

Yu Qianqian was eager to try. She was interested in all the new things that she had not tried in junior high and high school.

Shen Xinlan didn't want to do any cheerleading in front of so many people, so only Yu Qianqian and Zhang Min were enthusiastic about preparing. Xi Weilu from the School of Chemistry didn't have any competition items, but was also dragged by Zhang Min to practice together. The three of them rented a videotape and practiced cheerleading to cheer Jiang Ning in front of the video recorder all day long.

Shen Xinlan was originally the propaganda committee member, so the task of custom-making T-shirts was assigned to her, and the task of making banners was assigned to the Youth League branch secretary Liu Yan.

Jiang Ning didn't know that her roommates in 401 dormitory were giving her a surprise behind her back. After practicing the hurdle jumping techniques over and over again, she also started practicing the crouch start, which required a lot of time to train.

The autumn sports meet finally arrived. Since she was the only one on the hurdles team in the entire School of Mathematics, although everyone had signed up for their own events, they all came to cheer for Jiang Ning.

Originally, this was just an act of the 401 dormitory alone. Unexpectedly, the fact that Zhang Min, Yu Qianqian, and Xi Weilu were learning cheerleading was known by other girls in the same department. Although they did not join their cheerleading team, when they learned that Liu Yan was preparing a banner, the class monitor took the lead and simply made a big one, which was hung beside the track. It read: I wish Jiang Ning from our college victory in the hurdles!

Shen Xinlan simply paid out of her own pocket and ordered a T-shirt for everyone in their School of Mathematics. It was a long-sleeved sports sweatshirt style, the quality was very good, and it could be worn directly as daily clothes, but there were eight big words written on it: Jiang Ning, School of Mathematics! Hurdles win!

As long as you don't mind being embarrassed, this is definitely a great piece of clothing.

Who would dislike such good clothes? Winter is coming soon, so at worst you can just wear it inside.

Besides, it would be embarrassing for one person to wear such clothes, but if everyone in the department wears them, who would feel embarrassed?

Not everyone is a rich woman like Shen Xinlan!

Even Xi Weilu from the School of Chemistry was given a School of Mathematics T-shirt by the older sisters in dormitory 401.

The little girl mingled in the team of the School of Mathematics with an expressionless face, and it was unclear whether she was from the School of Chemistry or the School of Mathematics.

Zhang Min didn't care anyway. She held Xi Weilu's hand wherever she went and kept her by her side.

Because of the successful application for the Universiade this year, the opening ceremony of the Games was very grand. In addition to the banners "Capital University 1999 Autumn Games" hung around the stadium, there was also an entrance ceremony for the school leaders, followed by the entry of 56 teams.

Jiang Ning and his classmates represented the School of Mathematics. Perhaps because she was the only one from the school who made it to the school team, the banner of the school was given to her.

What is different from this year's spring sports meeting is that in the spring sports meeting, the school's faculty and staff also formed more than 30 teams to represent the faculty and staff group in the school sports meeting. This autumn sports meeting can be said to be entirely about selecting real athletes from among the students.

Although the current school team has included all students with sports specialties, this year's freshmen have not had military training and have not participated in this year's spring sports meeting. It is not yet known which of this year's freshmen are particularly good at sports. The main selection targets for this sports meeting are also this year's freshmen.

The rest of the people in the School of Mathematics were basically just there for the formality. Not many of them were competitive. Those who were truly competitive on the sports field were almost all students with sports expertise from various departments. The entire radio station was filled with news reports written by people from various departments to their classmates. The radio station was full of passionate, rhythmic and poetic cheers. Only the four major insane asylums were as quiet as chickens, and no cheering reports from them could be heard.

They wanted to cheer, but there was no one to cheer for.

Jiang Ning's hurdle race was in the afternoon. Zhang Min held Jiang Ning's arm throughout the morning and said, "You must run well this afternoon, okay? We will take care of the rest of the logistics. You don't have to worry about anything. You are the only one in our school. All of our teachers and students will cheer for you!"

As he said that, he, Yu Qianqian, Xi Weilu and the other two performed a cheerleading exercise for Jiang Ning on the lawn. He asked Jiang Ning expectantly, "How was it?"

Yu Qianqian's eyes sparkled as well: "Do you think the dance is particularly good?"

This...how do I put it?

Three people, one is 1.68 meters tall, one is 1.59 meters tall, and one is 1.49 meters tall. The three standing together look a bit like a mobile phone signal.

Jiang Ning immediately gave a thumbs up, "Great! You danced really well! I feel inspired!"

"I knew it!" Yu Qianqian almost jumped up with joy: "I knew Ningning would like it very much, right? Ningning, let me tell you, this is the result of Zhang Min and I practicing for several days. We just wanted to give you a surprise. Isn't it a surprise?"

Jiang Ning nodded very vigorously, with a sincere look in her eyes: "Yeah, it's a surprise!"

What she had prepared carefully was recognized by others. Zhang Min smiled with her two rows of white teeth showing, and her eyes were only visible.

Xi Weilu, who originally had no expression on her face, pursed her lips and raised her face slightly in an imperceptible arc.

Jiang Ning found many times that someone in the crowd was looking at her, but when she turned around and looked into the crowd, she saw nothing.

But soon, the feeling of being watched came back.

The former vice president didn't expect Jiang Ning to be so perceptive. Even at such a long distance, she could sense something and hide herself behind the crowd.

Jiang Ning is not afraid of anything, as long as he doesn't encounter those extremists.

Even if we encounter such extremists, we don’t know who will fall in the end.

When it was her turn to compete, Zhang Min and others came up to her very enthusiastically, some handed her water, some massaged her thighs, and some brought her clothes out of fear that she was cold or hot, hoping to give her the best condition for the competition.

When Jiang Ning walked to the starting line.

Suddenly, a deafening cheer rang out from the crowd: "Jiang Ning from the School of Mathematics! Winner of the hurdles!"

All the students in the School of Mathematics were holding banners and cheering for her, especially Zhang Min and Yu Qianqian, who were shouting the loudest. The two of them even dragged Xi Weilu with them, and they just danced the cheering exercises on the grass of the track as if no one was around, shouting slogans of encouragement.

Liu Yan and Shen Xinlan both quietly moved away from them, fearing that others would know that she knew the three of them.

Jiang Ning was also feeling both amused and helpless. At the crucial moment of the game, she almost burst out laughing. She also felt very warm and touched. After making a fist to cheer them on, she rushed out as agile as a cheetah with the sound of a gunshot!