Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The American Track and Field Association.
Frey knocked on the door and entered the office of the Track and Field Association CEO, Williams.
“Mr. Williams, we’ve received a few letters recently. It’s from some athletes and supporters who are questioning the fairness of our method of selecting athletes for the Olympic Games,” Frey said.
“They’re all aimed at Coach Li, aren’t they? After all, we expected this. Before him, we selected athletes based on their rankings in the qualifiers. That way, even when the athletes failed to get selected, it would be due to their lack of skills. They had nothing to complain about,” Williams sighed lightly. He then continued, “However, we’ve broken this rule. It’s reasonable that we’re being questioned by people.”
“But among these, there are three letters of complaints. The complaining athletes think that the athletes Dai Li selected aren’t as good as them. Their results in the qualifiers were good, but Dai Li did not select them. Instead of them, the athletes who were eliminated in the first and second round of the qualifier were selected and joined the national team,” Frey continued.
“If I had been pushed down the pecking order by athletes who performed worse than I had, I would also be miserable. However, getting eliminated in the first round of the qualifier doesn’t signify a lack of ability. I’m sure you’re well aware of the weakness of our selection system.” Williams laughed and continued, “It’s just like Black Friday. You’ve made a huge shopping list and are in front of everyone in the line. You could be the first to rush into the mall to buy the things you want, but that doesn’t mean that you are the biggest client of the mall. Perhaps someone did not arrive as early as you, didn’t get in line as early as you, and didn’t want to be the first to rush into the mall, yet, he buys an item that costs 100,000 dollars whereas you only buy items worth several thousand dollars. In this instance, of course, the mall would give him preferential treatment.”
“Mr. Williams, I understand what you mean. However, one of the complaint letters mentions an athlete who didn’t even participate in the previous Olympic Qualifier, but was still selected by Dai Li into the national team. I think that this might be a little overboard,” Frey said.
“There’s such a case, huh?” Williams frowned.
“I’ve looked into it myself. Dai Li never referred to the qualifier results of the athletes. He went straight towards a university and directly met up with the athletes and coaches of the university to tell the athletes that they had been selected for the national team. With all due respect,I have a strange feeling about this. I don’t get what he uses as the basis for selecting athletes. I think that he select them based on his personal preferences. A coach should not behave like this. He’s more like a talent scout looking for superstars! What we need are excellent athletes, not superstars,” Frey said with dissatisfaction.
“It really does seem like a valid complaint if that is the case. But we’ve given Dai Li the authority to select the athletes. So however he selects them, we should not interfere. What do you think?” Williams countered.
“But I’m worried the media will use this as an opportunity. It could be very harmful to us. The performance-enhancing drugs scandal has already hurt us, the Track and Field Association. We cannot be involved in another scandal,” Frey said.
“The media is really troublesome.” Although Williams said this, he was still all smiles. He then said, “Have you forgotten why we chose Dai Li, the Chinese coach? We only need him to bear the responsibility. We need him to take the blame. So if the media really does come, we will just put everything on him.”
…
The third training of the U.S. National Track and Field Team.
A few fresh faces could be seen in the dressing room. They were all athletes Dai Li had recruited to the national team.
The new arrivals looked forward to the upcoming national team trip. Initially, they didn’t have the chance to take part in the Olympics, but now they were selected by Dai Li. It was as lucky as winning the lottery.
However, the other athletes were not as optimistic as them. In the span of three training camps there had been three changes to the head coach. The older athletes were anxious, a sense of panic in the hearts of many of them that was spreading to others.
“This training camp, we’ve got a new head coach. Who knows how long this guy will last. I remember the last guy, Rivers, he quit around halfway through camp. I heard that before the training camp ended, he had already handed in his notice of resignation to the Track and Field Association,” someone said.
“I think this new head coach won’t last long either. The news said that he’s Chinese. That means he’s the first ever foreign head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team. In our current condition, most American coaches can’t help us, not to mention a foreign coach!” Someone else said.
“I sure won’t trust a Chinese coach. The Chinese can play table tennis, sure, but track and field? They haven’t got what it takes yet,” a third person said.
“If everyone thinks like you, then the new coach really won’t last long. The previous coach, Rivers, was exactly like this. He wasn’t able to gain the trust of the athletes, so the only option left to him was to scram!” The person who spoke earlier stated.
At that moment, another voice came from the back, “Devon and Lock, I know that you guys are faultfinders and that you like to cause trouble, but I’m warning you, respect the new coach, Coach Li.”
Who would dare to speak to me like this! Devon was obviously annoyed. He turned around and saw Jimmy Irwin standing there, looking at him coldly.
“It’s Jimmy!” Devon suddenly looked scared, even his posture lowered considerably.
Although Devon was a little nitpicky, he knew who was the boss in the current U.S. national team.
“Jimmy, do you know the new coach?” Devon asked with a smile. He wanted to change the awkward situation.
Irwin nodded coldly and said, “The new coach, Coach Li, is my current coach. So I hope that every single one of you will not make trouble for him. Causing problems for him means causing problems for me.”
“Understood. We understand!” Devon quickly nodded. At that moment, no matter how dissatisfied he was at heart, on the surface, he obeyed.
After warning the few troublemakers, Irwin returned to his locker in resignation.
The current U.S. national team has long lost all its morale. Coach Li, this is all I can help you with.
…
Dai Li never lead a national team that consisted of over 100 people.
However, while he was in China, Dai Li had been on the Chinese national team, and he worked beside Li Xue for a long time. Back then, Li Xue was only the assistant head coach. However, he was in charge of the daily operation and training of the national team and while Dai Li followed Li Xue, he gained a lot of knowledge.
Athletes in the U.S. were usually all about themselves. The national team of the U.S. was always formed hastily prior to a prestigious competition. That being they way it was, the time for American athletes to train together was insufficient. Slightly reputable athletes would individually purchase training courses from famous coaches, and the top-class athletes would even hire a team to service them.
As for the athletes in China, they trained together on different levels of training teams. The moment they entered the national team, they would train at the training base of the national team. There would often even be group camp and field training, where they would draft outstanding provincial team athletes to join. So for the athletes in China, almost all of their training was conducted in training camps. Therefore, just looking their experience with training camps, 100 American coaches couldn’t compete with Dai Li.
In terms of the amount of people they had, the U.S. National Track and Field Team had the most in the world. On the Olympic stage, the other countries could not muster that many athletes who could reach the A standard of the Olympics, so they could not send out that many participating athletes. To lead that many athletes into the competition was actually a severe test for the head coach.
However Dai Li was not worried about that; he was confident in himself. When he was in China, whether it was the national team or the provincial team, he dealt with more athletes than this. For example, there were hundreds of athletes on the provincial youth team that Dai Li used to be on. The management difficulty of that group was comparable to the management difficulty of the entire U.S. Olympic representative group.
Moreover, Dai Li also had experience in the Asian Games. In the Asian Games, the Chinese National Track and Field Team also sent out over a hundred athletes. The number did not differ much from the U.S. National Track and Field Team.
Dai Li was seated alone in the office, with an Olympic track and field event list in his hand. He was looking at it in detail.
I should not have any problem handling this training camp with my experience. The most important thing is the results. Without good enough results, it doesn’t matter if I was an awesome head coach. Not to mention that I am currently leading the U.S. National Track and Field Team, the world’s strongest track and field team. I need have to achieve the best results in the world. Anything other than that implies failure.
In the recent Olympic Games, the U.S. has consistently been able to obtain around 10 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 10 bronze medals in the track and field events. This truly showcases the overall strength of the U.S. team. If you include the relays, the total number of events in Olympic track and field is 47, which means that there will be 47 gold medals and 141 medals in total. Around a quarter of those need to be won by the U.S. team. They definitely deserve being called the number one track and field country in the world.
But the current U.S. national team has been affected by the performance-enhancing drug scandal. They’ve lost half of their gold medal winners, so the number of medals won will be affected. There are only four events that we are confident that we can win: the men’s 400m sprint, the women’s 400m sprint, the men’s 4x400m relay, and the women’s 4x400m relay. Among the track and field events, the U.S. has the most advantages in the 400m sprint. It shouldn’t be a problem retaining these four gold medals.
We’re still six short of achieving the target of ten gold medals. The world’s fastest man, Kittel, has already retired. Although the overall strength of the Jamaican sprinting team has decreased, they still shouldn’t be underestimated. When it comes to men’s sprinting, with a little bit of luck, Alexander’s 100m sprint should be able to get us a gold medal. Shawn Ford will also have a chance of getting gold in the 200m. On the women’s team, the two fastest women of Jamaica are both in the Olympics, so they are the double insurance of the Jamaicans. Looks like the women’s team can at most fight for the bronze medal.
However, we can try to go for the two gold medals in the 4x100m relay races. What’s important in relay races is cooperation, a good bar transfer could save up to 0.1 seconds and three successful transfers equal 0.3 seconds. In a world-class contest like this, 0.3 seconds is can decide a victory. I still have the bonus called the continuous iron chain. When it comes to the cooperation in relay races, we should be slightly better than the other teams.
In terms of the men’s middle distance running, African nations are a level stronger. Kenya, Algeria, Morocco are the best at middle distance runs. As for the women’s middle distance running, Russia’s strength should not be underestimated. Initially, the U.S. team could have competed for a medal but, due to the effects of the performance-enhancing drug scandal, their best middle distance runner can’t participate. It seems as though the chances for a medal in the middle distance running event seems slim.
The long distance running and the marathon. Both of these have always been dominated by the African nations. The Ethiopians and the Kenyans will most likely take all the medals. We can be satisfied with just participating in this huge event.
As for the hurdle and obstacle course, we can go for it. Ellis Mett on the 110m hurdles has a talent potential grade of A+. However, he is currently still some distance away from being an Olympic champion. I have to focus on giving him training.
The long jump and triple jump have always been the U.S. team’s strength. Although several of the best players have been affected by the performance-enhancing drug scandal, the substituting athletes are still very strong. They should have the strength to compete for gold medals after some specialized training.
The high jump and pole vault. Although the U.S. team isn’t weak, the Russians are obviously better. However, I got an excellent accidental acquisition at the University of Oregon. Franz Muller, the pole vault athlete with an S grade talent potential will definitely bring us some unexpected joy. I will at least take one gold medal from the Russians.
The hurling events. The Eastern European countries and Germany have an indomitable position. The Slavs’ strength is incomparable, so even the African Americans could not compare. However, the U.S. team also has a few Slavic athletes, so they should also be able to contest for a medal.
Not only does the race walking event emphasize the individual ability of the athlete, but the tactics selection is also important. The race walking athletes’ strength of the U.S. team is indisputable, but if they want to achieve something, the key is to select the correct strategy. Before the race, I’ll have to take a good look and research the issues of race walking strategies.
The men’s decathlon and the women’s heptathlon can be regarded as the events that the U.S. team has the biggest advantage in. However, the Western European countries also have quite a number of athletes in these events. In particular, Great Britain. They might become our toughest and strongest opponent. The training for the decathlon and heptathlon events is too complicated. A lot of it relies on the accumulation of the athlete’s daily training,so to improve performance in the short-term is too difficult. I don’t have that much time for training, so I guess it’s up to fate for these two events.
Dai Li conducted a detailed analysis for every event and found out that it wasn’t impossible to obtain ten or even more gold medals. The key was to have the athletes perform targeted training. For this training to be effective, they had to have enough time.
“What I need most right now is time,” Dai Li sighed lightly.
There was one month left before the Olympic Games started. Dai Li had to transform the athletes in this one month.
“There’s no time. A few days of training is definitely not enough. I need to extend the training time!”
