Chapter 21

In Japan's newspaper system, the five major newspaper groups—Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Nikkei Shimbun—all have their own evening editions. In addition, there are national specialized evening papers such as Gendai Yūben and Fuji Yūben.

A large part of Japan's evening newspaper system is dedicated to reporting news from various Asian countries. Due to Japan's eastern location, the morning papers cannot report or reprint content from other Asian countries' media, whereas the evening papers can do so because the morning papers in other Asian countries are just being sold when Japan's evening papers are being laid out. Therefore, the evening papers in Japan can reprint and publish the latest news from other Asian countries on the same day, which is why they are very popular in Japan, with many office workers buying an evening paper when they finish work.

At this time, the internet media in many Asian countries was still in its early stages, and foreign newspapers remained an important source of information for Japanese media. Among the Asian countries, English-language newspapers from the Philippines, Singapore, and India became important sources of information for Japanese evening papers, especially the Philippine media, whose consistent anti-China and pro-Japan stance was very popular with Japanese media.

At this moment, in Tokyo, Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun's deputy editor, Tamai Nakayuki, was leaning back in his chair, carefully reading the day's newspapers that had just been air-freighted from the Philippines.

"‘Is it Arrogance or Strength? Chinese 100m Sprinter Issues a Declaration of Victory,’ ‘Chinese Athlete’s Fantasy: Breaking the 100m Asian Record,’ ‘Chinese Athlete Claims: Breaking the 100m Asian Record at the Asian Athletics Championships!’ Several Philippine media outlets have reported on this Chinese athlete." Tamai Nakayuki placed the reports side by side, lowered his head to think for a moment, and then picked up the phone.

"This is Tamai Nakayuki. Have Murayama from the sports reporting team come to my office immediately. There are some very interesting reports here, and I think we can appropriately reprint them and add some commentary."

...

It was not a particularly special day, but for most of the sports journalists in the country, it was a very quiet day because there were no major events worth reporting on, either domestically or internationally.

The US Open had just ended, and the China Open and Shanghai Masters would not start until the end of the month; the NBA season was still far off, and Yao Ming was on vacation; the Women's Volleyball World Championship would not start for another two days; and the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which were not happening because the tournament was being held in the country next year and the national team did not need to participate in the qualifiers. Therefore, the recent period was a lull in the sports calendar, leaving the editors of domestic sports media with nothing to do.

Wu Liang, the chief editor of the sports section of a well-known domestic online media outlet, could not afford to be idle like his subordinates, so he focused on the less popular Asian Athletics Championships.

Wu Liang lounged in his computer chair, looking at the results of the first day of the Asian Athletics Championships, and muttered to himself, "Liu Fei did not participate in the 110m hurdles, and the other Olympic-level athletes from the national team did not participate either. This has made the competition less interesting and not very newsworthy. Let's see what the foreign media has to say."

Wu Liang immediately searched for related reports from foreign media.

"Huh? Zhang Guan? I've never heard of him! A 100m sprinter? And he wants to break the Asian record?" Wu Liang immediately noticed the reports on Zhang Guan from the local Philippine media and Japanese media.

"The foreign media are all negative. Who is this Zhang Guan? I know there's a Chen Jian in the 100m sprint, but where did this Zhang Guan come from?" Wu Liang suddenly became curious.

As a seasoned sports editor, Wu Liang had a certain level of knowledge about various sports, but as a weak point for the national team, the 100m sprint did not usually attract much attention, so he was not aware of the changes in the domestic athletics landscape.

"I need to find out who this Zhang Guan is." Wu Liang picked up the phone and prepared to use his personal network to find information on Zhang Guan.

Wu Liang first thought of the national athlete query system, which contained basic information on national-level athletes and was the first choice for looking up athletes. He immediately called a network data officer at the General Administration of Sport, who was part of his network.

A few minutes later, the other party sent an email back, and the information he found shocked Wu Liang.

"National second-level athlete? This Zhang Guan is just a national second-level athlete!" Wu Liang rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he had not read it wrong.

At this time, the athlete information database was just being established, and the qualification assessment for high-level athletes was not immediate but was updated every six months. Zhang Guan had taken the national second-level athlete test in the first half of the year and was registered as a national second-level athlete in June.

According to the selection criteria for high-level athletes, in the 100m sprint, athletes need to achieve an electronically timed result in an official competition to be recognized. Zhang Guan broke the national record in the Asian Athletics Championships qualifier, far exceeding the 10.25-second standard for international athletes, so he would definitely be recognized as an "international-level athlete." However, the qualifier was held in the second half of the year, and his information would not be updated until the end of the year, so in the athlete information database, Zhang Guan was still a national second-level athlete.

But this national second-level athlete gave Wu Liang endless imagination.

"Many domestic athletes do not have the qualifications to enter the national team, let alone participate in the Asian Athletics Championships. How can a national second-level athlete get into the national team and participate in international events? He must have used connections. If this is reported, it will be a significant scandal in the domestic sports world! I will become a hero for exposing the dark side of sports! And because of Zhang Guan's statements, he has attracted a lot of negative foreign media coverage, which is also a very explosive news point!" Thinking about this, Wu Liang suddenly smiled. In this lull in the sports calendar, if he could dig up a scandal in the sports world, it would certainly attract a lot of public attention. Wu Liang could already see a thicker bonus at the end of the year.

So, Wu Liang immediately opened a document and started typing the headlines:

"Outstanding Ability or Backroom Deals? A National Second-Level Athlete Enters the National Team for the Asian Athletics Championships!"

...

What is the strongest skill of domestic online media editors?

Of course, it is "copy" and "paste."

As soon as Wu Liang's article was published, it immediately caught the attention of his peers.

In the article, he first introduced a new athlete named Zhang Guan who was part of the national team for this competition. After checking, it was found that he was only a national second-level athlete. The article then questioned how a national second-level athlete could enter the national team and represent the country in international events. It also reprinted parts of the reports from Japanese and Philippine media, which mainly said that Zhang Guan performed poorly abroad and attracted negative foreign media coverage, tarnishing the image of the country. The underlying message was that there was a scandal in the national team's selection process, involving backroom deals. The article included a picture of Zhang Guan's national second-level athlete certification and specifically enlarged the date of his test.

On this day without any major events, the online media editors who saw the report were immediately excited. They were just worried about having nothing to report, and Wu Liang's article was like a timely rain.

Reports involving scandals in government departments are clearly very popular with the uninformed public and easily stir up the passion of internet trolls. Moreover, this year, reprints did not carry much legal responsibility, as long as a disclaimer like "We are not responsible for the content of reprinted articles" was added at the end. Therefore, within a short three hours, more than a dozen online media outlets reprinted Wu Liang's article, and some influential bloggers began to post related comments on their blogs.

...

According to the schedule, Zhang Guan had to compete in the 4x100m relay preliminary in the morning and the men's 100m sprint semi-final in the afternoon.

Sixteen countries (regions) had entered the 4x100m relay, with the top eight teams advancing to the final. In this event, the Japanese team had a clear advantage, while the Chinese, Kazakh, and Saudi Arabian teams were considered the second tier in Asia. Thailand, Qatar, and Bahrain were emerging forces, while teams like India and the Philippines were just there to participate.

Since the top eight teams would advance, the grouping was not as important. Although the Chinese team was not in the same group as the Japanese team, they were in the same group as the strong Kazakh and Saudi Arabian teams. The other teams in the group were Singapore, India, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei, and it would be difficult for these five teams to advance to the final based on their strength.

On the track, Zhang Guan looked around at the athletes from other teams and suddenly noticed a small black athlete standing in the preparation area. Looking closely, he saw the flag of Saudi Arabia on his uniform.

Zhang Guan approached Chen Jian and whispered, "Brother Chen, isn't this the Asian Athletics Championships? Why is there a black athlete?"

Chen Jian looked up and said, "You're talking about Habib from Saudi Arabia. He is originally from Nigeria and has been naturalized to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's sprinting strength is already strong, with their local athletes Abdullah and Mubarak being well-known in Asia. With Habib, they are even stronger. By the way, have you ever competed against African athletes before?"

Zhang Guan shook his head and replied, "No, Habib is the first black athlete I've encountered."

Chen Jian immediately explained in a low voice, "Black athletes have a very obvious advantage in sprinting, especially in the rhythm of their leg movements and the power they generate, which is something Asian athletes can't match. However, your speed and rhythm are quite similar to those of black athletes."

---

Please recommend and collect, thank you.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends