522 The Newbie’s Counterattack (1/2)

The height was 5.98 meters and three athletes remained, two of whom were world champions.

A competition between two world champions could draw in a very large audience by itself, but a third party took part in the competition. Franz Muller, a young man who was new to the Olympic Games, was about to challenge the record height along with the two world champions.

He was at least going to win a bronze medal. Getting a bronze medal was an impressive achievement in men's pole vault when one was competing with two world champions.

The handsome young man drew more and more attention. The audience began to talk about his good looks and reporters began to search for his information. They found he had no achievements in international competitions and, looking into it further, didn't have any in U.S. either.

”This Franz Muller was chosen by you, wasn't he?” The team leader, Downey asked. ”He never took part in any qualifying competition, right?”

”You are right. He missed the American tryouts due to some unfortunate circumstances. He has the talent, though. That's why I chose him,” replied Dai Li.

”I really admire your judgment. Now we know you have made a right decision, but you took a huge risk. If Muller hadn't done well you would've been blamed,” said Downey.

”That's why I'm counting on him right now,” said Dai Li.

”Well you are already a success. Someone who didn't even tryout for the Olympics getting a bronze medal is impressive,” Downey said joyfully.

Dai Li stared at Downey and said with an intentionally confused tone, ”Why do you think getting bronze is impressive?”

Downey was totally surprised. ”Do you want him to achieve more? That's not possible! Don't you know his rivals? They are the defending champion Pat Riley and the world champion Kurayev. How could Muller win a gold or silver in a competition with those two?”

”He has the talent,” Dai Li repeated. ”So, nothing is impossible!”

…

”Now, the height is 5.98 meters. Clearing this height will break the Olympic record. The first to attempt is the American athlete, Franz Muller, who was born in German and moved to America with parents in his early years. He is now a student in University of Oregon. And his score in the qualifier was…”

The American T.V. commentator paused and found that he had no document with Muller's statistics from the U.S. qualifiers.

”What's up? Was he not in the qualifiers? Was this put together by an intern? He missed such an important score! He's so fired,” said the commentator angrily.

An awkward pause followed, but the live stream on TV continued. The audience could see what was happening and they could also hear what was happening on site even though the commentator said nothing.

The commentator turned off the speaker and complained to his director. ”Who collected the information for today? I don't even have the athlete's statistics from qualifiers!”

A moment later, he heard his director's voice in his earphones. ”I looked it up for you. Franz Muller didn't take part in the U.S. qualifiers.”

The commentator suddenly remembered a report on an athlete that had gotten on to the U.S. national team without actually having participated in qualifiers. It was an indication of shady deals on the team.

This competition proved the conspiracy theory was groundless. Although he didn't take part in the Olympic qualifiers in America, Franz Muller was already one of the top three male pole vaulters in this Olympics. He already had a bronze at least.

The commentator cleared his throat and opened the speaker to go on with his introduction, ”Muller didn't actually participate in any Olympic qualifier. He was directly picked by the coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team. He is now among the first three in men's pole vault. He sure didn't let his coach down! Of course, applause must go to the head coach, too. Let's thank him for picking Muller to the team, which paid off today.”

Muller started to move just after the commentator finished his introduction. His attempt to break the world record began.

…

Muller was a nobody, so his making it this far surprised the Russian head coach, Merkulov. He didn't see Muller as a threat, though. From his perspective, a newbie like Muller didn't deserve his attention even if he was impressive. The major rival of Russia was still the defending champion from France, Pat Riley.

When Muller started to jump, Merkulov simply tried to appreciate his jump.

Muller was like a big bird flying high. He got across the bar elegantly and then fell on the sponge mat.

Oh, beautiful posture! Merkulov thought.

The next moment he realized that this young athlete unknown to him jumped over the 5.98 meter mark and had broken the Olympic record in only one jump.

How could an Olympic record be broken so easily?

He is so powerful! It seems that he can clear 6 meters. Will he be stopped at the next height? Merkulov thought.

Merkulov wasn't yet worried that Muller would win the gold because he was confident about his own athlete. 5.98 meters would stop Kurayev either.

Kurayev had won the pole vaulting world championship two years before. This height was a piece of cake for him. It also only took him one jump to succeed in clearing 5.98 meters and breaking the Olympic record.

It was easy for the first two athletes to clear 5.98 meters.

The last athlete to jump was Pat Riley from France, the defending champion of this program. He won the men's pole vault four years ago and he then broke the Olympic record at that time with a height of 5.97 meters.

To everyone's surprise, he didn't come to the field. He chose to pass.