The long wait always stretches people’s perception of time infinitely, but when the time really comes, people always tend to think - why does time pass so quickly?
On July 18, 2020, after finishing the last training before the Olympics, a total of 63 participating members of the National Track and Field Team Olympic Delegation and the accompanying coaching staff followed the arrangements of the General Administration of Sport and flew to Tokyo, Japan, the venue of the Olympics.
As the Olympics are approaching, the passenger flow at Tokyo International Airport in Japan is unprecedentedly large, with a large number of tourists flocking from overseas, all wanting to come to Tokyo to participate in this quadrennial sporting event.
When the plane carrying Su Bai and the track and field team landed, they were faced with a vast sea of people. Although there were many tourists coming and going, the overall look was still orderly due to reasonable zoning planning.
This is not the first time for most of the people in the track and field team to come to Tokyo. After all, since Tokyo hosted the Olympics, in order to increase people's attention and participation in the Olympics and to train in advance, Japan has added a number of large-scale events in the past one or two years. Some members of the track and field team are no strangers to this place.
Just as Su Bai and others gathered and waited for contact from the Chinese staff who had arrived earlier, other passengers passed by not far from them.
Since Tokyo is very close to China, traveling to Japan has become very common in recent years. This time the Olympics are held in Tokyo, and a large number of domestic tourists simply took this opportunity to travel to Japan, enjoying the scenery while also watching the Olympics.
The tourists who passed by Su Bai and others came from China, but they arrived in Tokyo 5 days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Most of them wanted to visit Japan before the Olympic Games, and then concentrate on watching the games in the following Olympic Games.
When this group of tourists approached Su Bai and his group, they quickly discovered that they were the Chinese track and field team. Many tourists in the team immediately raised their mobile phones to record this surprising moment.
Although these tourists were very excited, they were surprisingly tacit. After the initial excitement, they just took a picture of the track and field team from a distance with their mobile phones. When passing by, they all made fist gestures of "encouragement" in the direction of the track and field team, and then shouted "Come on" to everyone in a low voice.
"Zhang Shuai! Xiao Qiu! Come on! I came here just to watch your game. I will definitely be there to see you guys perform!"
"Liu Jiaonan! You are the best. Try to win another gold medal!"
"Xiao Cui, bring back an Olympic gold medal this time!!"
After these tourists shouted in a low voice, they waved to everyone and left happily without disturbing the athletes of the track and field team at all.
Su Bai glanced at the tourists, then looked back at the people in the track and field team, and said with a smile: "Play well, don't let everyone down and your previous efforts."
Everyone in the track and field team smiled and nodded, and the most serious one was Cui Luoheng who always followed Su Bai. He glanced at Su Bai and said very seriously: "I will definitely get this Olympic gold medal back."
Su Bai was stunned when he heard this. He then looked at Cui Luoheng's seemingly calm demeanor, and then noticed something on his earlobe which seemed to be red.
Su Bai blinked, then smiled slightly: "Okay, come on."
Not far from the two of them, Wang Shen also took in the scene, then squinted his eyes, said "tsk", and looked away with amusement.
Qiu Wen, who was standing next to Wang Shen, suddenly asked with a confused look on his face: "What's wrong with Ah Heng? He should just take the gold medal. Why does he say it like a love talk?"
Wang Shen took a rare serious look at Qiu Wen, and then suddenly said meaningfully: "Do you know what love words look like?"
Qiu·Wannian Single·Wen:……! Feeling offended!
The track and field team did not have to wait too long at the airport. The staff who had arrived in Tokyo a week in advance had already made preparations. After the team leader of the track and field team contacted them, the staff who came to pick up the Chinese athletes had already clearly reported a specific exit location.
Su Bai and his group followed the team leader and translator in the direction of the exit. Along the way, they saw many places on the ground in the airport decorated with runway-like patterns.
Japanese people love running, and there is even a "running culture". Many Japanese have a mysterious love and obsession with "running". Even the runway in this airport in Tokyo is painted, adding cultural significance to the decoration inside the airport.
Soon after passing the "runway" in the airport, everyone found the Chinese staff who came to pick them up. Then, under the guidance of the staff, they boarded two buses and headed towards the Olympic Village.
Japan put a lot of effort into hosting this Olympics, but the Japanese people's thinking is sometimes hard to understand, because many strange inventions were born in Japan during this Olympics.
For example……
The Japanese staff who just accompanied the Chinese staff were very considerate and prepared a small gift package for each athlete coming to Japan. The package contained an action manual for the Japanese Olympic Village, instructions for some convenient products, and some small props donated by the Japanese side that can be provided to the athletes for direct use.
Among them, the most bizarre thing is the...condom in the gift package.
Moreover, this is not an ordinary condom... = =, there is a special description of this thing in the special manual. This is an enhanced version specially invented by the Japanese people for this Olympics. The key point is that after putting it on... there are Ukiyo-e patterns on the condom.
=_=+
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After the track and field team members saw this explanation, the air in the bus was stagnant for a full 30 seconds.
I have to say that the enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and weird thinking of the Nepalese people are sometimes really amazing.
The overall facilities of Japan's Olympic Village are quite good. At least there have been no problems like the Rio Olympics, where athletes had to install shower curtains in the bathroom themselves.
Japan also regards the entire Olympic Village as its first hydrogen energy community and has implemented the concept of environmental protection in the preparations for the Olympics. The overall building complex and indoor facilities are exquisite and meticulous, which is unique to the Japanese.
The apartments for the Chinese athletes are concentrated in several buildings. Now that the competition is approaching, athletes from most events have already arrived in Tokyo and are gathered together. If you walk outside, you can see many famous athletes from various events hanging around.
At this moment, the competition hasn't officially started yet, and the athletes in most events are still quite relaxed. Only the athletes on the shooting team spend most of their time in the shooting training ground - after all, shooting is the event that wins the first gold medal in almost every Olympic Games, and the Chinese shooting team is also the biggest gold medalist for the Chinese Olympic team.
The shooting team shoulders a heavy responsibility in every Olympic Games. Can they win the first gold medal in the first event on the first day of competition after the Olympics begins?
The members of the shooting team have been burdened with such expectations in recent Olympic Games.
After the track and field team arrived in Tokyo, coaches such as Su Bai were called away for a pre-match meeting to discuss the schedule and medal predictions for each event.
In terms of the overall track and field schedule, the competition is generally scheduled later, starting on July 30 and ending with the last track and field event on August 8... The next day, August 9, is the closing ceremony of the Olympics, so it can basically be said that we are fighting until the last day.
Those who fought till the last moment can basically be counted as the 400m athletes under Su Bai, because the final of the 4x400m sprint is scheduled for August 7. If the Chinese team is lucky enough to make it to the final, they must fight until the last day. Even if not, the preliminaries of the 4x400m sprint are on August 6, which is not much earlier.
As for the first gold medal in track and field events, Su Bai already had an idea in his mind after glancing at the schedule. The first events to go into the finals were the men's 10,000m sprint, men's discus, 4x400m mixed relay, women's 100m sprint, women's shot put and men's high jump.
Looking down in this order, the events in which the Chinese team is expected to win gold medals are women's shot put and men's high jump.
The finals of both events will be held on August 1st, with the women's shot put final in the morning and the men's high jump final in the evening. It will depend on whether the women's shot put wins the gold medal first, or whether Wang Shen will come from behind and win the first gold medal.
"In the two matches on August 1, Sun Dongguo and Li Mingzhuo, you two must keep an eye on your own players and make sure that the players are in excellent condition. You must win the first gold medal by August 1 at the latest!"
In the conference room, Jiang Wentao was presiding over a meeting, and the issue of competing for the first gold medal was being discussed.
Compared with other events, there are not many gold medal opportunities in track and field events. Therefore, each gold medal opportunity is a tough target for the track and field team. The entire national track and field team will try its best to provide logistical support and hope that the athletes can win the gold medal smoothly and beautifully.
After instructing the two head coaches of shot put and high jump, Sun Dongguo and Li Mingzhuo, Jiang Wentao suddenly remembered something and turned to Su Bai and said, "Su Bai, you should also take some time to follow up with Wang Shen in high jump and try to ensure that you don't lose the gold medal."
If women's shot put is considered a long-standing strong event for the national team, then men's high jump is actually a new gold medal opportunity for the track and field team this year. Although Wang Shen does not have a gold medal of sufficient weight yet, the 2.37 meters he and Abdullah jumped at the World Championships last year is already the top result among athletes of recent generations - you know, China's men's high jump record was set in 1984, with a result of 2.39 meters.
Wang Shen's height of 2.37 meters is only 2 centimeters away from his height of 2.39 meters thirty-six years ago.
It is precisely because of this kind of Wang Shen that the national team also places their hopes on him to win the first gold medal in track and field.
In addition to these two events, the remaining events in which the track and field team has hope of winning gold medals are the women's hammer throw, men's 110-meter hurdles, and men's and women's 20-kilometer race walking. However, the finals of these events are scheduled relatively late. If you want to boost the morale of the track and field team's athletes, then of course the sooner the better!
After discussing the gold medal events, Jiang Wentao and everyone else focused on discussing the medal-winning events - especially the gold medal events mentioned earlier. Here at the Athletics Administration Center, the lowest bottom line is to keep the medals.
"The General Administration of Sport said at a press conference a few days ago that the goal of the Tokyo Olympics is to surpass the number of medals in the Rio Olympics. We also have corresponding tasks for track and field events. Four years ago, our results were two golds, two silvers and two bronzes. This time, I'll put it here. Our medal count must exceed six. This is the task!"
Although Jiang Wentao is usually quite majestic when leading a team, he usually has a good temper. This time, it was rare for him to speak so seriously. The coaches present looked at each other and nodded with gritted teeth.
They also knew that Jiang Wentao gave this death order because there was the General Administration of Sports in charge of the Track and Field Administration Center. Presumably, this bottom line result was the General Administration of Sports's strict requirement for track and field. If the General Administration of Sports' death order was not completed, it would definitely not be a good thing for the entire track and field project.
It's just that the athletes have tried their best to adjust their condition before the game, and the actual performance on the field ultimately depends on the athletes themselves. Although they say that at least a few medals are guaranteed, it does seem a bit like leaving it to fate.
After the coaches agreed, all they could do was to strike a balance and communicate with the athletes about the medal-winning order - of course, this balance must be struck well, otherwise if the athletes end up making mistakes due to excessive pressure, should they blame the athletes or themselves?
After coming out of the conference room, each coach... especially the coaches of the events that were key to winning medals or even making breakthroughs, looked a little heavy-hearted, and the coaches of the other events were not much better.
While others are striving for medals and gold medals, their own players can only perform mediocrely. In the world of sports competitions that admire the strong, these coaches certainly hope that their players can become outstanding.
Moreover, although they have little chance to win medals, they are not without a mission. Their mission is to refresh the best historical ranking of their respective events in the Olympics as much as possible. Generally speaking, each coach has a mission statement that needs to be completed.
For Su Bai, he certainly has corresponding tasks on his shoulders, but his advantage is that at this Tokyo Olympics, it was under his leadership that Chinese athletes successfully entered the Olympic arena for the first time in the 400-meter men's and women's sprint events. Moreover, this was achieved when the admission standards for the Tokyo Olympics were the strictest in history.
The achievement in this item alone is enough to be considered Su Bai's achievement in leading the team.
Of course, at last year's World Championships, in the 400-meter sprint event, Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, and Li Junhao all reached the semi-finals, and Zhang Ziyi even made it to the finals.
With the results of the World Championships as a reference, if Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen cannot even make it to the semi-finals this time, I am afraid that Su Bai's leadership achievements will be greatly reduced.
Each coach had his own things to consider in his mind. The team leaders of different events, such as Pei Jinan of the sprint, called Su Bai and the other two sprint coaches who came with the team to discuss the tasks at hand after returning to the dormitory.
"How is it? Are there any difficulties in this mission?" Pei Jinan rubbed his brows and asked several coaches sitting in his room to raise existing problems.
For the 100-meter event, he personally coached all the athletes, so he had a clear idea of the situation. For the 200-meter and 400-meter events, although he was also keeping an eye on them, he had delegated the authority to the relevant coaches. Now he was asking for the opinions of the 200-meter coach and Su Bai.
For the 200-meter sprint, the head coach only brought Wu Yi this time. There was no relay race or anything like that in the 200-meter event, it was just a single event. Both he and Pei Jinan were aware of Wu Yi's progress this year, so they immediately shook their heads to indicate that there was no problem.
Su Bai thought about it for a while before speaking: "As for the 400-meter sprint, I am considering strategically giving up the mixed men's and women's 4x400-meter race."
Hearing Su Bai's words, everyone present turned their eyes to him.
The Olympics haven't even started yet, and giving up before the fight is not a very good start. However, the people in the sprint group know Su Bai well and know that he will not do anything without a purpose.
Pei Jinan was silent for a moment, then lowered his head and flipped through the schedule in his hand, frowned, and said to Su Bai: "Tell me about it."
Su Bai frowned and sighed slightly. Then he pointed to the schedule that Pei Jinan was looking at and said, "The organizer's schedule is beyond our expectations."
"The preliminaries for the mixed 4x400m are currently scheduled for July 30, which is the first day of the entire track and field schedule. If they advance to the finals, the finals will be on July 31. Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen are both individual athletes in the men's 400m sprint. On August 1, there will be the men's 400m preliminaries. With their results, it will be no problem for Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen to advance to the semifinals. They will have another high-intensity race on August 2."
"If we don't give up the mixed 4x400m, the best result is that the mixed 4x400m will reach the finals, but the final result will be low. Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen will reach the semifinals, but neither of them will make it to the finals. In the end, it will be difficult to make up for the high-intensity competition of 4 days and 4 guns with only two days of rest on the 3rd and 4th. There is a high probability that we will lose the ticket to the men's 4x400m finals."
"Of course, this is a good result. A bad result is that the men's and women's mixed 4x400m event may not make it to the finals, and the individual events may also be difficult to make it to the finals due to physical exhaustion. Finally, it may also affect the men's 4x400m relay."
After listening to what Su Bai said, everyone looked at the schedule in their hands and frowned.
It is indeed as Su Bai said, if you insist on taking everything, it will be of no benefit.
This complete and confirmed schedule was released relatively late. They originally thought that the mixed 4x400m race would be scheduled at the end of the schedule like the existing 4x400m relay. Now it seems that there is not enough time at the end of the track and field schedule to arrange this new relay event, so the mixed 4x400m relay race was postponed to the first day of the track and field competition.
Pei Jinan looked at the notebook in his hand and pondered for a few seconds, then nodded simply: "Okay, then what are you going to do with the mixed relay on the first day?"
If you hesitate to make a decision, you will suffer the consequences. Su Bai's words make sense. Pei Jinan also completely agreed with Su Bai's judgment, so he immediately agreed to his strategic abandonment strategy.
"Let Ah Hao and Le Le take the field." Su Bai had already considered this when he was ready to give up strategically. He decided to simply hand over this mixed men's and women's 4x400m race to Li Junhao and Zhang Jiale so that they could adapt to the atmosphere of competing in the Olympic arena in advance.
In addition, the mixed 4x400m preliminaries will be on the 30th, and the men's 4x400m relay preliminaries will be on August 6th. It will be difficult for Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen to resume their competition frequency, but there is no problem at all with Li Junhao and Zhang Jiale's schedule.
Hearing that Su Bai planned to use the Olympic arena for Li Junhao and Zhang Jiale to train, Pei Jinan couldn't help but laugh and sigh at his boldness, but he didn't raise any objections, so the decision was made.
Five days later, on the evening of July 23, the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics officially began. Amidst the brilliant fireworks and various high-tech performances, the Tokyo Summer Olympics in Japan officially kicked off.
On the night of the opening ceremony, Qiu Wen and others were also in the Chinese team's square formation. They appeared in the opening ceremony of the Olympics for the first time and stepped onto the Olympic arena. Even a calm figure like Zhang Ziyi couldn't help but smile.
When the camera at the scene swept across the Chinese team's formation, some sharp-eyed viewers in China who were watching the live broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremony discovered that in the Chinese team, Zhang Ziyi and Chen Yada were walking side by side. Chen Yada's hand was held by Zhang Ziyi, and both of them behaved very naturally and calmly.
There was an immediate explosion of reactions on Weibo in China.
——[Huh? ! Did Zhang Shuai successfully pursue my goddess Yadan? ! 】
——【=口=Wow! When did you get together? ! 】
——[（Screenshot of the nine-grid）I was laughing to death. Zhang Shuai was holding his girlfriend’s hand. Why was there such a silly smile on his face? It was so funny. This was the first time I understood Zhang Shuai’s silly and cute temperament! 】
[Ahhhhhhhhh!] Mom, I'm fine. The top couple of the 400m men's and women's teams that I was rooting for has come true! ! ! 】
In addition to those who are shipping the "Loyalty and Red Heart" couple, some people also took funny screenshots of Qiu Wen waving excitedly in front of the camera, and some people took screenshots of Cui Luoheng, who is obviously a 110-meter hurdles athlete, but he almost squeezed in with the coaching staff and Su Bai.
The angle and timing of the screenshot were excellent. Cui Luoheng was looking at Su Bai, with his hand on Su Bai's left shoulder, as if he was brushing something away for him.
When someone released this screenshot, there was silence for a few seconds under the topic #Japan Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony#
…
? ? ?
——【Is there anyone...who has the same misguided idea as me? 】
——【Sister, count me in...】
——[emmmm, I have a bold idea. During the Diamond League, didn’t people say that Arlo’s temperament and playing style had breakthroughs? At that time, some people even said that he was... in love? 】
——[emmmm...Sister, your idea is very bold. What do you think about calling our CP "Hetu Luoshu"? 】
The on-site Olympic opening ceremony ended after more than two hours, but various topics related to the opening ceremony are still spreading on the Internet.
After the opening ceremony on July 23, the Tokyo Olympic Games officially started the next day!
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