437 The Shadow of the Failure (2/2)

Dai Li smiled awkwardly, and he asked, ”What's the following story then? Holly lost the gold medal. He has been accused by Americans, hasn't he?”

”No, he is our hero!” Blake shook his head and added, ”It seems that you don't know there are two programs under 50m rifle. They are 50m Rifle Three Positions, in which Holly lost the gold medal, and 50m Rifle Prone, which ended earlier. And the winner of the Olympic 50m Rifle Prone competition was Adam Holly. Why should we blame a man who won one gold medal and one silver medal in the Olympic Games?”

”Oh! I only know his bad luck at the Olympic Games. I really didn't know that he had already been an Olympic champion before his failure,” replied Dai Li.

”Almost everyone blamed the failure on Holly's bad luck. And the failure did pay Holly something in return. A Czech female shooter comforted Holly after the final ended. Her name is Ekarina, and she is Adam Holly's wife now. He lost a gold medal, but he got a beauty,” Blake said.

”Yuan, Miao Bu Ke Yan…” Dai Li whispered in Chinese.

”What are you saying?” asked Blake.

”It means…” Dai Li took some efforts to explain this Chinese idiom to Blake and finally, Dai Li made himself half-understood.

Blake knew that it was hard for Dai Li to express the exact meaning of the phrase in English. So, he didn't waste much time on the Chinese sentence. He went back to talking about Adam Holly. ”During the years after the Olympic Games, Holly got world championships many times. He was then still ruling the 50m air rifle program. I even thought he was not influenced by his bad luck at the last shot in the Olympic Games that year.”

”But I was wrong.” Blake changed his tone and added, ”Victories Holly got were all because of advantages at early stages of his matches. Holly could win with all his advantages before the final shot. And four years later he was in the Olympic final again, and it was the final shot again. And he failed again. At that moment, everyone realized that he had never escaped the shadow of his failure caused by missing the target four years before.”

”I watch that match on TV. Holly had always been in the leading position, and he was in a good competitive state. He often got 10.5 points and more. He was 4 points more than the shooter in the second place before the final shot. That was a decisive advantage, which meant he only needed another 6 points to be the winner. And the fact was his final shot got only 4.4 points, a score that was almost never seen in an Olympic match,” Dai Li said.

”Yes. And that score showed that he never walked out the shadow of his failure four years before. In fact, he got totally 400 points in the previous 120 shots with prone position, which proved that he was still a king of the 50m air rifle program. Unfortunately, the final shot was his nightmare…” Blake sighed regretfully. ”From that day on, he has been stuck by the final shot. It is a good score for him if his final shot can get more than 8 points. Therefore, he is called 'Tragic Last Shot.'”

”It's a mental problem!” Dai Li threw up his hands and added, ”Doesn't he go to a psychologist?”

”Of course he does. He has seen psychologists from America and Europe, and famous psychologists all over the world. I think a psychologist would gain great fame if he could solve Holly's problem of his final shot,” said Blake.

”His problem is not solved by famous psychologists. And he turns to me, a coach?” Dai Li asked, laughing.

Blake obviously held a different opinion. He replied, ”Don't you feel that's better? You will not need to worry. It's better if you can solve his problem. And it's also okay if you cannot.”

Dai Li thought for a moment and he said, ”Let me meet with Mr. Holly first and then I can decide.”

”Okay. We really should have a talk with him in person. I will let you know after I set up the appointment,” Blake said. ”Next is a piece of good news. I haven't got letters of resignation for eight weeks. The trend of resignations of our coaches has ended.”

”Okay. Those who want our coaches have got enough coaches from here. And those who wanted to leave left.” Dai Li smiled mysteriously. ”Do you still remember what I said before? It's not so simple to get my employees!”