Chapter 470 I’m Not an Athlete
Xiao Peng inexplicably received a call from the staff of the live broadcast website on the boat at night.
"What do you want from me?" Xiao Peng asked in confusion.
The staff member quickly said, "Mr. Xiao, we know you don't like us disturbing your life. Normally, we wouldn't contact you no matter what, but things are a bit complicated now. Someone from the State Sports Commission contacted us and asked us to give them your contact information. We can't refuse an order from above."
Xiao Peng suddenly realized that the last time he live-broadcast his clay pigeon shooting on the boat, he shocked everyone: he hit the target with fifty consecutive shots.
The people in his livestream finally understood one thing: Xiao Peng wasn't exaggerating; he was truly going to the Olympics and would definitely win the championship. Someone recorded the video, and it went viral online, even reaching the attention of those in the sports department.
"Don't let this happen again! No matter what the reason." Xiao Peng said calmly, "I'll take care of it this time."
The person on the other end of the phone was also feeling extremely aggrieved. How could they have the final say in such matters? They couldn't afford to offend the people above them. However, they also knew that Xiao Peng's situation was special, so this was a case of "when the gods fight, the little devils suffer."
Not long after Xiao Peng hung up, the phone rang again, and it was a call from China.
"Are you Mr. Xiao?" A middle-aged man's voice came from the phone, his tone full of confidence.
"No!" Xiao Peng hung up the phone directly.
A man in Beidu was holding the phone, confused for a moment, and asked the person next to him: "Wrong number? They said I dialed the wrong number!"
A person dressed as a secretary standing nearby said, "Director Chen, the phone number is correct! Is he deliberately denying it?"
Director Chen thought for a moment and called again. When the call was connected, he got straight to the point: "We know you are Xiao Peng! I am Chen Yun, the director of the Shooting and Archery Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport!"
"I don't care who you are?" Xiao Peng shouted directly, "What time is it? Don't other people want to sleep?"
After hearing this, Chen Yun's secretary lowered his voice and said, "The time difference, it's ten o'clock in the evening there now."
"It's only ten o'clock in the evening, you shouldn't be sleeping!" Chen Yun said, "Xiao Peng, I'm really sorry to disturb your rest! But now we're looking for you to do something important to win glory for our country..."
"Not interested!" Xiao Peng said directly.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yun slammed the table and raged, "What's wrong with you young people? How can you be so unorganized and undisciplined? National interests and collective interests are above all else!"
Xiao Peng frowned after hearing this. "Hey, buddy, are you sick? What era is this? Why is it that in our country, any athlete who does something that goes against the will of the leadership is always accused of disregarding national interests? Are you the country? Are you the collective? Athletes shouldn't have personal opinions? Let me ask you, is this your personal gain and political career, or the national interest?"
Chen Yun was left speechless by Xiao Peng's rebuttal. Did he even need to answer this question directly? Of course, it was his own political achievements and career! How much benefit would "discovering a world champion" bring to his political achievements?
Of course, this cannot be said.
Chen Yun coughed dryly: "What are you talking about? Of course I'm doing this for our country!"
"Oh!" Xiao Peng said disdainfully, "I don't believe you, even if you say it. I'll just assume you're doing it for the country. But let me ask you this: Am I an athlete? You're flattering me with this attitude. Are you just used to being arrogant, or what?"
After hearing this, Chen Yun stood there in a daze. Xiao Peng hit his sore spot.
Chinese sports are currently very strong, but they have a "national system" where athlete training follows the traditional "sports school - provincial sports team - national team" model. Furthermore, the training programs are clearly targeted towards the Olympics.
This training model has its advantages, namely, it can solve the economic pressure of some young people's families and allow them to focus on training and easily achieve good results; however, its disadvantage is that results are king, and without results there is no way out, which is basically a case of 'one general's success is built on the bones of thousands of soldiers'.
And as the saying goes, 'the one who eats the food is soft-mouthed, and the one who receives the food is short-handed'. After all, you are trained by the country with money, so if you go against your leader a little, you will be labeled as 'disrespecting national interests'.
How many talented athletes have been humiliated by such trivial matters? Some have retired early, some have been scorned, some have been banished to the sidelines... and within a few years, the best years of their athletic careers have been wasted.
Take, for example, basketball coach Wang, who, due to a conflict between the NBA summer season and a minor domestic game, didn't return to China. He was ultimately accused of "disrespecting national interests" and kicked out of the national team for years. It wasn't until years later that the national team, due to poor results, re-employed him. Later, upon entering the NBA, Yao Ming's first act was to pay a large sum of money to the Sports Association as a "training fee," precisely to avoid a repeat of Coach Wang's experience.
Xiao Peng can actually understand this approach. After all, everyone has their own selfish desires: you want to do your thing, I want to do mine. How can we lead a team without rules? Therefore, the necessary rules and regulations are indeed necessary. However, as Xiao Peng mentioned, many times, the punishment of athletes is tied to the personal interests and careers of officials involved, and the motives are anything but pure! Just like when tennis player Li Na was publicly and shockingly slapped by a leader on the podium. Could she not retire?
However, Li Na's retirement is also a good thing. From then on, she embarked on the path of professional tennis and became the first Asian female Grand Slam champion.
Furthermore, because the system trains athletes, the sports they train for are generally those vying for the Olympics. This has led to the emergence of a non-systemic athlete whose parents pay them heavily, they study abroad, and they win championships on their own. Officials are helpless when they encounter such athletes; they don't know how to deal with them.
Take Feng Shanshan, for example. Many people in China don't know her, but she's a huge international celebrity. She's the world's top female golfer! When you encounter athletes like this, you need to appeal to their emotions, reason with them, and offer them the best opportunities to compete for your country. It was Feng Shanshan who won China's first Olympic golf medal.
But there is also a problem here: those athletes outside the system are also athletes, and they make a living by participating in competitions.
And what about Xiao Peng? He's not an athlete at all; he's an ocean salvage expert, and shooting is just a "personal hobby." There's really no way to deal with someone like that.
Chen Yun was still composing his words when Xiao Peng said directly, "You're so arrogant even though you're disturbing someone's rest? You have no manners!"
The phone was hung up again!
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