Chapter 200: Campaign for the Asian Games (1/2)

Chapter 200: Campaign for the Asian Games

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

There was a month left before the Asian Games would begin. The national team was the first to arrive in the host city, Xingkou.

The benefit of being the host city was that the athletes were already acclimated to the environment, especially the natural feeling and climate.

Each place had its own way of supporting its civilians. In ancient times, when medical conditions were undeveloped, many people who traveled long distances might die in foreign places. During that time, one had to risk their life to travel to other provinces.

As for athletes traveling for competitions, the most important thing was to adjust themselves to the new environment. Once one arrived at a new place, they would need to get acclimated to the climate, temperature, time difference, food, accommodations, etc. Athletes had to get used to the new environment and get comfortable as soon as possible so that they could perform better in their competitions.

The national team arrived at Xingkou City one month early in an effort to make athletes feel more comfortable in Xingkou.

Xingkou City was located in the southern part of the country, which provided a completely different climate from Huajing City. Moreover, the diet in Xingkou was abnormal for most northern athletes. The reason the team had arrived one month early was to ensure the athletes could get accustomed to the food.

The sprinting team was made up of five participants. Sijie Yang, Guohong Niu and Yue Zhao were the newcomers. Guohong Niu was the alternate for the relay race, and didn't have any individual contest to worry about. Sijie Yang would participate in the 100m sprint, while Yue Zhao was here for the 200m sprint.

In addition, Jun Xie and Zitao Wei would also compete. The two had attended the last Olympic games, and were at the top level in Asia. They could definitely compete for a medal. In these Asian Games, the two would both participate in the 100m and 200m sprint.

To the national team, Sijie Yang and Guohong Niu were there to gain some experience; they represented the team's future. Yue Zhao was the third participant for the 200m sprint, so the national team didn't have much faith in him. The task of competing for a medal had been given to Jun Xie and Zitao Wei.

During this one-month period, besides regular training, the sprinting team had mainly focused on practicing for the relay race. As an alternate, Guohong Niu focused on it, while others like Sijie Yang and Yue Zhao also joined in. Dai Li had taken this chance to put the entire sprinting team into the System's training list in order to gain experience points.

Four to five days before the Asian Games began, foreign teams gradually arrived in Xingkou City. The Asian Games were about to begin.

...

On the training field, the preliminary contest for the men's 100m sprint was about to start.

Because many sprinters also had to compete in the 200m race, in order to reduce the athletes' stress and fatigue, the 100m and 200m sprint were scheduled separately. The relay race was scheduled to be the final phase of the track and field competitions.

The three athletes for the 100m sprint were Jun Xie, Zitao Wei, and Sijie Yanghe. The first two had participated in the Olympics, although they had not achieved anything, they had been in big events before. When they stood on the field, they looked relaxed and comfortable.

In contrast, it was Sijie Yang's first time in an international-level competition. It was no wonder he was anxious.

Fortunately, passing the preliminary contest was nothing difficult to Sijie Yang. The level of Asian athletics as a whole was too low; many participants in the preliminary contest were emphasizing participation. Countries like Timor-Leste and Maldives had sprinters who were amateurs, semi-professionals, or simply sprinting enthusiasts.

The national team coaches were concentrating on the strong components. Li Xue pointed at a black athlete and introduced him to Dai Li. ”That man is Clark from Qatar! He is the current Asian Flying Man!”

Dai Li looked in his direction and saw a short black athlete. He was around 1.6 meters tall. He did not look very strong, and seemed old. He seemed to be in his forties, but according to his personal information, he was thirty years old.

Clark had been born in Kenya, then domesticated to Qatar. Two years later, he gave Qatar their first Asian Championship. After another two years, he succeeded in running under ten seconds, which broke the Asian record. He became the first ”Asian” to run in under ten seconds.