Chapter 67

The starter signaled the athletes to get ready for the start, and the venue instantly fell into a hush. The spectators held their breath, waiting for the starting gun to fire.

The starter raised his gun, and the athletes focused all their attention on their ears, waiting for the sound of the gun.

At this level of competition, the start is crucial. World-class athletes generally have excellent starts, so it's almost impossible to gain an advantage through the start alone. However, if there's a false start, a disadvantage is certain, like a boat moving backward in still water.

"Bang!"

The starting gun fired!

Immediately after, the referee blew the whistle to pause the race—someone had false started!

"Morris-Green! Morris-Green actually false started!" the commentator's voice rang out from the TV.

"I don't find this surprising!" Erickson, who was next to the commentator, added, "Green expended a lot of energy in the semifinals, so he chose to use the gun-pressing technique to gain an advantage. It seems Green hasn't given up on the championship!"

Morris-Green slowly walked back to the starting line. As Erickson said, the main reason he used the gun-pressing technique was due to the energy he had expended in the semifinals, but it ultimately failed.

After another minute of preparation, the athletes stepped back onto the starting blocks.

Morris-Green closed his eyes, carefully recalling the situation at the start.

Gatlin glanced at Green; he could sense that Green had become extremely focused. The false start had almost succeeded, demonstrating Green's intense concentration.

"Set..." The starter raised his gun again and pulled the trigger.

The gun fired, and the athletes started!

"Green!"

Morris-Green's start was excellent; he was the first to take off. The start reaction time showed that Morris-Green's start reaction time was 0.127 seconds, less than 0.13 seconds, clearly another gun-pressing start!

"Truly worthy of Morris-Green, daring to use the gun-pressing technique twice! And he succeeded the second time, what a strong mental fortitude!" the spectators thought.

Among the other athletes, Powell's start was very poor, but the other athletes also started conservatively. This start clearly benefited Green the most. However, the start is just a part of the race; the real competition was just beginning.

...

"The race has started, and Zhang Guan's start was very good!" the CCTV commentator said. In his current exhausted state, he hadn't really seen the athletes' starts clearly, but he just felt that Zhang Guan wasn't lagging behind, so he casually said, "The start was very good."

The first three steps of the athletes were almost the same, and they were basically on the same level. In the next few meters, the Portuguese Obikewuru gained a slight advantage, and the Jamaican Powell caught up. As for the three American athletes, they weren't leading.

This short-distance acceleration seemed to be not their strong suit, but everyone knew that the advantage in the first thirty meters wasn't really an advantage. The Americans were powerful because of their subsequent ability, and after thirty meters, their advantage would become apparent.

"Go, Zhang Guan, keep it up!" the commentator's voice rose when he saw that Zhang Guan wasn't lagging behind.

At the thirty-meter mark, the American Gatlin had already caught up with the Portuguese Obikewuru. From the speed, Gatlin was clearly faster than Obikewuru.

At the same time, Powell slowed down and was overtaken by Morris-Green.

Next to Morris-Green, Zhang Guan slightly overtook Green by half a body length, almost keeping pace with Gatlin.

Gatlin had clearly overtaken Obikewuru, and the other American, Crawford, had also caught up with Obikewuru, keeping pace with him.

However, the leader was not Gatlin but a red figure on the outermost lane. It was Zhang Guan!

At the forty-meter mark, the Ghanaian Ariza, perhaps due to a sprained ankle or sudden cramp, slowed down and was clearly preparing to withdraw. However, this didn't affect the overall situation, as Ariza was already in last place, and the athletes in front didn't know he had withdrawn.

At this moment, the Americans' advantage finally came into play.

Gatlin had already taken a half-meter lead over Crawford, and Crawford was still keeping pace with Obikewuru. As for Morris-Green, he was clearly affected by the semifinals, and his speed was impacted.

Morris-Green clearly felt that he was struggling. He had already exerted himself to the limit, hoping to go faster, but his body told him he had reached his maximum speed.

"Damn, the semifinals took too much out of me! I can't pick up speed now," Morris-Green thought. But in the next moment, he noticed that Zhang Guan on his right had already taken a one-meter lead.

"How can this Chinese guy be so fast? He must have expended more energy in the semifinals than I did, so why does he seem so full of energy now? Could he have recovered in just two hours? No, he's even faster than in the semifinals!" Morris-Green looked at Zhang Guan in shock. Being the closest to Zhang Guan, he could clearly feel that Zhang Guan was much faster than in the semifinals.

...

"Overtaken! Zhang Guan is leading, he's leading! Zhang Guan! Zhang Guan!" the commentator began to roar, even though Zhang Guan was only vaguely keeping pace with Gatlin, it was enough to excite the commentator.

After another ten meters, the gap between Zhang Guan and Morris-Green not only didn't narrow but widened, and he was about to overtake the leading Gatlin.

At this moment, Zhang Guan was clearly in the lead.

"Overtaken! Leading! Go!" Coach Yu suddenly roared. At this moment, he suddenly sensed a hint of Olympic champion, and a strange tension rose in his heart, spreading throughout his body.

Gatlin was in lane three, and his view was blocked by the Portuguese Obikewuru in lane five. When he gradually took the lead, he noticed that Zhang Guan in the outermost lane eight was slightly ahead of him.

"How is this possible! It's that Chinese guy, he's leading me! How can he still run so fast! How can he have recovered so quickly?" Gatlin was startled. He wasn't surprised by Zhang Guan's speed, as Zhang Guan had previously run at the world's top speed. What startled Gatlin was Zhang Guan's stamina.

"Two hours ago, the semifinals were so intense that even Green was affected. The Chinese guy should have been more affected, and he must have expended a lot of energy. Why is he performing so well now? How can his stamina seem even better than in the semifinals? This is impossible! Absolutely impossible! No one can fully recover to their peak physical state in just two hours after such intense exertion; it's a physiological limitation!" Gatlin seemed to have found a lifeline, and he kept reassuring himself, "Believe in science. The Chinese guy is fast now, but he must be at the end of his rope. He will definitely slow down in the second half! For me, the second half is when I truly start to exert myself."

Thinking this, Gatlin instantly regained confidence. The strongest aspect of American sprinters is not their initial acceleration but their sustained explosive power in the second half. This is a technical feature of American sprinters. In the race, Americans may not lead in the first half, but they will definitely overtake other athletes in the second half and take the lead.

In the 100-meter sprint, maintaining high speed and explosive power in the second half is called "speed endurance" in sports science. For top international coaches, athletes' start reaction, running technique, and explosive power can all be improved through targeted training, but speed endurance is the biggest challenge for sprint coaches worldwide. Only Americans can conduct extremely effective training for speed endurance.

...

"Zhang Guan is leading!" Morris-Green's eyes flashed with disbelief. In the recent semifinals, he had fought to the end with Zhang Guan. As a participant, he could feel the energy expenditure in the semifinals, which was impossible to recover in just two hours. Moreover, Zhang Guan seemed to have improved even further.

At the same time, Morris-Green felt tired.

The race entered the second half, and the issue of Green's excessive energy expenditure gradually became apparent.

"No! I must hold on! If a Chinese guy can do it, I can do it too! I'm the best in the world! I'm the world's best Morris-Green! I want the championship!" At this moment, Green's proud self-respect turned into a determination to win, and his body seemed to be hypnotized, displaying powerful explosive power!

...

Fast enough!

Simply fast!

No frills, just fast!

This is the current Zhang Guan.

His speed is very fast, and he is in the lead.

But he wants to be even faster!

He wants more than just the gold medal of the Olympic champion.

He wants the world record!

---

Chapter 1 is here. First, I want to thank Wu Ma Wei Yang for the generous tip. Please give me some recommendations!

I updated early today mainly to explain the lane assignments in the previous chapter. In my story, the lane assignments are based on the actual lane assignments of the athletes in the Athens Olympics. Since Zhang Guan replaced Collins, lane 128 changed, but lanes 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are the same as in the real Olympics.

Some readers suggested following the rules, with one rule being to assign lanes based on the semifinal results, with the top four in lanes 3, 4, 5, and 6, and the semifinal winner in lane 4. Before writing this, I applied this rule to the actual lane assignments in the Athens Olympics and found that it didn't match. Green, Powell, Crawford, Gatlin, and Collins' lane assignments didn't fit this rule. Powell had the best semifinal result but was in lane 6, Green and Collins were second and fourth in the semifinals but were in lanes 7 and 1, and Crawford and Gatlin were fifth and sixth in the semifinals but were in lanes 4 and 3.

Another reader explained that the lanes are assigned based on the best results from the preliminary, semifinal, and final rounds, with the top four in lanes 3, 4, 5, and 6, and the best result in lane 4. I applied this rule to the actual results and found that it didn't match either. Green's best result was second, so he should have been in lane 5 or one of lanes 3, 4, 5, or 6, but he was in lane 7. Gatlin's best result was fifth, so he should have been in lanes 1, 2, 7, or 8, but he was in lane 3.

I considered the lane assignments when writing this, but the actual lane assignments in the Athens Olympics didn't fit any of these rules, so I decided to follow the actual lane assignments. Don't worry about these details; just enjoy the story as if you were watching the race live.

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