The results of the anti-doping test soon came out.
In order to prevent the anti-doping agency from doing tricks behind their backs, the Olympic organizing committee and the athlete’s accompanying physician would accompany the entire anti-doping test process. If the athlete questioned the result of the first test, the athlete’s request for another test would be at an expense of a few thousand US dollars.
However, it didn’t need to be that troublesome. For Jiang Chen did not use something as unsophisticated as doping.
Soon the test results came out. All test results related to doping returned negative, and the allegations against Jiang Chen’s use of doping were not established.
The accusation about the use of auxiliary equipment was even more absurd because the equipment worn by all athletes during the game had been strictly screened and it was impossible to bring anything into the stadium. Matthew was full of disappointment as the Olympic Medical and Scientific Committee signed all the results of the test and rejected Matthew’s accusation.
The results of No. 14 contestant Jiang Chen were valid, and the athletes who made to the final round remain changed.
…
The final of the 10-meter air rifle was in the afternoon.
As the women 10-meter air rifle and the men 10-meter air rifle started almost simultaneously, the results of one of the two competitions would become the first gold medal given at this year’s Olympics.
After Jiang Chen finished the bento box prepared by Qian Xia in the lounge, he headed to the stadium fully refreshed and confident. Due to his amazing performance in the qualifying round, he attracted the attention of almost everyone in the audience as soon as he appeared. The audience welcomed him with thunderous applause. Audiences from Hua and Xin cheered for him, while most audiences from the UA booed him. However, they were eventually overwhelmed by the enthusiastic cheers.
Jiang Chen waved to the supporters behind him, then confidently walked to his spot, grabbed the rifle, and pressed the rifle against his arm.
Since the Rio Olympics, the shooting competition had changed from a scoring system to an elimination system. The fault tolerance rate of the competition was much lower, and a slight mistake could cost the athlete the game.
The final consisted of two series of three shots, to be fired within 150 seconds, for a total of six shots. Followed by these 2 series, each finalist would fire 14 rounds on command with 50 seconds for each shot. From there, the lowest scoring finalist would be eliminated after every two rounds until the gold and silver medalists were determined. Without the need for tiebreakers, the two players that competed for gold and runner-up would shoot a total of 20 rounds in the final.
In the finals, he got the eighth position, a very lucky number.
The seventh player next to him was named Irvin Skton, who came from the same country as Matthew, and qualified second in the qualifying round. The 22-year-old Irvine was known to be gifted in shooting competitions. Before he participated in the Olympics, he had won several gold medals in multiple international shooting events.
There were also veteran athletes from Hua and Russia. As athletes from the two traditionally countries that were strong in shooting, the strength of these two athletes was also not to be underestimated.
“Your good luck should be used up,” When Irvin walked beside Jiang Chen, Irvin grinned and provoked, “I’ll keep an eye on you. Don’t you dare to play tricks under my nose.”
“Keep an eye on me?” Jiang Chen laughed, “Then you better watch me closely, or else I’m going to finish the competition.”
Irvin wanted to say something, but before he had the chance, the finals had already begun.
In the first two series of shooting, Jiang Chen placed the air rifle on the shooting stand, activated Peerless, and quickly fired six shots as he did in the qualifying round. Other than one shot that scored 10.6, all five shots ended with 10.8. This time, he controlled himself to avoid scoring an astounding score.
But even so, there was a commotion in the audience.
No one had been able to shoot at such a fast pace. After everyone saw this spectacular performance, even foreign audiences started to applaud. Especially for the Xin audience that specifically flew to Yoto to cheer on their athletes. If it was not for the fact that they were worried that noise could affect the performance of athletes, they would definitely shout out in excitement.
“He shoots so fast!”
“That’s what I said! How can President Jiang dope? And how do you dope for a shooting competition? What are the idiots of the Olympic Committee thinking?”
“I heard that the whistleblower was Matthew, the ninth one in the qualifiers.”
“That makes sense, no wonder he did it. He just wants to get into the final. This kind of person should not be in the Olympics as he lacks sportsmanship!”
The discussion in the stands did not reach the athletes in the competition. In their position, the athletes from different countries adjusted their air rifle to the best state and placed it onto the stand.
They were indeed world-class athletes. Since they already learned Jiang Chen’s rapid shooting skills in the qualifying rounds, they were not affected by his incredible firing speed and accuracy in the finals.
Without distraction, the other seven athletes pulled their trigger down with a calm and collected mind. They completed these two series of six rounds in the allotted 300 seconds. Although they were not as fast as Jiang Chen, they were all in close contention for the gold.
After the two warm-up rounds ended, almost every player had scored more than 10 points.
The next round was the intense and exciting elimination round.
Different from the long game time of the qualifying round, each of the next 14 shots had to be completed within 50 seconds. For Jiang Chen, it was nothing at all. He could easily fire all 14 shots within 50 seconds.
But for other athletes, this part of the competition was not easy. The single-shot timing design magnified the pressure that athletes had to endure. This meant that if they make a mistake, they could be out of the competition before they could even fix their mistake. At this stage, the athletes’ performance often fluctuated greatly, and a slight mistake could result in elimination.
This was also precisely the exciting part of the whole game.
The first seven shots were very close, and when the eighth shot started, the competition quickly heated up.
One person was eliminated every two shots until only one winner remained.
When everyone saw the eliminated athletes leave the stadium, the athletes’ hearts sped up involuntarily. They finished every motion from aiming to shooting as if they were walking on thin ice.
In the end, there were only two people left on the court.
Without looking at Jiang Chen next to him, Irvin ignored the shooting noises next to him and faint applause in the background. He took a deep breath and focused all his attention on his target. Like a formula in his brain, he simulated the trajectory in his brain, after he confirmed that it was correct, he pulled the trigger.
BANG
The gunshot galloped away. Irvin’s eyes quickly left the sight and looked at the familiar reading on the electronic target. When he saw the number clearly, he was so happy that he wanted to scream!
10.6!
It was a score that was common in the first nineteen shots, but it was very rare to appear in the last shot. Even for an ironman, it was common to have mental fluctuation in the intense elimination round. And in this kind of competition, even the heart beating a beat faster could impact the score.
Irvin was able to score 10.6 in his last shot. Counting the number of points he scored before, his final score totaled 208 points. Although it was still slightly lower than the world record, there was no suspense for the gold medal anymore.
He looked at Jiang Chen next to him triumphantly. As he was about to mock Jiang Chen, his eyes suddenly stopped on Jiang Chen’s points…
Irvin was stunned.
His first reaction was that he had read it wrong.
Just when he wanted to rub his eyes and look again, the referee’s voice announced the gold medal of the game and it completely shattered his dream.
“It’s impossible!” Irvin exclaimed.
The exclamation was quickly drowned out by the thunderous applause and cheers of the audience.
Jiang Chen smiled and waved his hand at the audience as he responded to the excited crowd.
A dark horse was born, and the first gold in the Olympics was picked up by Xin.
With a score of 216 points, Jiang Chen broke the 210.6 points world record set by Qian Xuechao at the Munich International Shooting Sports Federation and refreshed the world record by 5 points…
