All-round Athlete

Chapter 196: Bolt Appears

New York.

"You've been here for less than a week, and you're leaving so soon!" Sharapova snuggled into Zhang Guan's arms, her face full of resentment.

Zhang Guan sighed helplessly: "The Athletics World Cup is about to start. This is my first time to participate in the Athletics World Cup, and it is also the first time for me to participate in the long jump event in the international arena! The comprehensive strength of Asian track and field It’s not as good as Europe and America, not even Africa, if I don’t participate, the Asian team will be at the bottom again.”

"Alright then! Anyway, this year's China Open is about to start, and the Athletics World Cup should be over by then! I'll look for you then." Sharapova said.

"The Athletics World Cup ends on September 17, and I won't be able to return home until the 19th. When will this year's China Open start?" Zhang Guan asked.

"It will start on September 18. The China Open is only a second-level event. I wasn't going to participate, but since you are here, I will definitely go." Sharapova said.

In tennis competitions, the prize money and points of different levels of competitions are different. Of course, the qualifications of players of different levels of competitions also have different restrictions. Among them, the annual Four Grand Slam events are naturally the highest level events, and the requirements for players are also the highest; the first-level tour tournaments under the Four Grand Slams generally have a prize money of 1.34 million US dollars. This level of competition is due to bonuses and points They are all relatively high and can often attract Grand Slam champion-level players to participate.

Under the first-level tour is the second-level tour. The points of the second-level tour have been reduced. The bonus is generally 600,000 US dollars. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the Dubai Open is hosted by local tyrants, so the bonus is more than one million. dollars. The second-level tour occasionally attracts two or three Grand Slam champions to participate, and if the organizers are willing to pay the appearance fee, it is possible to have more big-name players than the first-level tour. In 2006, the China Open was a secondary tour.

As for the third-level tournament, the prize money is only 175,000 US dollars. This level of competition is generally attended by players ranked in the 20th place in the world, and big-name players have to rely on appearance fees to attract them; while the fourth-tier tournament can be regarded as a professional league. In entry-level tournaments, players are relatively weak. Generally, players ranked around 30 in the world can win championships in the fourth-tier tournaments.

The China Open was only restored in 2004, and was included in the ATP and WTA secondary tours in 2005. However, because the sponsor is strong enough and the country supports it, it attracts many top players to participate every year. It was not until 2009 that China Open was successfully upgraded to a first-level event.

This year's China Open has Mauresmo, Davenport, Petrova, Jankovic, Kuznetsova and other players participating. Sharapova, who just won the US Open championship, was not prepared to participate of. But in order to get together with Zhang Guan, Sharapova decided to participate in this year's China Open.

...

On September 14, Zhang Guan arrived in Athens, Greece, and joined other players of the national team to participate in the 10th Athletics World Cup.

This time the Athletics World Cup, the national team sent a total of 12 players to participate, including five male players and seven female players. In terms of male players, apart from Zhang Guan and Liu Feiren, the men's players of the national team will also participate in triple jump, high jump and triple jump.

The rules of the Athletics World Cup are different from ordinary world-class events. The ranking of this event is calculated based on points, and the men's and women's groups are still calculated separately. The participating teams are also different from the traditional ones. Instead of signing up by country, they sign up in the form of alliances from all continents. Of course, like the United States, Russia and other track and field powerhouses, the track and field strength of a country exceeds that of a continent, so they often form a team of their own.

In this Athletics World Cup, the men's teams include the European Union, the United States, the African United, the Asian United, the American United, Russia, France, Oceania and Greece; the women's teams include the European United, the American United Team Africa, Asia, America, Russia, Poland, Oceania and Greece. Among them, the United States and Russia, as the two countries with the strongest track and field level in the world, form their own teams. Greece, as the host, also forms its own team.

The national team obviously does not have the level of an independent team, so it has to join the Asian team. According to the situation in previous years, the Asian teams are at the bottom of the major alliances, often even inferior to those countries that form independent teams.

However, the strength of this year's Asian team is extraordinary. The first is the group of naturalized teams from West Asian countries, among which there are many top players in the world, such as Qatar's 3,000-meter obstacle course king Shaheen, whose 5,000-meter long-distance race is also at the world's top level; in East Asia, Liu Feiren And the Japanese team's hammer player Murofushi Koji is also capable of winning gold. Of course, the biggest killer of the Asian United is undoubtedly Zhang Guan.

Zhang Guan will participate in the four events of 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and long jump in this track and field World Cup. This is unprecedented in the history of the Track and Field World Cup. Being able to make a smooth appearance will create another history.

But this time, no one regards Zhang Guan as an achievement player. Zhang Guan broke two world records in Brussels, Belgium, and has proved to the world that he can handle two events at the same time. In the sprint event, Zhang Guan is undoubtedly the biggest favorite to win the championship.

As for Zhang Guan's sudden participation in the long jump event, it did surprise many people, but if you think about it carefully, you won't be surprised. There are many examples of sprinters and long jumpers. Especially in the 1980s and 1990s, sprinting and track and field were even very popular. It's just that in recent years, with the continuous improvement of athletes' strength, the requirements for athletes' technical level have also become higher and higher. It's just that concurrent running is better, but cross-event athletes such as sprint and long jump are gradually being eliminated.

As for Zhang Guan's performance in the long jump event, the best prediction given by professionals is a silver medal, because in the long jump event, Panama's Saladino will participate. Saladino is currently the best long jump player in the world. It is said that he has the strength to jump to a distance of 8.7 meters. In the IAAF Gold League that ended not long ago, Saladino also won all five games. In the end million will try to get a piece of the pie.

With Saladino, the best long jump player in the world, Zhang Guan will naturally not be regarded as a player who can win the championship.

...

In the restaurant of the hotel, Powell was sitting alone in a corner, with an expression of intimacy. Occasionally, other athletes came up and wanted to chat with him, but because of Powell's expression, they all chose to take a detour and leave.

Suddenly, a figure appeared and sat directly opposite Powell. Powell wondered why that guy was so ignorant, so he raised his head, just in time to see Zhang Guan looking at him.

"So it's you!" Powell said.

Powell is a big-name athlete, and the big-name athlete puts on a bad face. Of course, ordinary players dare not approach him, but Zhang Guan, who is even bigger, has no such scruples. Moreover, his relationship with Powell in private is quite good. When he saw Powell's expression, Zhang Guan was driven by curiosity to sit over.

"Asafa, it looks like you're in a bad mood!" Zhang Guan said.

Powell nodded: "I have decided to give up the 100-meter competition in the World Cup of Athletics."

"Give up? Why? Is it because of the body? The old injury has recurred?" Zhang Guan asked. He felt that apart from the injury, there was really no reason for Powell to retire.

Powell sighed and said, "I don't want to participate in the World Cup as an American United team. I think Jamaica's track and field level is enough to form a team independently, just like the French team this year!"

People in the country know that Jamaica is a place rich in trapeze, but in fact Jamaica is also very strong in other sports. It is only because Jamaica's sprint is so dazzling that people only remember that Jamaica is rich in trapeze.

Zhang Guan can understand Powell's mentality. If possible, Zhang Guan also hopes to set up a Chinese team alone like the US team and the Russian team, instead of staying in the Asian team. Zhang Guan believes that every athlete hopes that his country can form an independent team to compete in the Athletics World Cup.

However, if you form an independent team, the first thing you need is strength, the overall strength of a country's track and field. For example, the United States or Russia, even if they participate in the Athletics World Cup independently, they still have a chance to win the first place.

"Asafa, I can understand your mood. You see, I am also in the Asian United!" Zhang Guan continued: "In this way, you are much better than me. At least the American United is very strong. , but the strength of our Asian alliance is very strong."

"This year's Asian United team is not weak. There are three world record holders, you, Liu Feiren and Sha Xien. And you are also the holder of two world records." Powell paused, then continued: " In the 100-meter event, the strength of other players is very average, and the strongest are probably Obik Viru and Tyson Gay! As for the 400-meter event, Varina did not participate."

"Didn't Varina come? Then who is the American team?" Zhang Guan asked curiously.

"Lashaun Merritt. This young man seems to be in pretty good shape recently." Powell continued: "You are the world record holder in the 100m and 400m, and there is definitely no pressure to win the 200m. Obikwe Lu will also participate in the 200-meter race, and Wallace Spielman, the 200-meter champion of the World Championships last year, will also participate! By the way, we have a young man in Jamaica. If you say young, you are relative to me. In fact, he is the same as you He is the same age, and his 200-meter level is also good, but he has not participated in too many international competitions and lacks competition experience."

After Powell finished speaking, he raised his head, looked behind Zhang Guan, and continued, "Just as I was talking, he came!"

Zhang Guan had guessed in his mind who Powell was talking about, but he still wanted to confirm his thoughts, so Zhang Guan immediately looked back and saw a familiar face.

"It really is Bolt!"

PS: The first chapter has been delivered, and the average number has already broken 5000 a few days ago, so I wanted to break out a wave earlier, thank you for your support, I just saved the manuscript recently, and there are three chapters a day these days, thank you all readers for your continued support They all support me to subscribe to the genuine version.

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