521 Two World Champions and One Newbie (2/2)

The Olympic record for the women's hammer throw was 78.18 meters, and the world record was 81.08 meters. According to the statistics from the world-class competitions, a distance longer than 76 meters would give the athlete a gold medal.

Will it be a new world record? Dai Li looked at the scoreboard.

The scoreboard showed a score of 82.29 meters after a careful measurement and the referee's confirmation.

OK. That's a new world record, 1.21 meters longer than the former record! Dai Li took a deep breath. He knew that America wouldn't get the gold medal for this program. Facing a new world record, athletes from other counties could not get the gold medal either.

The state scale couldn't solve this problem. An athlete without the strength to break the world record could never win the competition even with his best performance.

In the end, America got a bronze from women's hammer throw, which made Dai Li a little disappointed. All he could do was accept it. The rival broke the world record after all.

The women's 3000m steeplechase followed. This was the second event of the day which awarded medals.

The competition was seen as between America, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Kenya won gold, America won silver, and Ethiopia won bronze.

The first two finals that day brought America no gold medals, only one silver, and one bronze. However, that was a big achievement in and of itself.

The following three programs were the first round of men's 400m hurdles, the first round of men's 110m hurdles, and the qualification of women's discus throw.

The 400m hurdles and the 110m hurdles were all where the US was likely to win gold. In women's discus throw, no American athlete entered the final.

The third medal round that day was in the men's pole vault.

The rules of the high jump and the pole vault were different from the rule of the long jump. In the long jump, the top eight athletes in the first three jumps would then jump three more times. The one who jumped the longest of the eight would be the gold medalist.

The goal of the high jump was to clear a set height that gradually increased. An athlete had three chances to try to clear every height. The athlete could challenge the next height as long as he or she jumped over the current height in any of his or her three jumps. The athlete was eliminated if they missed three umps. The height wouldn't stop increasing until there was only one athlete left. They would be the champion.

The pole vault allowed an athlete to pass at any height. The athlete might choose to pass all the jumps at a certain height in order to save his or her energy for a higher one. The pass would not be counted as a jump. To put it simply, an athlete could skip a height and directly choose to jump at the next height.

What's more, the athlete could choose to pass the current height if he or she failed in the first or the second jump at this height. He or she could only use the chances left for this height to jump at the next height. For example, if one failed in the first jump at a height and he chose to pass, he would only have two chances to jump at the next height, with the failure counted as one jump.

Meanwhile, an athlete was not allowed to jump again at a height if he chose to pass at the height. You passed the height and then you must attempt the next height.

When the height was increased so high that only one athlete was left, the one must jump, and was not allowed to pass.

Theoretically, an athlete could always choose to pass until no one else left. Such a strategy would give him or her the highest height. The athlete would be the champion if he or she jumped over the height. Otherwise, the athlete's score would be zero.

…

The day's competition's first height was 5.50 meters. Athletes from France and Russia chose to pass. They thought it too easy for them and could not even consider it a warm up. So, they decided not to jump so that they could save some energy.

The other ten athletes jumped. It was an easy height that could be a warm up for them to get familiar with the competition field or to gain their competitive mindset.

The height of 5.50 meters was not so difficult for those who could be in the Olympic final. All athletes jumped over it except one Latvian athlete.

Eleven athletes remained on the field. The next height was 5.65 meters, 0.15 meters higher than the previous height.

According to IAAF's rules, the height increased every time in the pole vault should be at least 5 centimeters. Athletes in the Olympic Games were all the top-level in the world. At the beginning of the competition, an increase of 5 centimeters each time would force athletes to jump too many times, which would slow down the competition and make athletes exhausted. That would make the competition boring to watch and the athletes' scores low. So, the height was directly increased by 15 centimeters.

5.65 meters was a relatively difficult height in an Olympic final. One unable to clear this height could never win the gold medal.

This height made five athletes leave the final. Six remained.

The next height was 5.75 meters, which saw the elimination of another athlete. Five remained in the final.

The fourth height was 5.85 meters, 10 centimeters higher than the previous one. Four succeeded in clearing this height and one chose to pass after he failed twice, which left him only one chance to jump at the next height.

The fifth height was 5.93 meters, 7 centimeters higher, not 10 centimeters. That was because that the Olympic record was 5.97 meters.

The Olympic record was 5.97 meters.It required that the final must set a height of 5.98 meters to see whether anyone could clear it and break the record. According to rules from the IAAF, the increase in height should be at least 5 centimeters each time. So, the height before 5.98 meters was 5.93 meters.

Two athletes were eliminated at this height. A French athlete, a Russian athlete, and an American athlete were still competing. The next height they would challenge was the Olympic record of 5.98 meters.

…

”The next height is 5.98 meters and we still have three athletes. Pat Riley, the defending champion from France, Kurayev, the world champion from Russia, and Muller from the US,” said the commentator.

Pat Riley was the champion in the last Olympic Games. It was him who had created the Olympic record of 5.97 meters in men's pole vault.

The Russian athlete, Kurayev, was the gold medalist of the world championship two years ago. He was excellent.

With such a fame and strength, the two could undoubtedly challenge the Olympic record.

But the American, Franz Muller, was a newbie to the world-class competition.

At that moment, the head coach of Russia, Merkulov, looked at the handsome Muller in surprise.

Who can tell me who this Muller is? Where does he come from? How could he make it? How could it be possible for this guy whom I never heard of to challenge the Olympic record together with world champions?