Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was not uncommon for professional athletes to conceal their injuries. This not only protected the athletes but also prevented their opponents from deliberately targeting their injured areas during competition. At the same time, it avoided having their injuries result in taking economic losses. It was possible to lose endorsements if you were injured.
In professional basketball or professional soccer, for example, many clubs keep the player’s medical report confidential. This is to protect both the athlete and the team.
Helen Pepe concealed her own hip injury. Even when she withdrew from the Australian Open recently, she announced that it was because of a strain on her calf muscle.
There was relatively more flesh around the human hip, whether it was muscle or fat, so it could be used as a buffer or as a kind of protection. When a person fell on their butt, they would not be seriously injured. If some of the less padded parts of the body, such as the knee, smashed on the ground, if it were a light fall, it could result in either insignificant scratches or major fractures.
There was more flesh around the buttocks, so it offered more protection. It wasn’t an area that could easily be injured.
Many injuries in the athlete’s buttocks area were caused by strain. If the muscles did not get enough rest after long periods of high-intensity training and competition, they could easily be injured. It was hard to recover from injuries that were caused by strain. Because they were caused over a long a period of time, they took a long period of time to fix. That kind of inflammatory muscle damage could recur even if it was healed. There was always a possibility of recurrence. These strains were likely to follow the athletes for their entire lives.
It was precisely because it was very hard to cure this kind of hip strain that Helen Pepe chose to keep it hidden. It wasn’t something that could be cured in a short amount of time.
However, Dai Li mentioned Helen Pepe’s hip injury, so she was naturally surprised.
Only Helen Pepe, her coach, and her doctor knew about her hip injury. She didn’t even tell her parents. There couldn’t be a fourth person in the world that would know about this.
How did he know? Pepe looked at Dai Li with shock, and she couldn’t help but ask the question, “How did you know about the hip injury?”
After seeing Pepe’s expression, Dai Li realized that he may have said too much again.
Dai Li carefully recalled the recent tennis news. He remembered that the news only mentioned that Helen Pepe’s calf muscle was strained when she withdrew from the Australian Open. There was no mention of her hip injury. Dai Li quickly understood the situation.
She has been concealing her own hip injury! Dai Li pretended to be very thoughtful and then said, “Miss Pepe, you just said that I am very good at rehabilitation training. If I couldn’t even tell where athletes were injured, then how could I conduct rehabilitate them? You would agree, wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, really?” Helen Pepe obviously didn’t quite believe what Dai Li said. She looked at Dai Li with a sense of uncertainty.
To resolve the awkwardness, Dai Li tried to relieve Pepe’s concerns and said, “Miss Pepe, please rest assured that I will keep your injury a secret. I am a coach, and I would naturally abide by the coach’s ethics.”
“Thank you very much,” Pepe lifted up her wine glass, made a toast, and took a small sip. She then smiled and said goodbye.
Dai Li could feel that the “beauty of the tennis world” had become cautious of him.
After all, Dai Li knew her secret. She would probably not become one of Dai Li’s client.
…
Winter had passed and spring had arrived. The weather finally warmed up. The triathlons started up in the northern hemisphere.
The triathlon included 1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 km of long-distance running. The 40 km of cycling and 10 km of long-distance running weren’t problems during winter. However, the 1.5 km of swimming were in public waters. Carrying out this event in the winter was impossible. Even if the water was not frozen, the cold waters still brought about life-threatening risks.
The summer was hot, so there was no problem with swimming. In spring and autumn, although the water temperature in the open waters was not high, the triathlon athletes wore special swimsuits that kept them warm. It was able to keep the athletes in a healthy state.
Hansen Brown was training in Los Angeles. He participated in several triathlon events held in the United States and successfully won several championships.
At Hansen Brown’s level, as long as his brother Tell didn’t participate in the same race, no one else had a chance.
“Coach Li, I think my strength has improved a lot,” Hansen said, his eyes full of confidence.
Dai Li nodded. He was very confident about his training. Hansen Brown had indeed made progress at Dai Li’s center. However, Dai Li also knew that Hansen was still not as good as his brother Tell.
However, Hansen Brown did not share the same opinion. He said, “I feel that I am already comparable to my brother. I just have to work harder and I will be able to surpass him.”
Dai Li nodded again. He didn’t tell Hansen the truth. He didn’t want to damage this young man’s self-confidence.
Hansen went on to say, “Coach Li, there are three months left until the Kona Triathlon World Championship. I plan to use this time to train intensively, so please design me a new training program. I hope to increase the intensity of my training.”
“Okay. I will clear my schedule this afternoon and focus on creating your training plan,” Dai Li promised him. As a coach, if an athlete wanted to train harder, he should encourage it as much as possible.
However, he thought of the time he met Tell at the Laureus Awards ceremony. Dai Li asked, “Hansen, I know that you really want to beat your brother, but have you ever thought that maybe your brother may not care about this competition? To put it differently, he doesn’t care about which of you wins first place.”
Hansen Brown was slightly taken aback. He then shook his head, “I don’t know.”
“When you were in the U.K., you guys trained together all day. Didn’t you guys communicate frequently?” Dai Li asked.
“In the past, we were able to talk about anything. When we were young, we talked about cartoons. When we grew up, we started talking about beautiful women. After becoming athletes, we started talking about the competition and becoming champions.” Hansen let out a long sigh and said, “Recently, we haven’t talked as much. After we won multiple titles, it felt like we had even fewer things to talk about.”
“Is it because of the competitive relationship between you two?” Dai Li asked.
“That’s probably it! I’m not very sure,” Hansen shook his head. “In any case, our relationship has grown cold.”
“I am able to understand that.” Dai Li looked at Hansen but, for a while, he didn’t know what to say.
Dai Li was the only son in his family. Unlike Hansen, who had a brother who grew up with him, he had no brothers or sisters.
However, Dai Li could understand Hansen’s feelings. His own brother had become his biggest competitor. That kind of contradiction between family and career was like a shackle. It must be a big a burden.
…
The Kona Triathlon World Championship was a colossal event. It was held in the small town of Kona, Hawaii and about two thousand people participated each year. Of course, the two thousand contestants were divided into different groups. Most of them were not professional triathletes and there were even many film and television stars who were just there to be there. After all, it was a common practice to have celebrities kick-start an event.
For professional athletes, the number of spots to compete was limited. Those who participated in professional competitions were top players from all over the world. Many players who had the ability to compete in the Olympic Games might not be able to participate in the Kona’s Triathlon World Championship.
The Kona Triathlon World Championship was currently the longest triathlon.
The triathlon of the Olympic Games included 1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 km of long-distance running. The Kona Triathlon World Championship had 3.8 km of open water swimming, 189 km of road cycling, and a 42.159 km full standard marathon.
In terms of intensity, the Kona Triathlon World Championship was more than four times more intense than the Olympic Triathlon. Even the world’s top triathletes would have to take more than eight hours to complete the event. A slightly worse triathlete would have to take more than ten hours to complete the full race.
If one could successfully complete this kind of high-intensity competition, they would definitely be worthy of the title of “Iron Man.”
The Brown brothers were still the favorites to win this year’s Kona Triathlon World Championship. In fact, in the past two championships, the elder brother Tell Brown was the champion and his brother Hansen Brown was the runner-up.
At the starting line, a lot of athletes were gathered together in a tightly packed area. The Brown brothers stood side by side. The lenses of the cameras were constantly on the brothers who reigned over triathlons.
However, the two brothers did not communicate. They didn’t even look at each other. The two were just quietly and seriously looking at the waters ahead.
The starting pistol was shot, and the competitors rushed into the water.
3.8 km of open water swimming. The amount of physical energy needed was equivalent to the amount needed to swim in a pool for five thousand meters. This long-distance, physically intensive activity quickly divided the contestants into different groups.
As the powerhouses of the triathlon, the Brown Brothers were, naturally, in the group that was leading. Soon, the two brothers started to leave behind other contestants.
For sports such as long-distance running and long-distance cycling, there were tactics that helped athletes save energy. For example, in long-distance running, there was the tactic of alternate leading. Another example is in the Tour de France. A team would have a clear division of labor. Some people were responsible for carrying drinks and supplies. Those that wore the green jersey were responsible for sprint points. Those that wore the polka dot jersey would compete for the climbing points. Each of the core cyclists of the teams was responsible for the overall rankings. They strived to be able to wear the yellow jersey that symbolized the highest total score.
However, such situations did not exist in the Triathlon World Championship. For competitions that were more than eight hours, there would inevitably be a limit to an athlete’s physical strength. In such a case, no tactics would be of any use. Engaging in any kind of tactical cooperation was meaningless.
Therefore, other players were not worried that the Brown Brothers would cooperate to gain an advantage.
…
Hansen Brown was the first to complete the 3.8-kilometer swim. He went up on shore. He took off his swimming suit as he ran. He came to the area where the bicycles were parked. He quickly put on his helmet and put on his shoes as he was pushing his bicycle forward. He then started his journey on the 189-kilometer road cycling section.
Tell Brown was close behind him. He was only twenty seconds slower than Hansen. In triathlons, this was not considered much of a gap. Being slightly slower when putting on a helmet or shoe would be enough to create a gap of twenty to thirty seconds.
Having only a gap of about twenty seconds after swimming a distance of 3.8 kilometers highlighted how close the brothers were in terms of strength.
However, Tell Brown knew that his brother had improved.
Hansen has improved a lot. Compared to previous races, I now need to spend more physical energy just to follow him. It seems that his training in the United States is really good. Coach Li deserved the Best Coach Award that he received, Tell Brown thought.
Tell Brown felt at that moment that Hansen was already as strong as him. This time, he had to use all his strength without any reservations to compete with his younger brother.
Road cycling was the event that Hansen was best at. His riding skills were better than Tell’s and the gap between Tell and him was gradually getting bigger.
The sea breeze blowing in the air had a sweet smell. Hansen liked this smell, it was the unique atmosphere of Hawaii. It was a mix of the smell of pineapples, bananas, sugar canes and the smell of seawater that came from the water evaporated by the sunshine.
He lifted up his head and enjoyed the sea breeze on his face. He even enjoyed the burning sensation of the sun shining on his face. There was another kind of comfort to this burning sensation when the humid sea breeze passed by.
He turned around a big bend and glanced back. His brother Tell Brown had disappeared from his sight.
I finally left him behind! Hansen’s heart filled with excitement.
Maybe I can really beat him this time! The thought popped into Hansen’s head.
This was not the first time Hansen had this thought. However, every time he became hopeful, he was disappointed.
No. Now is not the time to relax. This is only the second section. There is still a long-distance marathon! I have to keep the lead until the end.
Hansen regained his serious expression. He was no longer enjoying the sea breeze. He was entirely focused on moving forward.
…
Tell turned a corner and looked in front of him. Even at the end of the horizon, he still couldn’t see his brother Hansen.
He left me behind by more than two kilometers! Tell frowned slightly. He was somewhat dissatisfied with this result.
How far the human eye could see was relative to the target of the eyes. For example, looking up at the starry sky, one could see the artificial satellites one thousand kilometers away. If one looks at the high-rise buildings, they could see them from eight thousand to ten thousand meters away. If one were looking at a landed house, the range would be five to seven kilometers. To see a person’s eyes, nose, and fingers, one would have to be within 60 meters.
If the target was a person, the human eyes had a limit of about 2,000 meters, so two kilometers. If Tell couldn’t see Hansen at this time, it meant that Hansen was at least two kilometers away from him.
“I need to be faster. At the very least, Hansen shouldn’t be out of my sight.”
…
Hansen was the first to complete the 189-kilometer road cycling.
He placed the bicycle in his spot, then put on his running shoes. He couldn’t help but look in the direction he had come from while he was doing so.
He didn’t see any trace of Tell.
Tell has not caught up yet. It seems that I have a decent advantage. Maybe I can really win! Hansen finally felt that the goddess of victory was beckoning to him.
