Li Junhao, lying on the track, gasped for breath, accepted praise from his teammates, and at the same time, an image of Su Bai's smiling face flashed through his mind, as if it was Su Bai setting a trap for him.
"Ahao, it's all thanks to you today, otherwise we would have to wait until the end of the second group of competitions to know whether we can advance!" Zhang Ziyi patted Li Junhao on the shoulder, his eyes full of satisfaction at seeing his silly brother finally grow up.
Lin Chuan was also smiling at the side, and from his expression one could tell that he greatly admired Li Junhao's performance on the court today.
So, Li Junhao, who originally wanted to say that he was just tricked, turned his words around in his throat for a few times, but in the end he didn't say it out loud.
In fact, Li Junhao certainly knew that Su Bai's "routine" was just to motivate him to go all out in the competition. However, Li Junhao had also seen that Su Bai always gave positive encouragement to other team members, especially to Qiu Wen and Cui Luoheng, the two "direct descendants" who followed him from the S Province Track and Field Team to the national team. He took special care of them.
In contrast, Su Bai's attitude towards him made him feel as if Su Bai was teasing him.
[Why are you so gentle to others, but treat him like a naughty child? 】
Well, of course, if Su Bai knew what Li Junhao was thinking, he would probably ask him back with a smile: [Aren’t you? 】
On the track, Li Junhao finally breathed a sigh of relief and climbed up from the ground. Beside him, Zhang Ziyi, Guo Dun and Lin Chuan put their arms around his shoulders. They hugged each other on the track and happily celebrated their success in breaking through this death group and officially entering the final round of the 4*400m event.
Next to the four members of the Chinese team, the Qatar and Bahrain teams were hugging each other to celebrate their successful entry into the finals, while the Japanese and Indian teams were a little discouraged. After crossing the finish line, Aso Yota kept shaking his head in frustration, while his teammates patted him on the shoulder and told him not to blame himself too much.
However, the Japanese team, which has always been a strong team in Asian relays, unexpectedly suffered a setback in today's preliminaries. Even if they advance as a substitute after the second group stage, this is still a blow to the Japanese relay team.
Audience seats, Chinese players area
At this moment, Zhou Xu, Zhang Chang, Qiu Wen, Jiang Wentao, Wang Ting and all the Chinese track and field team members present were going crazy with joy.
In the last leg, he overtook his opponent and defeated the strong enemy to win a place in the final of the 4*400m relay.
This matter and this result can be said to be extremely satisfying!
Originally, everyone thought that the 4*400m relay team might even come in last place in this competition. The current result not only puts everyone at ease, but also makes them even more proud.
In the live broadcast room, the comments on the public screen were all about the Chinese team doing a great job. People's excitement could not be relieved for a while, especially now that the live game footage was replaying the last part where Li Junhao gave up fighting for the inside lane and went all the way forward to overtake in the second set.
When people once again relived Li Junhao's counterattack following the footage in front of them, someone started to crazily post comments like "Li Junhao is awesome!"
Dense barrages of comments flashed across the public screen, giving a feeling of thousands of troops passing through.
In the live broadcast room, Shao Minyi and Li Sen were also reviewing this scene of Li Junhao.
"We all know that the last runners of each country are all strong. In this final stage, no one will let down their guard. When falling behind, it is originally a very difficult thing to overtake in the last run, but Li Junhao did it!"
Shao Minyi said with emotion: "Speaking of Li Junhao, the public has been feeling very sorry for him in the past year or so. Especially in the past year, his performance in various competitions has always been between 48 and 49 seconds. Many track and field fans are very disappointed with his performance."
"When the news came out that Li Junhao was selected for the 4x400m relay team again and became the fourth runner of the 4x400m relay, many track and field fans were worried. But after watching the 4x400m preliminaries tonight, I believe everyone should have a new understanding of Li Junhao!"
"Yes." Li Sen looked at the replay and said with emotion: "In the replay just now, everyone must have seen clearly what kind of contribution Li Junhao, the fourth runner, made to the relay race. Li Junhao's performance in today's competition was hard-working and tenacious. Facing a Japanese 400m champion like Aso Yota, he not only made a strong comeback in the second lane, but also maintained this victory until the end!"
"Judging from Li Junhao's performance today, he should have made a big breakthrough in his 400m individual performance. I hope to see Li Junhao's outstanding performance in the next 400m individual competitions this season."
During the conversation and commentary between Shao Minyi and Li Sen, the two also briefly reviewed some key details of the game, such as how Zhang Ziyi, the first runner, tried desperately to maintain his advantage, and the series of battles after the second runners rushed to and merged into another lane.
After the two finished talking about these, the referee team on site also released the final results of the first group of the 4*400m preliminaries.
"The results of the first group of the men's 4*400m relay preliminaries in the Jakarta Asian Games are: first place: Qatar, 3 minutes 04 seconds 13 (q); second place: Bahrain, 3 minutes 04 seconds 51 (q); third place: China, 3 minutes 04 seconds 98 (q); fourth place: Japan, 3 minutes 05 seconds 18; fifth place: India: 3 minutes 06 seconds 07."
These five teams are worthy of being the death group. Even the fifth-placed Indian team had a final result of 3 minutes 06.07 seconds. If the Chinese team's result today remains between 3 minutes 06 seconds and 3 minutes 10 seconds as in the past, then they will surely be at the bottom of today's preliminaries.
But it was only after the results came out that track and field fans realized that the 4*400m relay team's result was actually under 3 minutes and 5 seconds? !
3 minutes 04.98 seconds, this result was already a dream result for the previous 400-meter relay team.
[No wonder Coach Su Bai said to me, this time the 400m relay team’s goal is to sprint for a medal…]
When everyone was in a daze, a sentence like this floated across the screen, and suddenly everyone thought, "So that's it!"
What else is there to say?
It’s just that Coach Su Bai is awesome!
Look at him. After joining the national team, in just less than a month, Zhang Ziyi broke his PB and won the bronze medal in the 400m at the Asian Games with a time of 45.43 seconds. At the same time, this result is also a big step forward from the national record. There is no need to mention Qiu Wen. He was selected by Su Bai from the S Province Track and Field Team. He practiced 400 meters for half a year and ranked among the top four in the Asian Games. His personal results are also soaring. If Zhang Ziyi does not work harder, in two years, it will be unclear who will be the number one 400m runner in the country!
What about the 4*400m event?
Su Bai was able to lead the original members of these national relay teams and improve their relay results by 2-3 seconds...
If I have to say one thing, it is - it's so horrible!
Not to mention the 110-meter hurdles. Who would have thought that after Su Bai's guidance, Cui Luoheng, who was originally regarded as a wasted effort, would improve his performance again and again, and even in the Asian Games, he defeated Lu Mengfan, the country's former number one 110-meter hurdles champion, and directly won the Asian Games championship?
Looking back at Su Bai's series of moves, it feels like a dream. Track and field fans simply want to worship Su Bai - the national team must stick with this incredible coach!
After the 4*400m preliminaries, Man Jiang, a reporter from the sports channel, first interviewed the members of my relay team. Then he quickly remembered something and took the photographer to the backcourt to look for people. He was lucky and he actually caught Su Bai and his team.
"Coach Su Bai!!"
Man Jiang's eyes lit up, and he rushed to Su Bai and handed the microphone to him: "Coach Su Bai, I've been looking for you for a long time! I'd like to trouble you to accept an interview!"
Jiang Wentao happened to see this scene and laughed: "Xiaoman, why are you just nagging Su Bai instead of interviewing the team members?"
Man Jiang greeted Jiang Wentao with a smile, and then said, "Hey, Director Jiang, stop talking. Coach Su's vision and ability are so interesting. And Coach Su's prediction was very popular. Don't I have to build a good relationship with Coach Su?"
Jiang Wentao smiled and shook his head, but didn't say much. He just watched Man Jiang's interview with Su Bai on the side.
"Coach Su, in the 4x400m relay race that just ended, the 400m relay team you coached successfully advanced to the finals with the third place in the group. In this group preliminaries, our opponents are all very strong. In terms of strength alone, the opponents in this preliminaries will not be weaker than those in the finals. In such a competition, we can get third place in the group. Does it mean that our team really has hope of competing for medals?"
Su Bai thought about it and replied seriously: "I have said in the previous interview that the expectation for the relay team is to win medals. This expectation remains unchanged today. From my personal point of view, our team certainly has the hope of competing for medals, but if you ask me if the team has this hope, it means that our team can definitely lock in the top three? Then my answer to this question is definitely no."
"Just like the Japanese team in today's preliminaries, they are a favorite to win medals at the Asian Games, but I'm sure everyone has seen the reality - in sports competitions, there can never be a constant result."
Man Jiang was stunned. He didn't expect Su Bai to be so straightforward as to use the Japanese team's defeat today as an example. He nodded in a daze, then moved on to the next question.
"Before, when the 4x400m relay team was announced, there was actually quite a bit of controversy online regarding the player Li Junhao on the list. Coach Su, did you know about this?"
Su Bai nodded. He knew about this. The main reason was that some track and field enthusiasts thought that Li Junhao's performance and condition in the past year were not ideal, and they were wondering whether he was suitable to continue to be a regular member of the 4*400m relay team.
At that time, Wang Ting asked him this question with great concern, but he directly rejected the question. If it were not for the reporter's question, he would have forgotten that such an episode had happened.
"We all saw today that Li Junhao's performance in the game was indeed outstanding. He was also the key figure in our group stage advancement to the finals today. But how did you decide to continue using Li Junhao and let him take such an important position as the fourth baton?"
Su Bai blinked and replied, "Actually, there is no special reason for this. The audience looks at the players from one perspective, and we coaches look at the players from another perspective. After all, we can observe a player from different perspectives, such as his training status, his daily status, etc."
"Of course, the audience can see a player's competitive state from a certain game, but this state is not consistent. So, as a coach, I have more reference dimensions to choose players than the audience."
"As for Li Junhao, I always think that he is very talented in the 400m event. Although he was not in good shape for some reason before this, after he stabilized his condition, I believe everyone has seen his performance..."
When Su Bai said this, he did not notice that behind him, several runners from the 400-meter relay team happened to come here from another direction of the backfield and happened to hear his evaluation of Li Junhao.
After listening to Su Bai's evaluation, Zhang Ziyi and others smiled and patted Li Junhao on the shoulder, giving him a look, asking him to listen to how Su Bai praised him.
Li Junhao didn't expect Su Bai to give him such an evaluation. He was stunned for a moment, then turned his head away slightly unnaturally.
Zhang Ziyi and Guo Dun looked at him turning his head away and his ears slightly red, looking awkward, and they both smiled and didn't say anything else.
However, Cui Luoheng, who followed Su Bai, Qiu Wen and others to watch today's preliminary round, couldn't help but frowned vigilantly after hearing Su Bai's evaluation of Li Junhao and seeing the figures of Li Junhao and others coming.
Qiu Wen was happily waving and greeting Zhang Ziyi and others on the side, when he turned around and saw Cui Luoheng looking cautious.
?
"Ah Heng, what's wrong?"
Cui Luoheng frowned: "Xiaobai is praising people again."
!
Oh yes!
Qiu Wen also sighed: "Ah, back then, I was the only one under Xiao Bai, but now there are so many people trying to snatch the coach!"
"Alas, Xiaobai has more and more concubines in his harem. We who came from the S Province team must work together to occupy the best position in Xiaobai's heart. Look, there are three people from the B City team! If we don't work hard, we will never be able to compete for favor with others in the future!"
…
…………
………………
?
Although Cui Luoheng himself felt that Su Bai now had more and more players under him, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to attract Su Bai's attention, but for some reason, after Qiu Wen expressed the same feeling, he felt that something was wrong.
Cui Luoheng scratched his head with a headache, then gave up thinking about this problem temporarily in annoyance.
The 4*400m relay team successfully advanced to the finals. In fact, at this point, the track and field team had successfully completed its task objectives in the 400m event.
But tasks are tasks. If you ask the members of the 400m relay team who is willing to give up the final medal fight in the 4*400m relay race, no one will agree!
Competitive sports players naturally have a strong desire to win as they pursue their limits.
In the past, the athletes in the 400-meter event might have suppressed or smoothed out their desire to win because they felt that they were not as good as the foreign athletes. But since Su Bai had made them face their fears and allowed them to achieve significant improvements in their performance through training, the desire to win that had been smoothed out in the hearts of these athletes began to spread wildly in their hearts like weeds growing on fertile land.
Especially today, after defeating the Japanese and Indian teams and advancing to the 4*400m relay final as the third place, this desire to win reached its peak.
Want to win!
Want to get a good grade!
They wanted to sprint for the medal as Su Bai said - and finally win a relay medal that belonged to them!
It was with this mood that everyone in the relay team, from Zhang Ziyi to Lin Chuan, seemed very excited. And after Li Junhao's experience of rushing all the way to the finish line with a suffocating temper today, he suddenly felt that everything was not as terrible as he had expected.
The opponent is indeed troublesome.
But no matter what else, just keep doing it!
The next morning, after breakfast
"Oh, I saw today that the 4x400m team members were in very good spirits!"
Jiang Wentao had just returned from the cafeteria of the Asian Games Village. He said that he met the members of the 400-meter relay team and felt that all the team members were in high spirits.
Wang Ting was also very happy. He had devoted countless efforts to both the 400-meter event and the 4*400-meter relay team. However, before this year, these efforts had hardly received the ideal return. Wang Ting had no idea how many gray hairs he had because of this.
Although he was no longer the head coach of the 400m event in this Asian Games, he was really happy to see the outstanding results of so many athletes in the team.
However, compared to the excitement of Jiang Wentao and Wang Ting, Su Bai was not particularly relaxed.
"Xiaobai, what's wrong? Are you worried about the relay team's game today?"
Pei Jinan noticed that Su Bai's expression was not right, and his heart immediately became worried.
Su Bai nodded, then shook his head: "Today's finals are completely different from yesterday's preliminaries."
"In the preliminaries, each team will still hold back a little. For example, the last runner of the Qatar team obviously slowed down a bit."
"In addition to this, our team had another advantage in yesterday's game, which was to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness. Before yesterday, the teams from other countries did not have any special defenses against our relay team. It was also by taking advantage of the opponent's mentality that we gained more opportunities."
"Not only that, Zhang Ziyi, the first runner in the relay team, has already run four times since the Asian Games began, including the 400m preliminaries, semifinals, finals, and yesterday's relay preliminaries." Su Bai paused and said seriously, "Zhang Ziyi not only ran, but he ran at full speed in almost every shot. As we know, it takes a certain amount of time to fully recover after running a 400m race at full speed."
Jiang Wentao and the others looked at each other. They were so happy these past two days that they had completely forgotten about all the problems and factors that Su Bai had mentioned.
After listening to Su Bai's analysis, Jiang Wentao and others felt disappointed.
But Su Bai hadn't finished speaking yet.
"Yesterday, Zhang Ziyi was running at an excessive capacity. After recovering today, it is difficult for him to reach yesterday's level. Moreover, after yesterday's game, other teams may have only raised their evaluation of us, but the Japanese team should have been very vigilant about us."
Jiang Wentao and the others looked at each other again: Isn't that so? Yesterday they squeezed out Japan's direct qualifying spot. In the end, both Japan and India won by defeating the other three losing teams and then advanced as substitutes.
"Xiaobai... now that you've said that, our game today is going to be very dangerous!" Jiang Wentao took a deep breath, and his originally very good mood fell to the bottom.
Su Bai still shook his head calmly: "It's okay, actually. I always say that there is still hope of winning a medal. Although Zhang Ziyi has consumed some energy, Aso Yota of the Japanese team also consumed a lot of energy in the final stage yesterday. Overall, most of our favorable conditions have been spent in yesterday's preliminaries. Today's final is a time to compete with hard power."
Hard power...
Pei Jinan, Wang Ting and Jiang Wentao looked at each other, and then looked at Su Bai together.
"Oh, Xiaobai." Jiang Wentao looked at Su Bai with a wry smile: "I found that you, a kid, are quite a lot of tricks despite your young age! Just what you said just now made us feel very upset."
Su Bai blinked, then laughed, "Director Jiang, I'm just stating the facts."
Jiang Wentao pointed his index finger at Su Bai, shook his head and sighed, "Okay, you! You set tough goals for your players and spoke directly to the media, but when it comes to us guys, you know how to balance your players and tell us not to have too high hopes on them."
"Are you worried that their results won't meet our expectations, and that the Athletics Management Center will punish them?"
Su Bai smiled and said nothing.
Jiang Wentao also smiled and said, "Okay, don't worry. The overall results of the 400-meter event have already exceeded our expectations. No matter what the results of the 400-meter relay final are, I promise you that they will receive corresponding awards when they return."
At this point, Jiang Wentao smiled and said, "I see, Cui Luoheng in the 400m and 110m hurdles, these guys are really lucky to have you as their coach."
On the side, Pei Jinan and Wang Ting watched the whole process, and immediately nodded in agreement with Jiang Wentao's words.
It is indeed a kind of luck for these players to meet Su Bai.
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