Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 09/30/2023
Chapter 151 Relay Team's Goal & Late-Night Snack
"Securing second place or better?"
Many reporters were initially puzzled upon hearing this statement. It took them a moment to react. There were a total of three sub-events in the 4x400-meter relay: men's, women's, and mixed. Su Bai's implication was that they needed to secure at least two out of these three events!
This didn't quite align with the previous online analyses!
After all, based on various online analysis articles, even securing a spot for the men's 4x400-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics was not that easy.
In the past couple of days, with various data comparisons, many people believed that to secure a spot for the national team's 4x400-meter relay team in all three sub-events, they might have to rely on rankings and accumulated points.
Let's not even talk about the men's 4x400-meter relay. In the case of the women's team, at the Asian Championships, their time of 3 minutes and 33.88 seconds was already their personal best in the women's 4x400-meter relay. However, this performance was just barely within the qualification standard for the World Athletics Relay Championships.
Based on past experience, if the women's team wanted a chance to reach the top eight in the finals, they would need to have a performance time within 3 minutes and 28 seconds at the very least.
To put it plainly, there was a significant five-second gap between their current performance and what was required.
This kind of gap couldn't be eliminated with just a few words of effort in a short period.
The reporters pondered over these details and guessed that when Su Bai talked about "securing second place or better," he must have been referring to the men's 4x400-meter relay and the mixed 4x400-meter relay. After all, the mixed 4x400-meter relay had not been included in the Olympic program before Tokyo, and major competitions like the World Athletics Championships had not featured this event either.
Compared to the women's 4x400 meters, the introduction of the mixed 4x400 meters relay provided an opportunity for teams like China, which lacked strength in the women's 4x400 meters relay alone.
At the airport, since the athletes still needed to go through security checks, check-in their luggage, and complete other preparations, after answering a few questions, Coach Pei Jin'an smiled and apologized to the reporters, saying that they had to get busy with their preparations.
The reporters understood the situation and didn't want to delay the national team's travel plans. So, although they had many more questions in their minds, they politely stepped back and cheered for the track and field team with encouraging words.
Unexpectedly, when they started cheering, other people nearby also joined in with scattered cheers.
"Go, Qiu Wen! Go, Zhang Shuai!!!"
"Yu Ge, go for it!!! Charge!!!"
"Dan Jie, Yao Mei, I'll always support you!!!"
"Coach Xiaobai, you're so young!"
?
The sudden outpouring of cheers left the track and field team members momentarily stunned. Su Bai and the others looked to the side and realized that while they were being interviewed, there were people nearby discreetly recording videos with their smartphones. In the distance, a few girls were holding telephoto lenses, also pointing in their direction.
Although there was a constant flow of people in the airport, many of those either seeing off or traveling themselves, a considerable number of them smiled kindly at the team and even gave encouraging fist pumps, showing their support.
After making this discovery and going through various boarding procedures, the members of the track and field team had smiles on their faces. The goodwill from those around them and the support from their fellow countrymen filled them with a determination to work harder and give it their all.
Once Coach Pei Jin'an, Su Bai, and the athletes passed through security and reached the boarding gate, officials from the Athletics Management Center were already waiting there.
The World Athletics Relay Championships this time were crucial for securing Olympic qualifications in all track and field relay events, so the Athletics Management Center couldn't afford not to take it seriously. Therefore, Jiang Wentao personally led the team once again, fully prepared to assist the track and field team in every aspect of their journey.
After everyone had gathered, athletes and accompanying staff calmly waited for boarding. Coach Pei Jin'an and Su Bai were called aside by Jiang Wentao.
"Were you just accosted by reporters outside?" Jiang Wentao inquired.
Coach Pei Jin'an smiled and confirmed, briefly summarizing the questions and answers they had with the reporters.
After listening, Jiang Wentao didn't say much but asked Su Bai again if he was confident about securing two Olympic spots in the 400-meter relay.
Although Su Bai had stated during the interview with reporters that they were going to do their best to secure at least second place or better, when it came to actual confidence... Su Bai shook his head.
"This time, in both the men's 4x400 meters and mixed 4x400 meters, we only have a 50-50 chance. Theoretically, our athletes can make it into the top half of the field in these two events, but it also requires a bit of luck."
Among the three sub-events in the 4x400 meters relay at this competition, the women's 4x400 meters relay had the most participating teams, totaling 21. The men's 4x400 meters relay and mixed 4x400 meters relay had 18 teams each.
Among these numerous teams, except for the women's team, the strength of the Chinese team in the men's team and mixed 4x400 meters relay events was considered mid-tier. They had a chance to advance to the finals, but it was far from guaranteed.
"In the men's 4x400 meters relay, based on existing public information, some teams have replaced their core athletes, which may affect their performance. However, these teams have experienced baton exchange and the newly appointed core athletes should have had some time to integrate with the team. It's just that we don't know how they will perform in official competitions."
"For the mixed 4x400 meters relay event, all the teams are relatively unfamiliar with each other. Although most teams have gained some experience, they are still quite raw, which presents an opportunity for our team."
"Overall, in these two events, we have a chance, but this opportunity still has its uncertainties."
Su Bai was very candid in his remarks about these two events, essentially stating that the athletes needed to give their all to have a chance at success.
Jiang Wentao nodded in agreement. This aligned closely with their previous analysis. The Chinese Athletics Association had assigned the task of securing at least second place or better in the 400 meters relay events based on an assessment of the current strength of the track and field team. In summary, the focus in the 400 meters relay was on "securing second place."
As for the 4x100 meters relay, it was comparatively simpler than the 4x400 meters. Although China's men's 100 meters sprinters couldn't match Japan's absolute speed in individual events, they excelled in baton passing and had been well-prepared. Therefore, there weren't many obstacles to securing an Olympic spot in the 4x100 meters relay.
The women's team was in a similar position. The current Chinese women's 4x100 meters relay team had a strong chance of securing an Olympic qualification for Tokyo.
After Jiang Wentao confirmed the relay events in the 100 meters and 400 meters, he nodded in agreement.
Of course, as the World Athletics Relay Championships, this competition wasn't limited to just the 4x100 meters and 4x400 meters relay events.
In addition to these events, which determined rankings and had implications for the September World Championships and the following year's Tokyo Olympics, this edition of the World Athletics Relay Championships also featured the men's and women's 4x200 meters races. Moreover, it introduced two new events: the mixed 2x2x400 meters relay and the mixed shuttle hurdles relay.
However, given the current state of the Chinese team's athlete pool, at least according to Su Bai, they were already stretched thin, and they didn't have the capacity to compete in the mixed 2x2x400 meters relay.
When the track and field team arrived in Yokohama, Japan, it was already the afternoon of May 9th. With the assistance of the Yokohama organizers' staff, the national team smoothly checked into the designated accommodation.
After the national team arrived at the hotel, they were given instructions to rest well that night and adjust their condition for the next day.
If in other competitions, the most important thing might be the final rankings, in this competition, the crucial aspect was whether these teams could pass the preliminaries and secure a spot in the finals.
Even though neither Coach Pei Jin'an nor Su Bai explicitly emphasized the pressure on the athletes, the players were well aware of the importance of the upcoming matches on the 11th and 12th.
That night, as the team members were trying to alleviate their pre-competition stress and prepare to rest well and recharge for the battle that would start the day after tomorrow, their rooms were gradually knocked on. When these athletes opened their doors, they were greeted by hotel staff pushing carts loaded with piping hot and aromatic bone soup noodles.
These bowls of soup noodles delivered to the athletes were obviously freshly cooked. The soft and slender noodles looked chewy, and the steaming hot soup, adorned with vegetables and a crispy fried egg, made people feel a sense of happiness with every bite.
"Wow, where did this noodle soup come from?"
When the team members received this late-night snack, their faces couldn't hide their delight. Soon, someone figured it out—this kind of noodle soup must be Su Bai - Coach Su's handiwork!
When Qiu Wen opened his door and smelled the aroma of that bowl of bone soup noodles, he excitedly exclaimed, and many team members who had been feeling nervous about the upcoming competition the day after tomorrow also felt much more relaxed after eating this heartwarming and stomach-warming bowl of bone soup noodles.
That night, many netizens who were casually browsing the internet and happened to see the relay team from the track and field team practically each with a bowl of bone soup noodles, all tagged Su Bai to express their thanks to Coach Su for this treat.
???
The melon eaters, casually scrolling through their social media feeds, were taken aback. Why did they get bombarded with food when checking news related to athletes in the middle of the night?
In this day and age, even following athletes' social media accounts required being cautious not to fall victim to food attacks?
Oh, goodness, just look at the photos of those athletes with their noodles. Although they appeared to be ordinary noodles, the aroma and warmth they exuded in the middle of the night were incredibly enticing.
...It's really making people crave it!
Back in China, in the athletes' dormitory at the track and field base:
Cui Luoheng had just finished his rest, but when he opened his messages, he saw Wang Shen had merrily shared a series of late-night food posts with him. He had barely closed those messages when, in the small group chat of the late-night snack trio, Qiu Wen had already posted pictures of the bone soup noodles and expressed his happiness, saying that the little snack from Su Bai was so wonderful.
Qiu Wen: "Aaah, Su Bai is the best! Su Bai's bone soup noodles are the best in the world!"
Wang Shen: "^^"
Cui Luoheng: "......"
=_=+, I want to hit someone. How can I hit someone without Su Bai finding out? Waiting online, in a hurry.
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Chapter 152 Chatting & Testing the Japanese Team
The second day, after a night of rest, the relay team members were in good spirits. After all, they had only traveled to Yokohama, Japan, which wasn't as far or exhausting as going to Jamaica.
Once everything was settled, the athletes followed the Yokohama organizers' staff to the Yokohama Stadium for early venue adaptation.
When Pei Jin'an and Su Bai led the team to the stadium, there were already quite a few athletes on-site. In addition to Japanese athletes, participants from various countries had gathered as well. The Yokohama organizers had arranged staggered adaptation training times for each team. Some athletes and coaches from other countries were using this time to rest, adjust, and observe the situations of the teams from different countries.
In the vast stadium, the most eye-catching were undoubtedly the athletes from the United States. Whether it was in the men's or women's 4x100 meters or the 4x400 meters, these American athletes had dominant abilities. According to Pei Jin'an, these American guys winning the championship wasn't surprising; what was surprising was when they didn't win.
Apart from the US relay teams' ability to excel comprehensively, other countries such as Bahrain, Germany, the UK, Poland, Jamaica, and more had their own strengths in various events. While they couldn't guarantee beating the US relay teams, they also had the ability to compete.
"Not to mention, countries like the US and Germany indeed have top-notch training levels," Pei Jin'an said as he watched the athletes on the field, sighing. "Around the time you just joined the national team, we were actually discussing inviting a world-class international coach to come and coach. Back then, both Fang Yu and Wu Yi were facing some bottlenecks in their performances. Sending them abroad for training did have some positive effects."
Su Bai also remembered this incident, but at that time, he wasn't an official national team coach, so he only had a vague understanding of these matters and wasn't clear about the complete cause and effect.
"At the time, when Fang Yu and Wu Yi returned, they shared the corresponding training methods with the team. However, even though we learned about a stage of training methods, there was a fundamental difference in training philosophy between us and the foreign coach. If we forcefully expanded the training content based on that method without a proper understanding of the philosophy, it might have led to unexpected results."
The relay team members were about to start their training session, and apart from Pei Jin'an and Su Bai, the remaining athletes were preparing for their warm-up. Pei Jin'an brought up the topic because he recalled the national team sending Fang Yu and Wu Yi for group training with a foreign coach in the past.
Originally, the national team's plan was to assess the training results of athletes abroad before considering inviting top-notch foreign coaches to join the national team as special guest coaches.
If they could successfully invite the right foreign coach, accumulate their teaching and training methods, learn and understand their training philosophy and ideas, and extract the essence to improve the athletes' levels while also raising the standards of domestic coaches.
Then, they could begin by enhancing teaching experience and philosophy, starting with the 100m and 200m sprints and gradually expanding to more demanding events like the 400m sprint, which required higher teaching and technical proficiency.
"In the end, we didn't invite a foreign coach, but instead, you appeared," Pei Jin'an said with a laugh. "Look at this, it's all about luck!"
Pei Jin'an's reference to luck referred to both the national team's luck in encountering a talent like Su Bai and Su Bai's own good timing.
At the time, Fang Yu and Wu Yi had just completed their first-phase training abroad and returned to China. Shortly after the Asian Games, they were originally scheduled to return to their overseas training base for the second phase. However, with the National Championships coming up, Fang Yu had competition duties, so he stayed behind to compete and underwent short-term training in China. He planned to return for winter training after the National Championships.
It was during the National Championships that Su Bai noticed Fang Yu's condition wasn't right, leading to a series of subsequent attempts.
"In fact, at that time, the team was determined to try your training program for Fang Yu. Apart from the shock value of your training effectiveness prediction model, another reason was that within the national team, we had meetings to discuss your training program. We found that your entire training program, in terms of philosophy, was very similar to Fang Yu's foreign coach."
"Although your overall training program differed from Fang Yu's coach, your philosophy and training content analysis were also reasons that made the national team fully determined to try it."
Su Bai wasn't aware of the twists and turns behind the scenes when he initially handed over his training program to Pei Jin'an's hands.
"However, you, little guy, may appear calm and easygoing most of the time, but when you get reckless, you really go all out," Pei Jin'an shook his head and said, "Back then, when you suddenly gave me Fang Yu's training plan, I was so angry that my temper almost flared up to the sky."
Pei Jin'an recalled his feelings at the time and sighed, "I thought to myself, 'Isn't it enough that you have to handle the 400m event along with Cui Luoheng? Why bother meddling in Fang Yu's business?'"
Hearing Pei Jin'an's words, Su Bai couldn't help but smile and said, "My approach at the time was indeed impulsive."
Pei Jin'an continued to tease, "As a result, I found out later that you didn't just meddle in our sprinting affairs, but you even got involved in Wang Shen's matters! That really irritated me. Later on, I went specifically to find Li Mingzhuo. Fortunately, that guy Li Mingzhuo looks like he has a fiery temper, but he's actually soft-hearted."
"It's also fortunate that the coaches in our track and field team are all good-hearted; otherwise, with all these things you've done, it would be enough for you to eat a good scolding!"
Hearing this, Su Bai nodded seriously, "I'm lucky."
Throughout his journey, whether it was with the provincial track and field team or after joining the national team, he had encountered people who were wholeheartedly dedicated to the sport of track and field. Everyone was focused on how to make the sport and the athletes grow better.
As Pei Jin'an said, this was a stroke of luck.
While the two were chatting, the national team's athletes had completed their warm-up and, under the guidance of the organizers' staff, began their adaptation training on the track.
At this point, there were quite a few people on the field, and Su Bai keenly noticed that the attention of several teams had shifted towards their track when it was China's turn to train. It seemed that they were observing China's training closely.
Pei Jin'an also noticed this and turned to Su Bai with a smile, saying, "Speaking of which, Little Bai, your popularity is not only high in China but also abroad."
?
Su Bai was puzzled by this statement, not quite understanding why people abroad would know about him.
"You're aware of the past 400m performances in our country. You single-handedly brought our 400m project to its current level, and even managed to develop Cui Luoheng and Wang Shen. Although the circles outside Asia may not know much about you, from what I know, several teams and coaches in Japan are very interested in you." Pei Jin'an stared at Su Bai and warned, "Kid, you might be gaining fame, but don't even think about leaving!"
Hearing Pei Jin'an's warning, Su Bai smiled and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, Coach Pei. I want to see how far I can take our team in the national team."
Upon receiving Su Bai's reply, Pei Jin'an also smiled.
As both of them had noticed, among the athletes at the venue, there were indeed quite a few who were paying attention to China's performance.
Not to mention the men's and women's 4x100m teams, which already had upper-middle-level strength. When their attention shifted to the 4x400m team, Su Bai noticed that several Asian teams from Japan, Bahrain, India, and others in the distance were observing with a vigilant expression.
"This is the respect earned through improvement in strength," Pei Jin'an said, observing the situation, "In the past, our 400m relay team struggled even to secure a spot in the B final. Why would these opponents bother to pay attention to us?"
In sports, it was natural for the strong to be respected. Only when your strength reached a certain level would most people begin to focus on you.
On the sidelines, several European teams, including Belgium, the Netherlands, and Poland, were also gathered, discussing with furrowed brows. It was clear that they were discussing Zhang Ziyi, who was currently running a trial on the track.
After the first leg, Zhang Ziyi, it was Qiu Wen's turn to take the second leg
Originally, the observers, who appeared relatively relaxed, were surprised by Qiu Wen's speed. Some of them even exaggeratedly opened their mouths and leaned back, clearly amazed by Qiu Wen's pace.
The Chinese relay team had not been on their radar before, but this adaptability training session had brought the previously disinterested teams' attention to the Chinese 4x400m relay team for the first time.
While Su Bai was observing the trial runs of several athletes on the field, he was also communicating with Pei Jin'an about some details to discuss with the team when they returned to the hotel.
However, while Su Bai was in conversation with Pei Jin'an, a man from the Japanese team, dressed in a black training suit and appearing to be in his thirties, approached Su Bai with an interpreter.
"Hello, Coach Su, nice to meet you. I'm Ryuunosuke Arakawa, the coach of the 400m track and field team of Japan."
Su Bai was briefly taken aback, glanced at the translator beside Ryuunosuke Arakawa, and then gave a slightly awkward business-like smile. "Hello, Coach Arakawa, I'm Su Bai."
"I'm very pleased to meet you. I've heard a lot about you recently, and I hope that in the future, we can exchange experiences in coaching our respective projects."
Su Bai looked puzzled but nodded with a smile and agreed. After a brief chat, Ryuunosuke Arakawa bid farewell and returned to the group of coaches from the Japanese team.
"... Coach Pei, what does Coach Arakawa mean?" Su Bai was somewhat confused. If he wanted to exchange experiences, Coach Arakawa didn't leave any contact information, and neither of them spoke the same language. They had exchanged just a couple of sentences, so Su Bai didn't understand what kind of content they were supposed to discuss.
Pei Jin'an glanced in the direction of the Japanese team, shook his head, and chuckled, "I roughly understand Coach Arakawa. He's known as a genius coach in Japan. A 35-year-old genius coach who has managed to become a head coach in Japan is quite remarkable." He then turned to Su Bai and continued, "But he's young... you're even younger. This guy looks a bit too proud."
Su Bai suddenly seemed to understand.
Pei Jin'an smiled and added, "The Japanese team lost to our team a few times before, and he probably wasn't happy about it. In this competition, the Japanese team should give it their all. Anyway, let's wait and see the real competition on the field."
Su Bai nodded, smiled, and said, "Yes, let's wait and see on the field!"
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