525 Triumph Belongs to the Brave (1/2)

It was the fifth day of the Olympic track and field competitions. The track and field events being held were the women's pole vaulting qualification round and the first round of the women's 5000 meters. The next event was the final in the men's triple jump.

The US team was favored to win the gold medal in men's triple jump and they had two athletes participating.

Europeans were also quite good at the men's triple jump. In the past three decades, Europeans had gotten excellent results in this event. However, several of Europe's traditional triple jump powers failed to perform well in this Olympics and no European teams made the final.

On the contrary, players from Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Guyana and other countries in the Central and South America advanced. On top of that, three athletes from the Chinese team advanced to the final. The Chinese team therefore had one more athlete than the American team.

Jinrong Hu, the coach of the Chinese team in charge of the long jump, was an acquaintance of Dai Li. When Dai Li had graduated from college, he had entered into the Hanbei Province Sports Bureau and worked as a choreman in the Beikou Base. At that time, Jinrong Hu also worked at Beikou Base, so Dai Li had the chance to get acquainted with him. After Dai Li trained Haiquan Fang, Jinrong Hu personally took Haiquan Fang away from the base. When Dai Li went to the national team for further learning, he also worked with Jinrong Hu. He worked with him during the Asian Games.

Many years had passed. Jinrong Hu was still the coach of the national team that was in charge of the long jump. Although he was more experienced and qualified, he didn't officially get promoted.

However, Dai Li, who had worked in the Beikou Training Base as a choreman at that time, had become the head coach of the U.S. national team.

At this point, the game was about to start. Dai Li and Jinrong Hu stood together and they had a friendly talk.

”Coach Li, the US national team is determined to win the gold medal in the men's triple jump, right? Dorries was the defending champion of the men's triple jump, so there is no doubt that he will win this gold medal,” Jinrong Hu said with a smile.

”Maybe, we still have four Chinese athletes that advanced to the final,” Dai Li still used ”we”, which made Jinrong Hu feel comfortable with him.

Jinrong Hu was comfortable with the word Dai Li had used - ”we.” He felt that although Dai Li had become the coach of the US team, he was still modest and didn't regard himself as an outsider.

”Oh, it's just a fluke. You certainly knew the ability of our athletes. They lack both ability and experience. They are good in Asia, but they were not qualified to be in the Olympic final,” said Jinrong Hu.

”Coach Hu, I don't believe you don't want your athletes to win the championship,” Dai Li said, smiling. ”The soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier!”

Jinrong Hu didn't deny what Dai Li said, but he knew that it was almost impossible for them to defeat the U.S. team and win the gold medal. He changed the topic and said, ”Anyway, Coach Li, it couldn't have been easy to achieve what you have these past few years, right? When did you go to the U.S.?”

Dai Li began to tell his experience, ”When I left our track and field team and returned to the provincial team, I met Zhizhong Gu by chance. At that time, Zhizhong Gu was the coach of the national table tennis team, so he recruited me to be the physical coach for the team. You must have heard about what happened to the national table tennis team later.”

”Zhizhong Gu was demoted, and you were also affected, right?” Jinrong Hu had been on the national team for several years, so he had a clear idea of the regulations of the national team. Therefore, Jinrong Hu could guess what would happen to Dai Li after Zhizhong Gu was demoted.

”I was transferred to some committee for applying for the intangible cultural heritage status for a sort of free-hand boxing. I can't even remember the official name for free-hand boxing now! I was promoted in terms of ranking, but the new job was actually a position with little work. I am a coach and I don't know anything about an intangible cultural heritage application. So I quit,” Dai Li said.

”So you went to the U.S.?” asked Jinrong Hu.

”I didn't have enough money to go to the U.S. at that time! So I went to the Dingtian Football Club and followed Harman for a year as a fitness coach,” said Dai Li.

”Dingtian offered a good salary, right? I heard that Dingtian group was very rich; they spent a lot money on football,” Jinrong Hu said.

”Dingtian indeed offers a pretty good salary. I wouldn't have had enough money to open a training center in the U.S. without them,” Dai Li said. ”I worked at Dingtian Club for a year, during which I saved some money. Then I went to the U.S., rented a place, and opened a physical training center. In the beginning, nobody came to my training center. To save on the rent, I had to train some disabled athletes for free. I was lucky enough to meet Philips, namely, the blade runner.”

Dai Li gave a brief summary of what happened after that. He mentioned helping Taylor comeback, helping Holly overcome a tragedy, and helping Alexander, Ford, and Aylwin with their training. By the time the performance-enhancing drugs scandal broke, the U.S. team had no available coaches, so Dai Li was appointed head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team in a time of crisis.

Dai Li go to in depth into his story; he skipped over many details. For Jinrong Hu, Dai Li's experience over the years was full of ups and downs.

”Oh my god, it sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster to me! Your experience is enough for you to make a two-part autobiography now!” Hu sighed.

When Dai Li and Jinrong Hu were talking to each other, a young Chinese woman came over with a press card hanging around her neck. There was a national flag design on her press card, to make it obvious that she was a reporter from China.

”Coach Hu!” The female reporter greeted Jinrong Hu in a sweet voice, but his eyes were fixed on Dai Li.

”It's Miss Liu!” It was apparent that Coach Hu knew the female reporter.

”Is this Coach Li?” Obviously, Dai Li was the real target of the reporter.

Jinrong Hu knew that she had just came over to talk to Dai Li, so he did Dai Li a favor and introduced them. ”Coach Li, let me introduce Miss Ran Liu, a reporter sent by CCTV to cover the Olympics.”

”Hello, Miss Liu,” Dai Li nodded politely.

”Coach Li, I have heard so much about you. I feel so lucky to finally be able to meet you.” The female reporter shook hands with Dai Li, who was smiling warmly.

The three were chatting casually when Ran Liu asked, ”Coach Li, do you have time for an interview?”

”Well I don't want this to have been a complete waste of time for you.” Dai Li thought for a while, then he smiled and nodded. ”No problem, but I'm busy with my work at the moment. You can tell my assistant that I have agreed to an interview, he will arrange a time for you.”

...

The final of the men's triple jump finally began. One of the two athletes on the U.S. team was Dorries, the champion in the last Olympics. Their goal was to win the gold medal again.

With the aid of the state scale, Dorries had an excellent performance in the third trial jump. His final score was 17.96 meters. Athletes from other countries lost almost all of their motivation.

The world record for the men's triple jump was 18.29 meters and the Olympic record was 18.09 meters. At present, it was almost impossible for athletes to challenge the two records. Dorries' score could rank in the top 10 showings ever, and 17.96 meters was enough to determine the outcome of the competition ahead of time.

Another American athlete also performed well in the fifth trial jump. His final score was 17.75 meters. He was ranked second, securing for him the silver medal. The Chinese athletes were respectively the third and the fourth, winning a bronze medal for the Chinese team.

The two events that followed were the men's 1,500m preliminary round and the first round of women's 100m hurdles. The two American athletes both did well in the men's 1,500m preliminary, so they each made it to the final. The U.S. was traditionally good at the women's 100m hurdles, so the first round was stress-free for them.

These events were followed by the women's discus final. Dai Li did not pay attention to it, because no one on the US team could make it to the final.

The men's 200m race was held at the same time. All three of the American athletes made it to the final, and Macnee, Jamaica's No.1 sprinter, made his second appearance.

The morning races were over and the next races would not be held until the evening.

...

Neither the U.S. men's basketball team nor the U.S. National Track and Field Team stayed in the Olympic village.

The village was too simple and crude for American athletes. What's more, the U.S. Track and Field Association could raise hundreds of millions of dollars from several major sponsors a year, so it was not too crazy for them to book a hotel.

Franz Muller's race was over but, instead of going out to enjoy Rio's nightlife, he stayed in the hotel.

Of course, it was not because Muller wasn't interested in going out, all the young people were, but Muller had no money.

He was still a college student and, although the full scholarship guaranteed him a comfortable life, it wasn't be enough for him to constantly spend money.

Rio de Janeiro was not a cheap city. It was more expensive than Las Vegas. In Rio de Janeiro, as long as you had enough money, you could enjoy everything you could enjoy in Las Vegas. In addition, you could also enjoy what you couldn't enjoy in Las Vegas.