531 A Good Harves (1/2)

It was the seventh day of track and field events at the Olympics.

The American team was likely to win gold medals in the men's shot put, the men's 400m hurdles, the women's 400m hurdles, the men's decathlon, and the men's 200m dash. Additionally, the preliminary round of the 4x100m relay race was also held this day.

Considering the strength of American team, as long as they didn't drop the relay baton, they'd get through this preliminary round easily.

Actually, Dai Li was known for his practice he called continuous iron chain, which strengthened the cooperation of players on a team. Dai Li use this to successfully help the national team win the championship of the 4x100m relay race in the Asian Games.

With the aid of the continuous iron chain, the American players cooperated with each other very well and successfully advanced to the final.

After the end of the relay race, the day's first track and field final took place, the men's 400m hurdles.

Since the boom of track and field sports in the 1980s, America dominated this event and continuously won several Olympic championships in the 400m hurdles.

The American team was powerful in this event because they had a group of excellent athletes. In fact, this was a difficult event and many athletes who ran the 400m hurdles changed from the 400m dash. Therefore, sometimes athletes from the 400m hurdles could act as substitutes in 4x400m relay race.

The American team had the most 400m dash athletes as well as 400m hurdles athletes. It was known that quantity often led to success. When there were many athletes engaged in a certain sport, more of them would be talents. The average talent level of American athletes was world-class.

However, in today's final of the men's 400m dash, the person who was thought to win the gold medal was a typical American but a naturalized one.

...

”Klett, you look nervous. Guess the finals in the Olympics is different from those common events. Considering your experience, I didn't expect you would be so nervous!” said Dai Li with a smile.

”I'm sorry, coach. I'm a little nervous. I will try to adjust,” said Klett. ”After all, this is my first time representing the American team.”

Klett was a 31-year old black athlete. He was representing the American team in the 400m hurdles.

He was born in Trinidad and Tobago, a small country along the Caribbean Sea. The people of this country loved sports and there were many excellent athletes; Klett was one of them.

At first, Klett attended events as an athlete for Trinidad and Tobago. He had many outstanding performances at the World Championship in Athletics, the IAAF Grand Prix and Diamond League, and the Olympic Games. However, at that time he was a Trinidad and Tobago athlete.

Later, he was naturalized into the U.S. and became an American athlete. This caused him to miss the last Olympic Games. According to the rules of I.O.C., after changing nationality, an athlete may not represent the state in any games for three years.

In this Olympic Games, Klett benefited from the drug scandal. In the beginning, he came in third place in the qualification trial. However, both the first place and the second place withdrew from the competition due to the drug scandal. So, the last one suddenly became the first one, shouldering the task of winning the gold medal for the American team.

Dai Li was very optimistic about Klett, who was very hard-working and self-disciplined.

Dai Li knew Klett must have worked hard to stand out as he did. The 400m hurdles was the strongest event for the American team, and he was not an American-born athlete.

Klett was different from the champion of the pole vault, Muller. Although Muller was born in Germany, he came to America with his parents when he was very young. He lived in the United States, was educated according to the country's standards, and grew up in America. He was influenced by the culture and he integrated into the United States. Besides, being Germanic, he was accepted by Americans more easily.

However, Klett was a naturalized athlete. He couldn't integrate into American culture so easily because he didn't grow up there. Above all, he was black. This part of his identity was a barrier to his acceptance in the predominantly white country.

Therefore, for Klett to achieve the success he had, he must have worked harder than any other American.

Dai Li was not an American, so he could understand Klett's eagerness to be part of America. When Dai Li wanted to run a training center in America, no one trusted him and Americans didn't believe in his ability as a coach because he was Chinese. Later, Dai Li proved himself .as he accomplished great things. Now, he had won his place in Los Angeles.

Obviously, Klett couldn't be as almighty as Dai Li. For Klett, his biggest issue was his identity. Dai Li had to untangle this knot in Klett's mind as much as he could.

Dai Li asked, ”Klett, you trained according to the plans I made for you, right?”

”Of course. Coach, I finished all the training you arranged for me. I took it very seriously.” Klett nodded, but he didn't understand why Dai Li had asked him this question.