Chapter 58

While Athens was still on August 21st, it was already August 22nd in China. Since it was a Saturday, many sports enthusiasts in the country chose to stay up late to watch the games. Even at 1 a.m., many viewers were still glued to their televisions, watching the Olympic events.

In the provincial capital, the neighborhood where Zhang Guan lived was almost entirely lit up. The residents of the neighborhood felt particularly proud because one of their own was an Olympic athlete. The elderly ladies, who had nothing better to do, would talk about it to anyone they met.

"Old Zhang, come quickly, our son is about to appear!" Zhang's mother called out softly, followed by the sound of the toilet flushing. Zhang's father ran out of the bathroom.

"The race is about to start, why didn't you call me earlier!" Zhang's father sat on the sofa, still complaining to his mother.

"It just started, I called you, who made you stay in the bathroom for so long, and smoke again?" Zhang's mother's tone was more forceful, which immediately silenced Zhang's father.

Then the two of them stared at the TV, not wanting to miss a single detail.

At the same time, in the land of abundance, Mr. Chen was also sitting in front of the TV, watching the race.

"Old Chen, it's so late, you should go to bed, the doctor said..." Mr. Chen's wife came out of the room and saw Zhang Guan on the TV screen, stopping her words abruptly. She knew that the person on the TV was her husband's most accomplished disciple, and he would never miss his competition.

The old lady looked at Mr. Chen nervously, then quickly ran to the room, took some heart-saving pills, and held them in her hand, worried that her husband might get too excited and his heart couldn't take it.

...

In the BBC studio, the camera gave a close-up of each athlete, and the host introduced each one.

"This is the American athlete Shawn Crawford, whose main event is the 200 meters, but he also has championship-level strength in the 100 meters," the host said.

Erikson immediately added, "Yes, Crawford will be the first in this group, the only question is what his final time will be."

"Obadele Thompson, an athlete from Barbados. Many of you may have heard of Barbados, a country in the Caribbean and a member of the Commonwealth," the host introduced.

Erikson smoothly continued, "Obadele Thompson currently holds the world's fastest 100-meter time of 9.69 seconds, but this was achieved with a tailwind of 5.1 meters. His strength is definitely not as good as Crawford's, but he has a good chance of causing trouble for Crawford."

"From Brazil, the athlete Vicente Lima..."

"From Nigeria, the athlete Aki Aliyu..."

The camera finally focused on Zhang Guan. Before the host could introduce him, Erikson spoke up, "This is the Chinese athlete I mentioned earlier! I don't think I need to introduce him; if you don't know him, you can check the recent issue of The Times."

Amid Erikson's teasing, the camera quickly moved to the next athlete.

...

The starter, equipped with a small megaphone, could be heard by people far away.

"On your marks... set..."

The starter raised the starting pistol, but before he could fire it, two athletes suddenly dashed out.

Two athletes had false-started!

The starter immediately stopped the race and signaled the athletes to return to their starting positions.

Zhang Guan returned to the starting line with a smile, and the other athlete who had false-started also walked back slowly, smiling at Zhang Guan as he did so.

This time, Zhang Guan and the Kazakh athlete Jerald Chenof both false-started.

In the BBC studio, the host introduced, "The two athletes who false-started are Jerald Chenof from Kazakhstan and Zhang Guan from China."

Erikson immediately added, "I mentioned earlier that in the preliminary or semi-final rounds, athletes who are not strong enough might choose to false-start to gain a few hundredths of a second advantage. Clearly, these two Asian athletes knew they had no chance of advancing, so they decided to use the false-start strategy. Unfortunately, they didn't understand the European starter's rhythm, so the false-start turned into a false-start."

On the track, Chenof from Kazakhstan was indeed preparing to false-start to gain an advantage. He felt that making it to the second round was already a stroke of luck, so he decided to give it his all in the semi-finals.

Zhang Guan, on the other hand, felt too excited and decided to false-start to get his body into the rhythm of the race. Through this false-start, Zhang Guan's competitive state actually improved, reaching 68 points.

So far, Zhang Guan didn't know the rules for increasing his competitive state, but he could clearly feel that the higher the number, the easier it was to run well.

A minute later, the eight athletes were once again ready to start.

In the BBC studio, the host said, "The athletes are ready, the race is about to begin."

Then, neither the host nor the two guests spoke, waiting quietly for the starting pistol to fire.

After the starting pistol fired, the host began his passionate commentary.

"They're off! Thompson has a good start, he's in the lead, Crawford is catching up, accelerating, accelerating, he's now level with Thompson, Thompson is also accelerating, who is faster? It's still a tie! Oh, Crawford has overtaken Thompson, Crawford! Thompson is trying to overtake, but he can't, can't! Crawford is faster! He's now in... second!"

The last two words, "second," seemed to shock the host, almost as if he was screaming.

According to the original commentary, he was going to say "now in the lead," but just as he was about to say "lead," he realized Crawford was in second place.

One of the three favorites, Shawn Crawford, was only in second place!

And the leader was a Chinese athlete, Zhang Guan!

Thompson was indeed a sprinter who could perform at his best when he was in the zone, and his speed was on par with Crawford. The host had been paying attention to the battle between Crawford and Thompson, but only now did he notice that Zhang Guan had already taken the lead. This left the host momentarily speechless.

"What's happening? Am I dreaming? A Chinese athlete is leading? Crawford is behind a Chinese athlete! How is this possible? A Chinese athlete is leading, this doesn't make sense! What's his name? Damn, I don't even know the athlete's name, how can I commentate?" The host's mind was flooded with questions.

Not only the BBC host, but hosts from other TV stations also didn't know how to commentate. Their focus had been on Crawford, but now that he was behind a Chinese athlete, all their prepared commentary was useless. The host wanted to look down at the athlete's name in the materials, but this was a 100-meter sprint, and he had no time to check.

...

In contrast, the domestic TV commentator was completely unaffected, as he was only focused on Zhang Guan's race.

"The race has started, Zhang Guan's start was good, he's accelerating, come on, keep accelerating, the competition is very intense, Zhang Guan is in the lead, catching up with Crawford! Great, try to hold this position! Zhang Guan's speed is very fast, keep it up, you must keep it up, a top-three finish is a victory! He's overtaking! Overtaking Crawford!"

In the next moment, the commentator's voice suddenly rose several octaves, instantly changing from a mid-range to a high range.

"He's in the lead! Zhang Guan has overtaken Crawford! Zhang Guan is in the lead! Come on! Come on! Come on! Crawford is trying to overtake! He's still behind Zhang Guan! It's almost the finish line! Still in the lead! Faster! Faster! Come on! Cross the line! Zhang Guan has crossed the line! Good! Well done! First! Group first! Qualified! Into the semi-finals! We've won! We've made it to the semi-finals!"

The commentator's voice had turned into a roar, and he seemed to be incoherent, or perhaps he didn't know what to say. After a moment, he realized that the sound in his earpiece was hurting his ears, and that sound was his own. At that moment, the commentator realized that his behavior had been a bit out of control.

This was a live broadcast, and his loud shouting without regard for his image could be considered a violation of live broadcast rules. The commentator took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, but the next moment, the camera focused on Zhang Guan, the first-place finisher, and the athletes' times appeared on the screen.

The commentator couldn't contain his excitement and shouted, "9.87 seconds! 9.87 seconds! Zhang Guan ran 9.87 seconds! He broke the 9.90 barrier! The first Asian, the first Chinese to break the 9.90 barrier!"

In the nearby control room, applause was already breaking out. Director Xu, who was in charge of the control room, didn't notice the commentator's outburst. He clenched his fists tightly, so excited that he was almost trembling. The fatigue and drowsiness from working for over ten hours had completely disappeared, and he was filled with excitement and awe.

"What an exciting race!" Director Xu took a deep breath. Although it lasted only ten seconds, he felt that the excitement was much stronger than the women's doubles badminton final. The one-hour badminton final was indeed a great match between two Chinese teams, but since both teams were Chinese, it felt like something was missing. Although the gold medal was secured, the psychological satisfaction for the audience was far less than defeating a foreigner, especially an American, and defeating them in their strongest event, the 100-meter sprint!

"Cut it and replay the race in detail later!" Director Xu said.

At that moment, Director Xu's phone rang.

"So late, who could be calling? My wife knows I'm live broadcasting tonight." Director Xu saw that the call was from a deputy director of the station.

Director Xu hurriedly answered the phone, "Hello, Director, it's me, Xiao Xu."

"Xiao Xu, I watched the 100-meter sprint. The live broadcast was great! We beat the Americans, it's very inspiring! The news tomorrow should highlight this, especially emphasizing that the 100-meter sprint is the Americans' strongest event, and we defeated them in this event!" the deputy director said.

"Director, rest assured, I will personally follow up on this report," Director Xu put down the phone. The main purpose of the extensive coverage of the Olympics every year is to boost national confidence and strengthen national unity. In terms of the tone of the coverage, Director Xu was already very experienced, and he could already see the outline of the entire report in his mind.

---

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