Chapter 54

After Director Guo and Zhao Ganshi left, Zhang Guan frowned and began to think. During the confrontation with Director Guo, although Zhang Guan's words were sharp, he actually felt quite uneasy. Zhang Guan did not want to deal with people like Director Guo, as such people clearly would not reason with him.

"Director Guo will definitely not let this go easily," Zhang Guan thought carefully but found that he currently had no way to break the deadlock when facing someone who was not prepared to reason. If Zhang Guan were just an 18-year-old youth, he might think Director Guo was quite foolish, eager to pin a label on him at their first meeting. He had not offended Director Guo, so why was the other party so determined to target him? What was the benefit? This was completely self-destructive. But reality was like this; there were too many self-destructive people in life. Even if he did not encounter them now, he would eventually meet them over time.

"Perhaps it's because that generation, when they were young, did some reckless things but did not bear the consequences. So, even in old age, they continue to be reckless!" Zhang Guan closed his eyes. He knew that if he wanted to solve the problem with Director Guo, the best way was to leverage his position.

Leverage the power of an Olympic champion!

Winning the Olympic gold medal would solve everything.

Although Zhang Guan was not very clear about Director Guo's position in the country, he was certain that Director Guo was not a high-ranking official. High-ranking officials would not personally come to pin a label on him. Dealing with such a minor official, it was not wise to compete in intelligence, reason, or experience. The best method was to roar like the king of the forest. Even if he was not the king, he could be like a fox, inviting the tiger to his side.

The competition between ordinary athletes and minor officials was unequal; the competition between minor officials and Olympic champions was also unequal.

...

On August 17th, the national team did not win a gold medal. The fencing event, which was highly anticipated, fell just short of the gold, winning two silver medals. On the same day, American swimmer Michael Phelps won two gold medals in the men's 200m butterfly and the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, adding to his previous 400m individual medley gold, making it three Olympic gold medals for Phelps.

European media quickly shifted their reporting direction, predicting that the Chinese Olympic team would begin to decline, and European and American countries would soon surpass China. Many sports commentators predicted that China's gold medal count would not exceed 20.

As for Zhang Guan, the media had stopped mocking him and turned to reporting on Phelps. These media outlets had a shorter memory than Chinese stock investors, and Phelps became the media's darling.

On August 18th, the Olympic track and field events officially began, starting with the men's and women's shot put. Both the qualification and final rounds were held on the same day. However, the track and field team did not win any medals. The men's shot put was eliminated in the qualification round, and the women's shot put, although reaching the final, only placed ninth.

This result was not surprising. While the national team was at the top level in Asia in the shot put, it was normal to reach the final in an Olympic-level competition.

On August 19th, no track and field events were scheduled. The Athens Olympic Stadium would be open to athletes for their final venue adaptation in the morning and would be closed in the afternoon to prepare for the upcoming events.

The gold medal battle between China and the United States continued. The U.S. team won four gold medals in one day, three of which were in swimming, including Phelps' 200m individual medley. China won three gold medals that day, two of which were in badminton.

For the U.S. team, the track and field events were about to begin, a traditional strong point and a major gold medal source. For the Chinese team, table tennis, badminton, and diving were still in the final stages, and the diving events had not yet started, so China's potential for gold medals remained significant.

On August 20th, Athens time, the track and field events awarded two gold medals, the men's 20km race walk and the men's 10,000m. Other qualification events, such as the men's triple jump, men's hammer throw, men's high jump, and women's discus throw, were also held on this day.

On August 21st, the first round of the men's 100m sprint officially began!

...

According to the competition schedule, the 100m sprint would have two rounds on this day, with the first round starting at 10:35 AM Athens time. The first round was divided into 10 groups, with the top three from each group and the next ten fastest athletes advancing to the second round, which would be held at 7:40 PM Athens time.

On the Chinese side, Chen Jian was placed in the first group, which could be considered a favorable draw. Historically, the first group to compete in major events usually did not have strong competitors, so Chen Jian had a good chance of advancing to the second round.

Chen Jian, who had once been the top 100m sprinter in the country and had participated in many international events, was experienced. However, on the Olympic stage, he still felt very nervous. For him, this was the most important race of his career.

"Chen, good luck!" Zhang Guan patted Chen Jian on the shoulder.

Chen Jian nodded but did not respond, then quickly walked onto the track.

Watching Chen Jian's departing back, Zhang Guan sighed helplessly. He could sense that Chen Jian was tense but not excited, which was not good news for an athlete.

According to pre-race predictions, a time of 10.30 seconds in the first round of the 100m sprint would almost guarantee advancement, even if not in the top three. For Chen Jian, whose best time was 10.17 seconds, 10.30 seconds was achievable with a slightly good performance.

However, Chen Jian, in his tense state, did not perform at his best, finishing fifth with a time of 10.45 seconds.

The entire process, from the introduction of the athletes to the start and the race itself, took only a few minutes. When Chen Jian walked off the track with a dejected look, it seemed he had not yet realized that his Olympic journey was over.

Years of hard training, coming to Athens to participate in the Olympics, Chen Jian had only a two-minute appearance, one minute of preparation, ten seconds of racing, and one minute of leaving the track.

"Chen, there's still a chance. The race isn't over yet. Besides the top three, there are ten more spots!" Coach Yu consoled him.

Chen Jian smiled bitterly. He knew that with his 10.45-second time, he had no chance of being among the ten fastest outside the top three.

In the first group, the top finisher was the 37-year-old Namibian sprinter Frank Fredericks, known as the "sprinting gentleman," who had won silver medals in the 100m and 200m at the Atlanta Olympics. He ran a time of 10.12 seconds. Following him were Nigerian Uchenna Emedolu with 10.22 seconds and Japanese Shingo Suetsugu with 10.27 seconds, all advancing to the next round. The fourth-place finisher, British Darren Campbell, ran 10.35 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than Chen Jian.

While the first group was not the weakest, it was not the strongest either. With nine more groups to go, many would likely surpass Chen Jian's 10.45-second time, leaving him with little hope of advancing.

...

In the second group, British star Lewis Francis easily won first place, followed by Ghanaian Aziz Zakari and Hungarian Roland Nemeth. The fourth-place finisher, Saudi Arabian Mubarak, ran 10.36 seconds. The fifth-place finisher, Maltese Gilford, ran 10.67 seconds. After two groups, two more athletes had already surpassed Chen Jian for the additional ten spots.

In the third group, a top contender, American Justin Gatlin, finally appeared. Although Gatlin was the least favored among the three American sprinters, he would eventually win the gold medal in the men's 100m at the Athens Olympics.

Gatlin's appearance significantly raised the level of the group. He ran 10.07 seconds, followed by Caymanian Simpson with 10.08 seconds and Ghanaian Mills with 10.09 seconds. The fourth-place finisher, Brazilian Vicente Lima, ran 10.23 seconds, the fifth-place finisher, Russian Andrei Yepishin, ran 10.29 seconds, and the sixth-place finisher, Greek Sideridis, ran 10.32 seconds. This added three more athletes ahead of Chen Jian.

"This is just the third group! No wonder it's the Olympics. A time that could win in Asia can't even make it to the second round here," Coach Yu shook his head. At this point, he was certain that Chen Jian would not advance to the second round.

In the fourth group, another top contender, American sprinter Shawn Crawford, appeared and ran 10.02 seconds, faster than Gatlin. Crawford did not seem to be giving his all. Following him were Barbadian Obadele Thompson with 10.08 seconds and Slovenian Osinica. The fourth-place finisher, Burkinabé Edrisa Sano, was still faster than Chen Jian.

In the fifth group, European champion Portuguese Francis Obikwelu, originally from Nigeria, appeared. He was also a top contender for the gold medal. In this group, Japanese Tsuchida Kengo finished fifth but still ran 10.37 seconds, faster than Chen Jian.

The appearance of star athletes in four consecutive groups thrilled the audience. Other big names like Maurice Greene, Asafa Powell, Jason Gardiner, and Kim Collins had yet to appear.

With half of the ten groups completed, the organizers seemed to want to give the audience a break and did not schedule the big names in the sixth group. Many professionals considered the sixth group the weakest in the qualification rounds.

Zhang Guan was about to appear in the sixth group.

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Chapter 1 delivered, please recommend!

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