Chapter 91: A Challenger (2/2)
”Take your time,” coach Zhao said, pointing at an empty chair.
After Director Zhang sat down, he opened a document and said, ”We just received breaking news that in the International Grand Prix in Czech, the famous Cuban hurdler David Bose just won the championship in men’s 110m hurdles. He broke Feixiang Lin’s world record with a 12.87 second performance!”
”What?” The group was suddenly thrown into a panic. Apparently nobody was willing to hear this bad news.
...
”David Bose got 12.87 seconds, 0.01 second clear of you. He will also be in the ‘Qatar Money Game.’” Li then asked Lin, ”I remember some media source once mentioned that Bose is your old enemy. Now you are going to fight against each other again. Do you feel stressed out?”
”Pressure pushes me forward,” said Lin with a calm expression. He recalled his experience, saying, ”The year I got a gold medal in Olympics was the first time I had heard about him. He won second in the IAAF World Junior Championships. Two years later, we met for the first time in the same game. He was only 20. I remember it was in a Grand Prix in Paris. I wasn’t paying much attention to him, but later he gave me a head-on blow. He took the gold medal from me.”
”Was it the year you broke world record?” asked Li.
”Yeah. That year in the game that I got the record, Bose was only fourth. In the later World Championships and World Cup, he got all bronze. Then while I was injured he took my place as the number one hurdler,” Lin said, sighing.
”Yeah, it happened all of a sudden,” said Li.
”I’ve been wasting too much time these last two years. Bose has been following in my footsteps, but now it’s my turn to catch up!” Lin looked forward, wondering about something. Then he turned to Li and said, ”I requested that you stay another month. They approved it. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you before.”
”I don’t care,” Li said, shrugging his shoulders. ”The longer I stay here, the more travel allowance I can get. It’s you who should worry. There is only one month left before the ‘Qatar Money Game.’ You still have a long way to go.”
”I know.” Lin looked serious. ”I want to get first place! I can’t allow Bose to defeat me!”
”You wanna win the game?” Li never would have thought that Lin was such an ambitious person. If Lin didn’t have such a firm look, Li wouldn’t have taken it seriously.
”You told me that as an athlete, I belong to the field. Now that I’m standing in the place where I belong, my only goal is to be a champion!” Lin said steadfastly.
”But you are not at your top level. It might offend you, but I still want to tell you—according to your current ability, David Bose is stronger than you.” Li told Lin the truth, not holding anything back.
Li knew Lin’s ability the best out of anyone. Lin’s ability was less than 800 points according to the system. With the explosive force halo he was barely able to compete against Teng Dong. David Bose had just broken the world record, which meant he must have had more than 920 points of ability. There was a 150 point gap between Lin and Bose, and no halo would make up the difference.
Hearing what Li said, Lin felt a little uncomfortable. But he still nodded. ”The current me is not as good as Bose. I need more intensive training! I have wasted two years, I can’t waste time anymore.”