Chapter 27 (End of Supplement)
After hearing Ye Minghao's decision, Jiang Ruohui's eyes lit up immediately: "That's right! There are still two Grand Prix this season! Quick, let's go and call the coach as soon as we leave and ask him to sign you up quickly..."
Ye Minghao nodded. He was actually quite excited in his heart. He originally thought that the road to his dream had been cut off, but it turned out not to be the case. The road was still there. He was the one who was blinded and almost missed the real hope.
Thinking of this, he turned back to find the direction where Su Yu was: "I have to go find Su Yu and thank him first."
When he turned around, Ye Minghao saw that Su Yu and Zhou Yuang were already standing outside the high jump final venue, apparently waiting for the final performance of their good friend Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Ruohui saw Ye Minghao looking back, so he turned around and followed him. He happened to see Jiang Yuan who had applied for exemption from the jump and sat back in the preparation area to rest.
Seeing this, Jiang Ruohui looked at his teammate Zhang Zhaohe from Province G, and then whispered to Ye Minghao: "Ye Zi, have you heard of this Jiang Yuan? I heard at noon that Zhang Zhaohe was going to fight him to the end this afternoon, saying that he wanted to see how high this guy could go."
Ye Minghao also nodded. Zhang Zhaohe and Meng Yun were their teammates and they were quite familiar with each other. Although the strongest event in G Province was the sprint, the high jump and long jump were not weak either. Especially Meng Yun and Zhang Zhaohe, both of them were very talented and were excellent young players. They came to participate in the competition this time with the goal of winning the championship. However, no one expected that Jiang Yuan would suddenly appear.
Take Meng Yun's long jump as an example. Actually, up to now, the long jump final has not ended yet - there are 6 rounds of trial jumps in the long jump final, and it should be the fourth or fifth round now. Except for Jiang Yuan, the other long jump athletes are still conducting the subsequent rounds of trial jumps.
However, Jiang Yuan gave up the next five rounds of trial jumps after the first round - because he still had to participate in the high jump final.
Even though he missed the next five rounds of trial jumps, no one could surpass the 7.31 meters Jiang Yuan gave in his first jump.
After looking at the latest round of results statistics on the on-site electronic screen, Ye Minghao and Jiang Ruohui saw that Meng Yun was currently ranked second with a score of 7.08 meters. Although he had exceeded the 7-meter line, he was still clearly some distance away from Jiang Yuan's 7.31 meters.
Seeing this, Jiang Ruohui shook his head: "What's going on with this summer camp of the S Province Sports Team? A cradle of geniuses? Su Yu and Jiang Yuan are outrageous, and Zhou Yuan, who just finished fourth, also looks awesome! If I hadn't gritted my teeth and pushed forward the whole time, he would have been third instead of me."
Speaking of this, Jiang Ruohui still felt a little scared.
Not being able to get second place was already frustrating, and if he lost even third place, he would definitely be severely criticized by their coach when he returned to the team.
Ye Minghao also agreed with Jiang Ruohui's statement.
The number of talented players selected from the S Province Sports Team's summer camp this time was indeed somewhat unexpected.
He originally wanted to thank Su Yu and go back to discuss with his coach about the subsequent Grand Prix, but when he saw Su Yu was concentrating on waiting for Jiang Yuan's competition, Ye Minghao calmed down temporarily and pulled Jiang Ruohui to watch the much-anticipated high jump final.
At this time, the 1.6-meter trial jump in the high jump final had ended. Except for one athlete who made a mistake in the first round of trial jump due to nervousness, among the remaining 9 athletes, Jiang Yuan applied for exemption from the jump, and the other athletes all passed the bar in one go.
In the second round of trial jumps at a height of 1.6 meters, the athlete adjusted his condition and successfully cleared the bar in the second round of trial jumps. Then the height of the bar began to rise to 1.65 meters.
For the junior team players who were able to advance to the finals, 1.65 meters was not a big problem. Among the first 8 players, only 2 failed. In the high jump competition, there are 3 trial jump opportunities at each height. Although these two players failed in the first jump, they still have two subsequent trial jump opportunities. The probability of being eliminated at this stage is not high.
But when the audience and contestants turned their attention to contestant No. 9 Zhang Zhaohe who was about to appear on the stage, they found that Zhang Zhaohe, like Jiang Yuan, was wearing his coat and did not look like he was planning to go on stage.
Sure enough, when the referee on the scene turned his attention to him, he stood up and raised his hand to signal: "No. 9 Zhang Zhaohe, apply for exemption from the jump at a height of 1.65 meters."
The surrounding contestants and spectators were a little surprised. This was the second contestant to apply for exemption from the jump after Jiang Yuan.
Outside the finals venue, Jiang Ruohui was also surprised when he heard Zhang Zhaohe's request for exemption from the jump, and said to Ye Minghao beside him: "Damn, Ye Zi, is Zhang Zhaohe angry?"
Su Yu, who was also standing outside the venue, frowned and looked in the direction of Jiang Yuan after seeing Zhang Zhaohe's performance. After seeing that Jiang Yuan was calm and gentle and even had time to smile and nod at him, Su Yu's frown relaxed.
On the side, Zhou Yuang was also stroking his chin and exclaiming: "This is incredible. It seems that Zhang Zhaohe wants to fight with Yuanzi. Xiaoyu, who do you think will win in the end?"
Su Yu ignored him and just said, "Watch the game."
Zhou Yuang looked at Su Yu who was watching the game seriously, chuckled, and didn't say anything more.
However, the coaches sitting in the coaching area of the audience seats started chatting at this time.
"Coach Zhao, your team's Zhang Zhaohe seems very eager to fight."
Zhao Weiping smiled and did not deny it.
At noon today, Zhang Zhaohe found him and told him that he had reported to the training coach and that in this afternoon's competition, if necessary, he would choose to apply for exemption from the jump.
He wanted to curb Jiang Yuan's upward momentum, or in other words, he wanted to compete with Jiang Yuan in the high jump.
Once this choice is made, it means that he needs to appropriately apply for exemptions from jumps at the previous heights in order to retain enough physical energy to cope with subsequent trial jumps at higher heights.
Zhang Zhaohe's training coach agreed, and Zhao Weiping had no objection - children of this age group, especially those like Zhang Zhaohe who are more talented and ranked high in the country in their current age group, usually have a sense of arrogance and think that they are superior to other players.
But it is actually quite dangerous to have such an idea, because as athletes age, the level and speed of the actual development of each person's talent will change.
Once arrogance is formed in their hearts, if their subsequent achievements and abilities fail to keep up, it will hinder the growth of these children.
Zhao Weiping privately thought it was a good thing that they could meet Jiang Yuan in this base competition to dampen their enthusiasm. In particular, Zhang Zhaohe and Meng Yun were able to develop a strong desire to win in this competition, which is a positive development for their subsequent mental growth.
Therefore, Zhang Zhaohe obtained the right to apply for exemption from jumps based on his own judgment in this competition. And it was obvious that after getting the basic score in the first jump, Zhang Zhaohe planned to compete with Jiang Yuan, as if he would not jump unless Jiang Yuan did.
Jiang Yuan also noticed Zhang Zhaohe's idea, but he didn't mind it. After Zhang Zhaohe applied for a waiver, he smiled in his direction, then stood up and said softly under the gaze of everyone: "Number 10 Jiang Yuan, apply for a waiver at a height of 1.65 meters."
Although Jiang Yuan's voice was always gentle and calm, Zhang Zhaohe seemed to be a bit aggressive. After the audience and contestants looked in the direction of the two men, they could easily feel the fighting spirit from Zhang Zhaohe.
In the audience, the students from the summer camp had been focusing on the men's 100-meter final and had not noticed the previous situation in the high jump. Now, seeing Zhang Zhaohe's condition, they couldn't help but discuss it in whispers.
"Wow, this guy from Province G's sports team wants to target Jiang Yuan, right?"
"I know Zhang Zhaohe, he's quite famous in high jump. Maybe he's unhappy that Jiang Yuan took first place in the high jump preliminaries this morning."
"It looks like there's a lot of tension here. Hey, do you think Jiang Yuan can beat him?"
"Who knows? Didn't they say that Zhang Zhaohe's best high jump was 2.06 meters, and Jiang Yuan's was only 2 meters? But seeing how Zhang Zhaohe wants to compete with Jiang Yuan, I don't think Jiang Yuan's ability is limited to 2 meters!"
"I know this, I know this. Jiang Yuan jumped to 2 meters during our final test match and won the championship, so he didn't jump any higher. His coach was furious!"
The students in the summer camp were talking to each other, all very excited.
There was no other way. It was really that in this base competition, their summer camp students Su Yu, Zhou Yuang and Jiang Yuan from dormitory 303 performed so well that they not only made it to the finals in the men's 100m, but their results were in no way worse than those of the provincial team players.
Now there is Jiang Yuan, who is simply the light of the summer camp. He can compete in long jump and high jump with his feet and fists. Seeing that he has the hope of winning the championship in both events, it is really hard for these students not to be excited about this.
So all of a sudden, the focus of the entire arena has shifted to the high jump event, and everyone is nervously looking forward to the final result of this competition.
***
After Zhang Zhaohe and Jiang Yuan applied for exemption from the jump, the two athletes who failed in the first round of attempts at a height of 1.65 meters started the second round of attempts. There were no accidents. Both athletes successfully jumped over the 1.65-meter horizontal bar. Then, the horizontal bar referee on the scene raised the height to 1.7 meters at the signal of the chief referee.
At the new height of 1.7 meters, two more contestants failed in the first round of attempts. Except for Zhang Zhaohe and Jiang Yuan, only four people successfully cleared the bar in one try in the first round of attempts.
When the referee's eyes shifted to the direction of Zhang Zhaohe and Jiang Yuan, Zhang Zhaohe took a breath and raised his hand again to signal: "No. 9 Zhang Zhaohe, 1.7 meters height exemption."
After confirming Zhang Zhaohe's request for exemption from the jump, the referee looked at Jiang Yuan, who still had no intention of taking off his coat. As expected, Jiang Yuan also stood up gently and raised his hand to signal: "Number 10 Jiang Yuan, 1.7 meters height exemption from the jump."
The audience and contestants at the scene were inevitably in an uproar after Jiang Yuan applied for exemption from the jump three times. After all, in the morning's preliminaries, Jiang Yuan had at least performed a round of trial jumps at a height of 1.7 meters to get a guaranteed score. As a result, in the final, he even applied for exemption from the 1.7-meter height.
"…Does he intend to get a guaranteed score?"
One contestant at the scene looked in Jiang Yuan's direction in astonishment and said this to another contestant.
"Who knows?"
Next, at a height of 1.7 meters, a contestant failed three consecutive attempts. While Jiang Yuan was still applying for exemption from the jump, the first eliminated contestant appeared in the competition.
Everyone couldn't help but become curious and wanted to know when Jiang Yuan was going to make his debut.
Soon, the horizontal bar in the high jump competition field rose from 1.7 meters to 1.75 meters. The referee on the scene once again signaled the start of a new round of trial jumps, but Jiang Yuan in the preparation area still did not move at a height of 1.75 meters.
In this round, two more contestants failed in three consecutive attempts at a height of 1.75 meters. So far, a total of 3 contestants were eliminated. Including Zhang Zhaohe and Jiang Yuan, there were only 7 finalists left in the competition.
Finally, when there were only seven finalists left on the field, Jiang Yuan moved in the preparation seat of the contestant area. He finally stood up and walked around to the open space at the side to start stretching his legs to warm up. At this time, the horizontal bar referee on the scene had already raised the horizontal bar to a height of 1.8 meters.
The coaches in the audience couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw Jiang Yuan move.
"Coach Liu, Jiang Yuan on your team has such a stable mentality."
"Yes, he was not in a hurry even when the bar reached 1.8 meters. With his temperament, personality and mentality, I think some adult athletes are not as steady as him."
Liu Wenjian: “…”
Listening to the praises from the people around him, they didn't know that Liu Wenjian was already wishing he could take a few quick-acting heart pills - Jiang Yuan was a steady guy, but he was not stable!
1.8 meters, you are too steady!
But he really couldn't do anything about Jiang Yuan. Not only that, Liu Wenjian was actually feeling nervous and proud at the same time. After all, this was a talented young man that he had personally picked out from the summer camp.
On the court, Jiang Yuan was unaware of the complex psychological activities of his coach in the audience.
After he stood up, he warmed up and adjusted his physical condition on the ground nearby, while continuing to watch the performance of the athletes who were about to conduct the first round of trial jumps at a height of 1.8 meters.
The first player to take the stage was a player from the J Province team, named Wang Wenye. His performance in the preliminaries was not very good, but in the final just now, his performances in the first few rounds of trial jumps were very outstanding. From a height of 1.6 meters to 1.75 meters, he successfully cleared the bar in one go for many consecutive attempts.
However, the height of 1.8 meters is already a big threshold for these students. Although Wang Wenye succeeded in the previous attempts, he still failed in the first round of attempts this time.
I don’t know if it was the impact of Wang Wenye’s failed first jump, but after his first jump failed, there were three consecutive contestants who failed in the next attempt, so that when the fifth contestant stood in front of the running line, he was already in a highly tense state.
For these players, 1.8 meters is not an insurmountable threshold, but competitive competitions are sometimes like this. When one player fails, it may lead to a chain reaction of failures.
As expected, the fifth contestant's attempt was also unsuccessful.
This result was a surprise to everyone present - there were only seven contestants left in the competition, and 1.8 meters was not a very difficult height, but continuous failures still occurred.
When the fifth contestant failed in his attempt, the referee on the scene turned his attention to Zhang Zhaohe.
Because Jiang Yuan stood up, Zhang Zhaohe also stood up and started warming up not long after sitting. At this time, at the signal of the referee, Zhang Zhaohe, who was the second to last to play, had also arrived at the starting line.
For Zhang Zhaohe, 1.8 meters was not a very difficult height. However, with the failure of five consecutive players in front of him, Zhang Zhaohe, who was standing at the starting line, suddenly felt that his heart seemed to be a little tense, and even his breathing became a little heavy.
Zhang Zhaohe shook his head vigorously, getting rid of some unnecessary worries in his mind - Zhang Zhaohe, it's just 1.8 meters high, you can do it!
He kept comforting himself in this way in his heart, but perhaps because of the impact of the consecutive failures of the five players in front of him, Zhang Zhaohe always felt that the height of the horizontal bar in front of him was much higher than the 1.8 meters he expected.
In the audience, the coaches knew things were bad when they saw Zhang Zhaohe's facial expression.
This is not to say that Zhang Zhaohe is unable to jump above 1.8 meters, but because when he tried to jump in the first round, the horizontal bar was still 1.6 meters high. Now, for Zhang Zhaohe, the horizontal bar was suddenly raised to 1.8 meters, and he lacked a period of adaptation.
In addition, there were consecutive failures of contestants before. This continuous failure had a very strong psychological implication on the young contestants, and would make people instinctively develop a mentality of "no one else can jump over it, this is too difficult."
Originally, Zhang Zhaohe was fully focused on Jiang Yuan at this moment, and with all these unfavorable factors in between, it was almost natural that Zhang Zhaohe's first jump failed.
When his legs and the horizontal bar fell onto the sponge bag, Zhang Zhaohe was still a little dazed. When he turned over and stood up from the sponge bag, his face looked obviously not very good.
The coaches at the scene shook their heads: "This Zhang Zhaohe is a little anxious."
As the head coach of the G Province team, Zhao Weiping was very calm. Just as he had thought before, Zhang Zhaohe was able to learn a lesson in today's game, which might not be a bad thing for his future personal growth.
***
On the court, Zhang Zhaohe was not aware of his coach's good intentions. Since noon, he had been thinking about competing with Jiang Yuan. He did not expect that he would suffer his first defeat at a height of 1.8 meters. Although he had failed at this height in the morning competition, his mentality then was completely different from that now.
Zhang Zhaohe kept comforting himself, trying to calm himself down - maybe, just maybe... Jiang Yuan would not be able to jump over the 1.8-meter height in the first jump?
In the audience seats, the summer camp students were also becoming extremely nervous at this moment.
"Damn it, what's going on? Even Zhang Zhaohe failed?"
"Oh my god, the atmosphere right now is so tense."
"Seven people tried to jump 1.8 meters, and six of them failed... Help! If I were in the game, I would not be able to jump over it."
Beside the stadium, Zhou Yuan also frowned and looked in the direction of Jiang Yuan with some worry.
"Oops, this jump is not easy for Yuanzi."
However, Su Yu, who was standing next to him, looked in the direction of Jiang Yuan and said confidently, "He can do it."
Zhou Yuang couldn't help laughing when he heard Su Yu's words. He raised his hand and rubbed Su Yu's head, then took his hand back before Su Yu got angry and said with a smile: "You really believe in Yuanzi!"
Su Yu pursed his lips and said nothing. He just believed what he saw about Jiang Yuan's condition. At this moment, Jiang Yuan, standing in front of the starting line, remained calm. After taking off his jacket and trousers, he looked stronger than usual.
At this moment, he was standing in front of the starting line and had raised his right hand to signal to the referee that he was about to start the trial jump. The timer on the scene started a 1-minute countdown. The time limiter stared at the timer and counted the seconds while looking at Jiang Yuan who was standing in front of the starting line with his eyes closed. The time limiter felt that compared with Jiang Yuan who was about to start the trial jump, he was even more nervous.
The timer's hands were ticking, and every tick seemed to be urging the athletes to start jumping.
In the previous trial jump, almost every athlete started their run-up when the waiting time was only a dozen seconds due to the great pressure. However, Jiang Yuan in front of him closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the timer passing second by second. It was not until the time limiter on the scene was about to raise the yellow flag in his hand indicating that there were only 15 seconds left that Jiang Yuan, who was standing in front of the running-up line, opened his eyes instantly and took his first step in the run-up.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Jiang Yuan uses a standard eight-step run-up. The elastic strides in the first four steps raise his body's center of gravity. The following arc run-up will begin to quickly gather strength to the take-off leg of the last step!
All the strength was gathered in this step. By pushing off the ground to convert lateral force into rising force, Jiang Yuan's body quickly flew into the air at this moment. His right leg swung quickly to provide assistance, and his body twisted quickly towards the horizontal bar.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the figure in the air.
Jump, soar, twist, and then after the upper body passes the horizontal bar, the shoulders sink to the waist and use the power of the hips to drive the lower body to draw a perfect arc and pass the horizontal bar.
Perfect...
A jump without any contact with the crossbar at all!
Clean and neat, perfect pass in one go!
When seeing Jiang Yuan pass the bar perfectly and land on the sponge bag and turn over, this boy who usually remains gentle and calm also smiled rarely. After looking back at the horizontal bar, he jumped off the sponge bag with a faint smile and returned to his position in the preparation area.
So far, in the first round of trial jumps at a height of 1.8 meters, only Jiang Yuan successfully cleared the bar!
In the coaching area in the audience seats, the coaches from various provincial teams and sports schools were really envious of Jiang Yuan when they saw him.
Such a big heart and such ability to withstand pressure!
When the previous six contestants all failed in their attempts, Jiang Yuan was only trying out his first jump, but he was able to withstand all the pressure and give a perfect jump.
Seeing Jiang Yuan, who successfully crossed the horizontal bar but still looked calm and composed, Zhao Weiping was really envious. He said to Liu Wenjian, "Coach Liu, you are so lucky!"
Liu Wenjian also had a big smile on his face at this moment: "No matter what, it's all luck."
The coaches laughed and scolded: "Yes, your S Province Sports Team is really lucky this time."
After hearing this evaluation, both Liu Wenjian and Wang Changan smiled and said nothing - after all, what these coaches said was true, and their S Province Sports Team was indeed very lucky this time.
***
At the high jump finals venue, Jiang Ruohui couldn't help but gasp after seeing Jiang Yuan successfully clear the bar in one try: "Ye Zi, why do I feel like Zhang Zhaohe is going to fail this time?"
Ye Minghao looked in Jiang Yuan's direction and nodded carefully: "Zhang Zhaohe will have a hard time in this round. Jiang Yuan is really strong."
On the field, Jiang Yuan, who was praised as "really strong", calmly put on a white sports jacket, and had no intention of putting on trousers. It was obvious that he simply put on the jacket to reduce the loss of body heat.
On the field, with Jiang Yuan's successful trial jumps, the players who had failed previously naturally felt more pressure. But perhaps because Jiang Yuan had already succeeded in his trial jump, Wang Wen, who was the first to compete in the second round of trial jumps, finally succeeded in clearing the bar in the second round of trial jumps.
The shadow of the previous consecutive failures seemed to have finally dissipated. Among the next five contestants, some succeeded and some failed. Zhang Zhaohe also successfully crossed the height of 1.8 meters in the second round of trial jumps, but his face obviously did not relax.
At this point in the game, the battle between Zhang Zhaohe and Jiang Yuan seemed to be in the lead for the time being.
Soon, the three rounds of trial jumps at a height of 1.8 meters were all completed. Only one contestant was eliminated due to consecutive failed attempts. The remaining six contestants entered a new round of trial jumps with a score of 1.8 meters.
After the eliminated players left the field, the crossbar referee on site raised the crossbar to 1.85 meters at the signal of the chief referee, and soon a new round of competition began.
In this round, perhaps influenced by the previous round, when Jiang Yuan took the stage, only one of the five consecutive players in front of him failed to clear the bar. In other words, if Jiang Yuan failed in the first jump, his result would immediately fall behind the four players who had successfully cleared the bar.
Beside the stadium, Zhou Yuang looked at the situation on the field and shook his head helplessly.
"What kind of luck is Yuanzi? Why does he always encounter such extreme situations?"
Su Yu looked at the situation in front of him calmly: "This is the competition."
Yes, this is a competition, so any extreme situation may occur on the field. When encountering such extreme situations, what is tested is the players' ability to withstand pressure and their psychological quality.
Jiang Yuan, standing in front of the starting line, seemed to maintain his consistent state this time. When the time limiter on the scene waved the yellow flag in his hand, it was time for him to start running from the starting line.
Under the gaze of the audience, his steps always maintained the same rhythm as always. When his take-off leg pushed down with all his strength on the ground in front of the horizontal bar, the powerful vertical force once again sent him high into the air, allowing him to draw a nearly perfect curve over the bar in mid-air under the bright afternoon sun.
When he landed on the sponge bag and stood up, amid the cheers and applause from the audience and the nervous and stressful gazes of the contestants, the referee also wrote a new line of record in his score record book:
[S Province Sports Team Summer Camp-Jiang Yuan, 1.85 meters height, cleared the bar in one go. 】
On the field, Jiang Yuan, who successfully crossed the horizontal bar, smiled and waved in the direction of Su Yu and Zhou Yuang. Zhou Yuang also waved and cheered Jiang Yuan on, while turning his head to ask Su Yu next to him.
"Xiao Yu, Yuan Zi is in good shape today. How high do you think Yuan Zi can jump in the final today?"
Su Yu looked at Jiang Yuan's happy expression on the field and said seriously, "Very high."
Zhou Yuang was stunned. Very high? What kind of answer is this?
Su Yu thought for a moment and responded again: "Very high, more than 1.9 or 2 meters, higher than any height he has jumped before."
Looking at Jiang Yuan who put on his coat again on the field, Su Yu said word by word: "He wants to win."
Not winning races casually, but winning as much as he could, reaching higher highs, crossing heights he had never crossed before.
Su Yu could actually sense that before today, Jiang Yuan had an indifferent attitude towards competitions. He didn't hate training and competitions, but he didn't have his own obsession with winning or losing. Or maybe... it was because Jiang Yuan's always gentle and calm personality and overly stable mentality made him unable to discover the desire and expectation for victory in his heart.
But today is different. Su Yu can feel that Jiang Yuan has a different feeling about victory than before.
Thinking of this, a look of expectation different from the past appeared on Su Yu's usually sickly and stubborn face - he liked the feeling of chasing victory and surpassing the past, and it was obvious that in today's final, Jiang Yuan also began to challenge himself gradually for such a feeling.
He is now very much looking forward to seeing Jiang Yuan who is completely different from the past.
Thinking of this, Su Yu looked more seriously at the high jump final arena - he was waiting for Jiang Yuan's next self-transcendence and battle.
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