Chapter 230
Regardless of whether Zhou Yuang's head should be taken off and kicked around by his CP fans, it will not affect the overall training rhythm and atmosphere of the national team during the Paris Olympic training camp.
The window period for achieving the qualifying results for track and field events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which runs from April to the end of June, has ended. Unfortunately, Ye Minghao, Jiang Ruohui, Chen Yifei and the rest of the national sprint team have not yet achieved the qualifying results for the Paris Olympics.
There's nothing we can do. It's not that they are useless - it's true that the qualifying scores for some events at the Paris Olympics are even more outrageous than those at the Tokyo Olympics.
Take the men's 100-meter sprint as an example. When the Tokyo Olympics was held, the qualifying score for the men's 100-meter sprint was set at 10.05 seconds, which was considered the most difficult in history. However, by the 2023 Budapest World Championships, the qualifying score for the men's 100-meter sprint had been raised to 10.00 seconds.
The qualifying standards for Olympic track and field events are usually more stringent than those for the World Championships, but never lower.
Therefore, after the qualifying results of last season's Budapest World Championships came out, media and track and field enthusiasts around the world believed that when the qualifying results for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games track and field events are released, they will definitely be more exaggerated than the qualifying results of the Budapest World Championships - at least they will be on par with each other.
Sure enough, when the qualifying standards for track and field events at the Paris Olympics were announced last season, the qualifying line for the men's 100-meter sprint had been raised from 10.05 at the Tokyo Olympics to 10.00.
Not only the men's 100 meters, the qualifying line for the men's 200 meters sprint has also been raised from 20.24 seconds in the Tokyo Olympics to 20.16 seconds.
However, the qualifying line for the men's 400-meter sprint has dropped slightly compared to the Tokyo Olympics, from 44.90 seconds in the Tokyo Olympics to 45.00 seconds.
However, even if the qualifying line for the men's 400-meter sprint has been lowered from 44.90 seconds to 45.00 seconds, it is still an extremely difficult result.
After nearly four seasons of improvement, the domestic men's 400-meter sprint has seen the emergence of a large number of young players with great potential, including the still-active veterans Lin Zekai, Li Mingzhou and Zhang Mingliang. The domestic men's 400-meter sprint is no longer in a state of transition.
In today's national track and field Grand Prix, don't even think about winning with a score of 48 seconds. If you want to enter the men's 400m final of the national track and field Grand Prix, you must have a time of at least 46.30 seconds.
Just last season at the Asian Games in H City, China, China's men's 4*400m sprint relay team registered for the Asian Games after a long absence and successfully entered the finals at the Asian Games, achieving a fairly good result.
Compared with the situation of the men's 400-meter sprint that once made track and field fans and the coaches of the national track and field team's sprint group despair, the current domestic men's 400-meter sprint event can be described as thriving.
However, even though the team is thriving, it is still very difficult for Jiang Ruohui and Li Mingzhou to achieve the men's 400m sprint qualifying time of 45.00 seconds at the Paris Olympics.
Up to now, although the average performance of Chinese men's 400-meter sprinters has improved significantly compared with four or five years ago, there is still a huge gap between the performance of Jiang Ruohui, Li Mingzhou and other top domestic 400-meter runners and Su Yu.
Two years ago, at the 2022 Diamond League Finals, Su Yu, who was only 19 years old at the time, broke the 44-second mark for the first time with a time of 43.86 seconds, and also broke the men's 400-meter sprint WU20R and Asian men's 400-meter sprint record originally set by an American player in 1988 with a margin of just 0.01 seconds.
It was also after this battle that the Asian records and the yellow race records for the men's 100m, 200m and 400m sprints were all written with the names of Chinese athletes.
In the same Diamond League Finals, in the final men's 200m sprint final, Su Yu and the American genius Tavarius Thomas, who is one year younger than him, staged a thrilling battle for the men's 200m sprint WU20R in the Diamond League Finals.
In the end, Su Yu ran a time of 19.84 seconds in this game, defeating the 18-year-old Tavarius Thomas by 0.04 seconds.
In the final, both Su Yu, who eventually won the Diamond League year-end championship, and Tavarius from the American team, surpassed the legendary record of 19.93 seconds set by the legendary sprint king 18 years ago.
In the past two days, two WU20R titles that were once thought to be unbeatable were defeated by Su Yu, so much so that some media even jokingly asked Su Yu during the interview - is it because he will turn 20 next year, so he is rushing to complete the KPI of 'WU20R complete domination' before he turns 20?
After the Diamond League final in the 2022 season, Su Yu also became the first sprinter in the world to achieve all the achievements in 100m, 200m and 400m WU18B and WU20R.
The feeling of the media all over the world at that time was that he was a born sprinter.
Unfortunately, Tavarius Thomas from the United States is indeed a top talented athlete. In the 2023 season, Tavarius ran 19.68 seconds against the wind in the Diamond League Eugene Station in the United States, successfully breaking the men's 200m WU20R record previously set by Su Yu, bringing the WU20R of this event back to the hands of the US team.
Tavarius also admitted in a subsequent media interview that his goal this season was to regain the WU20R in the men's 200m sprint, and now his season goal has been achieved - after the goal is achieved, it doesn't matter even if he can't contribute his best condition to the World Championships.
Because there are still many opportunities to compete for the World Championships, but the WU20R record is limited.
The undisguised challenge in Tavarius' speech this time made everyone clearly realize that for this talented young player who is currently in the limelight of the American team, Su Yu is one of his biggest opponents.
Afterwards, at the 2023 Budapest World Championships, Tavarius did not run at his best, but as he said - there is still a chance to compete for the World Championships in the future, but if he wants to impact the 200m WU20R, he cannot bet all his chances on the World Championships.
In short, in the ever-changing world of track and field, Su Yu's current results are already in the first tier in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
As of June 29, 2024, Su Yu's personal best in 100 meters is 9.86 seconds, his personal best in 200 meters is 19.78 seconds, and his personal best in 400 meters is 43.86 seconds. Currently in China, among the active athletes, except for Zhan Youming's personal best in 200 meters, which can still surpass Su Yu, the results of other athletes are far behind Su Yu.
For example, in the men's 400-meter sprint, Su Yu's personal best in history has already broken the 44-second mark, while 400-meter sprinters such as Jiang Ruohui and Li Mingzhou are still hovering outside 45 seconds.
However, at the current stage, the results of Jiang Ruohui, Li Mingzhou, Lin Zekai and Zhang Mingliang have all reached the edge of 45.00 seconds. The current domestic media generally believe that as long as Jiang Ruohui and others have the opportunity to enter the Olympic arena, they will have a good chance of breaking the 45-second mark in the Olympic arena.
Similarly, in the men's 100m sprint, although Chen Yifei and Ye Minghao failed to reach the Paris Olympic qualifying score of 10.00 seconds, their results were actually not too far from the 10-second mark.
Among them, Chen Yifei ran a good result of 10.04 seconds in the Budapest World Championships last season, and Ye Minghao also ran a result of 10.06 seconds. Both of them are not far from the ten-second mark.
At present, although young athletes such as Jiang Ruohui, Li Mingzhou, Chen Yifei, and Ye Minghao have not been able to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics based on their performance, as the qualifying results window for the Paris Olympics expires, the statistics of the IAAF points rankings also expire at the same time.
Jiang Ruohui and others also successfully obtained the invitation to the Paris Olympics based on their respective IAAF points rankings.
Among them, Jiang Ruohui, Li Mingzhou and Lin Zekai in the men's 400m sprint all successfully squeezed into the invited list, so that the remaining two places in the men's 400m sprint would have to be decided based on the results of the Olympic trials.
Even the Chinese team's track and field fans did not expect that in just over four years, China's men's 400-meter sprinters would have reached a level that would allow them to compete in full at the Olympics.
***
Finally, when Su Yu led the Chinese sprint team and arrived in Paris, France with the Chinese Olympic delegation in late July, it also meant that the second Olympic event of his career was about to begin.
The last time he went on a team expedition, Su Yu was the youngest athlete on the track and field team...
_(:зゝ∠)_
Oh, wait, this time he travels with the team, and he seems to be the youngest athlete in the track and field event. However, compared with the last Tokyo Olympics and Doha World Championships, which made people want to call the police, Su Yu is not so young now.
He had just got off the plane. Although Su Yu's motion sickness had improved over the years, flying, especially such a long flight from China to Paris, still made him look a little listless.
Knowing Su Yu's old problem, Pei Dingshan always sat next to Su Yu when boarding the plane. But even with Pei Dingshan's full care, he still felt uncomfortable.
So when Su Yu got off the plane, his cold and aloof temperament became even more obvious.
However, if Zhou Yuang and other friends of Su Yu were asked to describe it, the autism level of Su Xiaoyu, the autistic caterpillar, would actually have skyrocketed from the usual Lv50 to Lv100.
After Pei Dingshan noticed Su Yu's autistic state, he observed his condition for a while. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with him, he helped Su Yu take his luggage off the conveyor belt. He then found a place for Su Yu to sit and rest while waiting to go to the location of the bus that the national team's logistics staff had booked in advance.
Seeing Pei Dingshan taking Su Yu to the side to sit down and rest, Ye Minghao, who was still waiting for the luggage carousel, turned around and asked Jiang Yuan beside him: "Is Xiaoyu okay?"
Before Jiang Yuan could answer, Zhou Yuan sighed, "Nothing, what could be the problem?"
He was now angry at Pei Dingshan, the hypocritical guy, so he was whining, but what he said was the truth. He also saw Su Xiaoyu's condition just now. He must have felt a little uncomfortable after sitting on the plane for too long.
He originally wanted to ask a few questions, but Su Xiaoyu had the same problem since he was a child: he didn't like to talk, especially when he was feeling unwell. So he thought about it and didn't go forward. It wouldn't be too late to ask about his condition after arriving at the Olympic Village later.
***
On the other side, after Pei Dingshan accompanied Su Yu to find a place to sit down and rest, his condition had actually recovered a lot.
After all, he has been participating in international competitions every day in the past few years, and he has actually gotten used to long-distance sailing. At most, he felt a little uncomfortable on the plane, but he would recover after a short break after getting off the plane.
For example, now, after resting for a while next to the luggage carousel at the airport, he felt much better.
Pei Dingshan also noticed that Su Yu's condition had improved, but he still asked, "How do you feel?"
Su Yu nodded: "Much better."
After saying that, he felt the temperature in the airport at the moment.
It is now July 22nd, late July, and it is already summer in China, but the current temperature in Paris is not bad. Even the daytime temperature usually does not exceed 30 degrees.
It is also thanks to the fact that the average temperature in Paris this month is not high, otherwise these Olympic athletes would probably be really uncomfortable.
After all, in order to practice environmental protection, this year's Paris Olympics not only uses cardboard beds, compared with the Tokyo Olympics in Japan four years ago which used cardboard beds, but also the Olympic Village dormitories will not be equipped with air conditioners - of course, the Paris organizers said that an underground cooling system will be used under the Olympic Village complex to ensure that the indoor temperature at night is not higher than 26 degrees.
It’s just that this guarantee from Paris officials is hard to believe, because Paris officials also said that although there may be a 40-degree heat wave outside, the temperature in most rooms can be maintained at 28 degrees.
As for what the temperature is in the other small part of the room... no one knows.
At the same time, probably to ensure that the players would not suffer from heatstroke, the organizers seemed to have prepared some portable cooling equipment. It seemed obvious that they were not very confident in their underground cooling system.
But if you ask why you still insist on not installing an air conditioner despite all the circumstances?
The question is environmental protection - unfortunately, the environmental protection in Paris is too unique, focusing on the coexistence of humans, rats, bedbugs and sewage from the Seine River.
Before Su Yu and other members of the Olympic delegation set off for Paris, the overall environmental issues in Paris were specifically mentioned during the domestic pre-match training, and the participants of the Olympic delegation were required to minimize going out before the end of their schedule.
There is no other way. The main reason is that we are worried that the contestants will not be able to adapt to the environment. If they eat something unclean and get sick, all their years of hard work will be ruined.
As for the Olympic Village, the national team has brought all the equipment and materials they can, and plans to purchase those that they cannot bring, including but not limited to various air purifiers.
It was really the last Tokyo Olympics that provided the Chinese team's staff with rich experience, so when they knew that the conditions in the Olympic Village at the Paris Olympics might not be as good as those at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan, the delegation's logistics support team quickly started to operate at full capacity.
Su Yu didn't know what the staff of the logistics support team had prepared, but based on the current ambient temperature, if this temperature could be maintained for the next half month, air conditioning might not be a necessity.
However, the current problem is not whether air conditioning is a necessity, but that the weather in Paris for the next week seems to be unfriendly. It was supposed to be the dry season, but the weather forecast said there would be light to moderate rain.
Normally, there shouldn't be any problem even with light to moderate rain, but the drainage system in Paris is so old that even an ordinary rainfall could result in some bad consequences - for example, the Seine River, which was forcibly managed with great difficulty, could again have excessive levels of E. coli.
As the venue for triathlons and marathon swimming, the water quality standards of the Seine River have always been difficult to meet. In order to manage the Seine River, the Paris government invested heavily in building huge underground water storage tanks. Even the French president and the mayor of Paris went swimming in the water to show that the water quality of the Seine River has reached the Olympic water quality standards after management.
Even so, when they heard that Paris might experience light to moderate rain in the future, it still caused concern among many contestants.
After all, the tragic scene of Olympic contestants vomiting wildly on the sidelines after coming ashore from Tokyo Bay during the last Tokyo Olympics is still vivid in our minds. Even if it is for the glory of the Olympics, such a tragic scene is still something that contestants do not want to experience again.
…
Su Yu was sitting near the luggage carousel at the airport. If you didn't know what he was thinking, you would probably think that the person sitting here was a really cool and beautiful woman. But if you knew what was going on in his mind at the moment...
_(:зゝ∠)_The French people may raise their fists in anger... no, raise their flags in protest.
Just when all the athletes of the national track and field Olympic delegation had picked up their luggage, the head of the track and field group of the logistics support team ran over with a wry smile to tell Pei Dingshan that the bus to pick them up would have to wait a little longer.
Pei Dingshan nodded, thinking it would be okay to wait a while, but he still asked what happened?
After all, the national team's logistics support team has always been very reliable, and it is hard to imagine that the staff of the logistics team would make a mistake in arranging the pick-up time - usually, the staff of the logistics team will definitely arrange for the pick-up bus to wait at the airport in advance after the pick-up time.
After all, the national team players came all the way to Paris. In fact, not only Su Yu, but other players will also feel tired to varying degrees and need to rest and adjust their condition as soon as possible.
The staff of the logistics team smiled bitterly and shook their heads: "There is no problem with the schedule. According to the original plan, they will be able to pick us up at the airport on time."
Hearing what the logistics team staff said, Su Yu raised his eyes with some curiosity.
As a result, the logistics staff sighed helplessly: "We encountered a strike on the way."
Su Yu: “……?”
Hearing this answer, even Pei Dingshan fell silent.
It is no longer news that the French people are keen on strikes. It would be strange if we did not hear about the French people going on strike in a certain year.
But they did not expect that even though the Olympics were about to open, the French people would not take a break, but instead started to make a fuss again at this time when Olympic delegations from various countries were arriving one after another.
Su Yu was silent for two seconds, remembering the complaint message sent by French player Florian Burton that he had seen a few days ago - I heard that there will be new strike protests in the next few days, and I hope it will not affect your good impression of Paris.
Thinking of Florian Burton's complaints, Su Yu thought for a moment and said to the staff of the logistics team: "Florian sent me a message before. It is said that the leader of the French trade union here thinks that it will be more effective to put pressure on the government by striking now, so..."
The Chinese team's logistics officer nearby couldn't help but smile bitterly again after hearing what Su Yu conveyed - it's true, this is indeed the way the French people would think.
Chinese people are introverted by nature and feel that "we are all guests". Especially when it comes to matters concerning the country's international image, everyone is united and must not bring shame to their country.
As the saying goes, family disgrace should not be made public. No matter what the situation is, we have to wait until the critical moment is over before we deal with it.
But the French people have no such scruples at all. It seems that they are eager to take this opportunity to expose their "family shame" and increase the chances of a successful protest.
As for this kind of thing, after all, it was someone else's country's business, they couldn't say anything and could only smile bitterly and shake their heads.
Fortunately, although the bus that came to pick us up was blocked by striking people on the way, the bus was not stuck for too long - the key point is that the bus driver is a member of the Chinese team, so there would not be an outrageous story of encountering striking people halfway and then abandoning the bus to join the strike.
Therefore, after waiting at the airport for about an hour, the national team members successfully got on the bus that came to pick them up.
After getting on the bus, everyone in the national track and field team breathed a sigh of relief - it was OK, they finally got on the bus smoothly.
After getting in the car, Zhou Yuang sighed quietly: "The trip to France is not easy."
Ye Minghao and others beside him were in a very good mood. Ye Minghao smiled and said, "It's also a fresh experience."
Zhou Yuang turned his head to look at Ye Minghao with a puzzled look on his face: "It's quite new to me, but Ye Zi, didn't you also encounter a strike when you came to France to compete before?"
Ye Minghao nodded with a smile and admitted, then said: "Yes, but this time it's a new thing for me as a member of the Olympic delegation."
Zhou Yuang listened to Ye Minghao's answer, snorted and said nothing.
Although they encountered some minor troubles along the way, the Chinese Olympic delegation still arrived at the Olympic Village in Paris very smoothly and successfully moved into the Chinese Building in the Olympic Village.
After arriving in Paris smoothly, the Chinese delegation's contestants began to arrange adaptive training at the Stade de France the next day. As the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation at the Olympic opening ceremony, Su Yu had to be sent to participate in the rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
When the time came to July 26, 2024, the world-renowned opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics finally officially began!
***
At home, when everyone watched Su Yu holding the Chinese national flag and leading the Chinese Olympic delegation onto the stage at the opening ceremony, the Chinese audiences who had watched Su Yu grow up also began to get excited - a new legend belonging to Su Yu will also set sail again at this Paris Olympics, right?
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