Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 10/18/2023
Chapter 291: The Relay Race is About to Begin
The evening's events began at 7:50 PM. In tonight's schedule, apart from the men's 4x400-meter relay, which was a preliminary race, the remaining six events were all finals in various disciplines.
It was precisely because of this arrangement that the men's 4x400-meter relay was scheduled as the first event of the evening.
The peak of the Olympic frenzy in China initially occurred during the opening ceremony, followed by a slight decline in the middle phase. However, with the commencement of the athletics events, the attention quickly surged.
With the high attention to the track and field events during this period, most domestic viewers were already aware of the incredible growth of the 400-meter sprint event.
Especially in the past few days, the miracles of record-breaking performances by Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen in the men's 400-meter sprint were still fresh in everyone's minds. Naturally, the audience wouldn't miss paying attention to tonight's men's 4x400-meter relay.
In the sports channel studio, Shao Minyi and Li Sen were introducing the results of the men's 4x400-meter relay event and the relevant standards of the Chinese team to the viewers.
"Some viewers may still remember that it was at last year's World Athletics Relay Championships that the Chinese team successfully secured qualifications for the World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 4x400-meter relay. This was actually the first time that the Chinese 4x400-meter relay team had qualified for the World Championships and the Olympic relay events."
"Although the Chinese team has only secured qualifications for the first time, with the current lineup of the Chinese team, as long as they can maintain a stable performance, it shouldn't be too difficult for the Chinese team to advance," said Shao Minyi.
"Yes," Li Sen interjected with a smile. "Although the Chinese team has only secured qualifications for the World Championships and the Olympics for the first time, during the World Championships, the Chinese men's 4x400-meter relay team successfully advanced to the finals, setting a national record of 3 minutes and 1.07 seconds. And in tonight's race, we have already seen Su Bai, the coach, replacing a new member - Zhang Jiale."
"In terms of individual strength, although Zhang Jiale is still a newcomer, his potential and results have already surpassed those of the original veteran team member Guo Dun. Additionally, the three original members of the relay team, Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, and Li Junhao, have all experienced improvements in their individual abilities. It can be said that the current men's 4x400-meter relay team is overall stronger than the lineup during the World Championships. I believe that with this kind of configuration, as long as the athletes run with a stable performance, there will be no problem in advancing to the finals!"
After Shao Minyi and Li Sen introduced this series of situations, they shifted the discussion to the upcoming race and the division of the teams.
Similar to the World Championships, there were a total of 16 teams participating in the men's 4x400-meter relay, divided into two groups for the competition. The group where the Chinese team was placed was the first group in the preliminary round, consisting of teams from the UK, Japan, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, France, Jamaica, and China.
Among these eight teams, undoubtedly the strongest was the team from Jamaica, but the strengths of Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, and France were not to be underestimated.
"Besides the traditional strong teams like Jamaica, the host country Japan is bound to give their all in this race. With the Japanese team competing on their home turf, they might unexpectedly achieve a strong performance with the enthusiastic support of the Japanese audience."
When Shao Minyi reached this point, she frowned slightly, worrying that the home atmosphere in Japan might affect the performance of the Chinese team's athletes, especially Zhang Jiale, whose competitive experience was still somewhat lacking compared to his other teammates. She wasn't sure if he would be affected in today's race.
At the venue, as the first group of participants in the evening's first event, the members of China's men's 4x400-meter relay team had already been guided onto the field by the staff.
Of course, besides the Chinese team, the remaining teams' athletes had also taken the field. However, when the athletes from the eight teams appeared, the cheers for one team were particularly fervent—the men's 4x400-meter relay team from the host country, Japan.
For Zhang Ziyi and the others, the Japanese team members were already familiar opponents. Sprinters such as Sora Akiyama and Yota Asou, remained key players in the relay team.
This time, despite knowing that the Japanese team's hopes of advancing were slim, they wouldn't give up in the Olympic competition on their home turf.
After noticing the gaze of the Chinese team members like Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen, athletes like Akiyama Sora and others from the Japanese team returned the gaze with determination, seemingly signaling to the Chinese team that they would not back down in this race.
On the track, the first runners from the eight teams had already positioned themselves on their respective lanes, while the second, third, and fourth runners were queuing up in the center of the field under the guidance of the staff.
In this round of preliminaries, the Chinese team had been fortunate enough to be assigned to the seventh lane, a golden lane position. Zhang Ziyi had already adjusted the starting block at the starting line and was now waiting for the official start of the race.
The Japanese team also had a stroke of luck, being placed in the fourth lane, another outstanding lane position. However, as Zhang Ziyi looked back at the first runner from the Japanese team, Akiyama Sora, he noticed the serious expression on Akiyama's face, indicating a heightened sense of nervousness.
In the audience stands, many Japanese spectators were wearing headbands and waving the Japanese flag, cheering and shouting loudly and rhythmically for their team members.
"The enthusiasm of the live audience is often a double-edged sword. Such enthusiasm can inspire athletes to perform at their best, but excessive enthusiasm can also bring too much pressure to the athletes. Regarding this point, the Japanese relay team should already have plenty of experience," Li Sen remarked as the camera panned to the enthusiastic Japanese audience in the stands.
Shao Minyi, beside Li Sen, immediately nodded with a smile. Viewers watching the broadcast on television and online platforms also smiled knowingly upon hearing Li Sen's statement, especially those who had followed the World Athletics Relay Championships.
Li Sen was referring to the incident during the World Athletics Relay Championships when the Japanese male sprint relay team, due to excessive excitement, made a baton exchange error—a completely unexpected experience for the Japanese team, known for their speed and coordination in baton passing.
Shao Minyi and Li Sen glanced at Akiyama Sora, who was visibly under considerable pressure on the field, knowing that the Japanese team members might still be affected by the incident.
Players who still had lingering concerns were not limited to just the Japanese team. On the eighth lane, the first runner for Jamaica, Maverson, instinctively looked back towards the position of the Chinese team upon reaching his starting position. Upon realizing that Qiu Wen was not the first runner for the Chinese team, Maverson calmed down and turned his attention forward.
This didn't necessarily mean that Maverson was truly afraid of Qiu Wen. However, he did have some worries about being influenced by Qiu Wen from the Chinese team. Qiu Wen was indeed a new type of player to appear on the top-tier competition scene, and his disruptive capability mainly stemmed from the fact that many top players had not taken Qiu Wen seriously in the past, nor considered how to implement targeted preventive measures.
At least for now, before any targeted preventive measures were put in place for Qiu Wen, Maverson felt that one false start was enough.
In the waiting area of the track, the second runners of teams such as Belgium, France, and Trinidad and Tobago all had somewhat unfavorable expressions upon realizing that they were in the same heat as Qiu Wen for the second leg.
Particularly, Marshall from Trinidad and Tobago was not happy upon realizing that he was once again racing alongside Qiu Wen, especially after their encounter in the previous day's finals.
He was not pleased to see Qiu Wen standing next to him, smiling foolishly and friendly. Was it his bad luck, or was it that Trinidad and Tobago's luck was just particularly unfortunate?
Marshall was not only racing in the same group and order as Qiu Wen today but Trinidad and Tobago's lane for today's race was in the sixth lane. Marcell had once again perfectly found himself placed behind Qiu Wen.
What a 'surprise' indeed!
Marshall and his team originally thought that they had lucked out with the sixth lane, which should have been advantageous for their final race result. However, now Marshall was completely unsure.
Meanwhile, Qiu Wen, who was also in the preparation area, had no idea that he had already been labeled as the 'demon king' in the eyes of other second leg runners. When he saw his opponents from yesterday's 400-meter sprint finals, such as Marshall and Tekawu, he flashed them a bright smile and waved.
However, to his confusion, neither Marshall, Tekawu, nor Fraser from the Jamaican team seemed particularly pleased after seeing his greeting. This left him feeling a bit perplexed.
Qiu Wen's advantage was that even if he was confused, he wouldn't dwell too much on it. He simply thought that Marshall and the others were just nervous as the race was about to begin.
Following Su Bai's instructions, Qiu Wen turned to the third leg runner, Zhang Jiale, and told him not to be too nervous.
"Hey, Lele, don't worry. When it's your turn, just run seriously. Ah Hao is handling the fourth leg! Let me tell you, Ah Hao is amazing. Every time he runs the final leg, he manages to make up a lot of ground!" Qiu Wen reassured him.
At the far end, Li Junhao, who was also waiting with a furrowed brow for the race to begin, suddenly heard Qiu Wen's words. He wanted to retort at first, but he was momentarily at a loss for words. He couldn't possibly say to Qiu Wen and Zhang Jiale, "I can't do it, don't count on me."
With this in mind, Li Junhao furrowed his brow and muttered, "Hmph, just run your part well. I'll handle the fourth leg."
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Chapter 292 Men's 4x400m Preliminaries & Results
Shortly after the athletes in the men's 4x400m relay race took the stage, the participants in the women's javelin final had also arrived on the field to prepare for the final event.
At the same time as the women's javelin final participants took the stage, the last two events for the Chinese athletics team, apart from the marathon, had also all set foot on the track.
"Unknowingly, the quadrennial Olympic schedule is coming to an end again. I wonder if the male 4x400m relay team and Lin Weiran in the women's javelin will bring new surprises to the Chinese team in these final matches."
In the sports channel's live studio, Shao Minyi and Li Sen naturally also noticed the women's javelin final group taking the stage.
In the earlier women's javelin qualification round, Lin Weiran had advanced to the final with the best score in her group. Lin Weiran's performance this year could be described as consistently excellent. If she could continue to maintain her outstanding performance in the final, she had a real chance to contend for a medal in tonight's women's javelin final, even potentially aiming for gold or silver.
The audience in the sports channel's online live studio was also filled with anticipation at this moment—
【Ah, go Lin Weiran!!!】
【Go relay team, go Lin Weiran! Wishing an easy qualification for the relay team and a gold or silver for Lin Weiran!】
In the audience seats, although Jiang Wentao and the others had a somewhat tense expression on their faces, their overall state was relatively relaxed. Despite facing formidable opponents in the men's 4x400m relay, the members of the relay team were all extraordinary athletes and never faltered on the big stage.
And of course, Lin Weiran was no exception. As one of the leading figures in the throwing events, she had received invitations to the Diamond League for several consecutive years and was among the world's top female javelin throwers. As long as her performance didn't encounter any unexpected issues, there should be no problem for her.
On the field, the first leg runners of the eight teams had already prepared themselves. Zhang Ziyi had also crouched down on his starting blocks, awaiting the start of the race.
In this brief period before the race began, Zhang Ziyi had initially thought he should focus entirely on waiting for the starting signal. However, his mind seemed to wander. He remembered that he used to think that if he ever stepped onto the Olympic stage, he might be too nervous to relax.
But now, here he was, crouching on his starting blocks, waiting for the start of this preliminary race. Yet, he still managed to maintain a relaxed but appropriately tense state.
—This was precisely the perfect state for unleashing his true capabilities during the competition.
Even when Zhang Jiale felt nervous before the competition, they were still able to reassure him in a very calm and accommodating manner, telling him not to carry too much pressure.
It was at this moment that Zhang Ziyi suddenly realized that, unconsciously, the men's 400m sprint in China had already grown to its current level.
This thought just flashed by, soon after the announcer's voice resounded through the broadcast, Zhang Ziyi cleared his mind of any unnecessary thoughts and focused all his attention on the track.
"The race is about to start!"
As Shao Minyi's voice fell, the announcer also issued the final command to start - "On your marks, get set."
"Bang!"
After this gunshot, the previously silent venue, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, instantly erupted like a volcano, with the cheering of the audience pouring out almost at the same moment, igniting the entire atmosphere of the arena to a scorching level.
On the track, the eight athletes reacted instantly to the gunshot, with the fastest explosive speed being displayed by Maverson from the Jamaican team. His performance on the field today seemed to be a reassertion of his strength, as if the previous lane infringement was just an accident.
The second fastest reaction time at the start was from Japan's first baton, Akiyama Sora. Competing on their home turf, the Japanese relay team members naturally gave their all, striving for the most perfect performance.
Zhang Ziyi's start reaction speed was not slow either, ranking third with a reaction time of 0.153 seconds. Since the start of the sprint, Zhang Ziyi's explosive power appeared to be very strong. In the curve competition, he was no less competitive than the explosive black athletes.
"Great, Zhang Shuai's starting performance is very stable, and his performance in the curve phase is also outstanding. This is a very good start!"
There was obvious joy in Li Sen's voice. Indeed, Zhang Ziyi's start on the track was quite perfect, not much inferior to Maverson ahead of him.
And in the eyes of Shao Minyi and Li Sen, Zhang Ziyi's state today was slightly toned down in his running. Why was he holding back a bit in his run?
That was, of course, in preparation for tomorrow's final!
Shao Minyi and Li Sen exchanged a glance in the live broadcast room, both raising their eyebrows slightly. Could the national track and field team's 4x400-meter relay afford to hold back slightly and still advance to the final?
In the audience seats, Pei Jin'an was also slightly worried. He had already heard from Su Bai an explanation of today's preliminary plan - Su Bai asked Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen not to run too aggressively in today's race and to save some energy for tomorrow's final.
At that time, Pei Jin'an was somewhat concerned. After all, in the previous Olympics, the men's 4x400-meter relay had two teams that were called up as substitutes for the final, with times of 2 minutes 59.58 seconds and 3 minutes 0.43 seconds, respectively. However, the current personal best of the Chinese men's 4x400-meter relay was 3 minutes 1.07 seconds. Even if the overall strength had improved, could they really make it to the final as Su Bai requested?
However, Su Bai presented an analysis form to Pei Jin'an and Jiang Wentao, showing the training analysis records of the men's relay team before the Olympics. From multiple sets of analyzed data before the Olympics, it was already evident that the men's relay team had been able to approach or even break their previous personal best in training. Moreover, from the personal data of several team members, it could be seen that these athletes were mostly competition-oriented players, and their performance in actual competitions, especially in major events, was far superior to their daily training data.
It could be said that the athletes in the men's 4x400-meter relay, in terms of strength, technique, and mentality, were already very mature. Su Bai believed that the current team members could try to "take a gamble."
Su Bai did not say what he wanted to gamble on, but Pei Jin'an and Jiang Wentao also roughly guessed Su Bai's idea.
Pei Jin'an and Jiang Wentao did not stop Su Bai's decision as a result. Although they were still anxious, they also harbored some expectations - perhaps, just perhaps?
At this moment, everyone in the stands was nervously watching the race in front of them, observing Zhang Ziyi's steady and determined strides on the track.
On the track, perhaps because Qiu Wen wasn't in this leg, the performances of each athlete were relatively stable. Even among these stable performers, Zhang Ziyi's performance was outstanding. After entering the second straight section, Zhang Ziyi was already in the third position on the field. Only Maverson and the first baton, Günther, from Belgium had overtaken Zhang Ziyi's position. The first baton of Trinidad and Tobago was just slightly behind Zhang Ziyi by half a body length, and even in the final baton exchange stage, they failed to catch up.
"Good!"
In the stands, Pei Jin'an was the first to exclaim. Zhang Ziyi had held the third position for the Chinese team in the first leg, and now the baton had been passed to Qiu Wen.
In this Olympic competition, Qiu Wen could be said to have an impressive record. Not only did Maverson suffer a big loss in his hands, but the Trinidad and Tobago's Tekawu and Marshall also completely fell victim to Qiu Wen.
Although he had just finished the men's 400-meter sprint final last night, his physical recovery ability was excellent. At this moment, his condition had already recovered to seventy or eighty percent. Coupled with his infamous reputation as the "Rhythm Destruction Demon King," it was almost visible that the second leg runners on the track were a bit confused in their pace during the start.
Some of these runners were trying to run faster in the starting stage to keep a distance from Qiu Wen, while others were simply experiencing a form of distress upon seeing Qiu Wen, causing their mindset to falter when receiving the baton.
For example, Marshall, after receiving the baton, wanted to surpass Qiu Wen quickly, so he ran aggressively in the first bend, resulting in a disruption of his own rhythm after messing up his own pace due to the earlier burst of speed.
On lane seven, Qiu Wen didn't notice at all the impact he had on the surrounding athletes on the track.
In this race, Su Bai had told him not to run so aggressively, so he relaxed his state slightly. The result of this relaxation was that his rhythm appeared more unrestrained. He was running quite happily, though carefree, his speed was not slow at all. After passing the first bend and entering the straight section, even though Qiu Wen was in the outer lane of lane seven, his speed in cutting into the inner lane was not slow at all.
On the track, the other teams' runners initially thought that after Qiu Wen cut into the inner lane and was restricted by the rhythm of the first Jamaican runner, the pace wouldn't appear as chaotic. However, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the restricted pace in the inner lane, Qiu Wen simply switched to the second lane.
Thus, Qiu Wen, in the first position on the second lane, was running completely at ease according to his own rhythm. Meanwhile, the runners who had merged onto the inner or second lanes behind Qiu Wen thought that his change in lanes would restrict his pace. However, the result was that the distance between themselves and Qiu Wen became closer, and the impact on them became even greater.
At this moment, almost all the second-leg runners on the field, except Qiu Wen, were on the verge of mental collapse.
The first-place Jamaican runner, Fraser, didn't hold back either. Relying on his clear speed advantage, he pushed himself to the front to avoid being influenced by Qiu Wen, unwilling to suffer losses.
However, with Qiu Wen's current strength, the runners behind Fraser would find it challenging to completely shake off Qiu Wen as Fraser did.
After Fraser completely ran to the front, Qiu Wen seized the opportunity and accurately cut into the innermost lane.
!
!!
The other teams' runners who had been hesitating whether to sprint from behind, upon seeing Qiu Wen smoothly cut into the inner lane, immediately widened their eyes and turned pale with anger.
This was supposed to be the Olympic men's 4x400-meter relay preliminaries, an event that should have made the audience incredibly tense. However, due to Qiu Wen's influence in the second leg, the rhythm on the track appeared comical for a moment.
Even with the broad experience of commentators like Shao Minyi and Li Sen, or the audience in the stands like Jiang Wentao, they never expected such a situation to arise on the track.
After hesitating for a moment, Shao Minyi still spoke up, "Next, perhaps teams from various countries will undertake targeted precautions and training against opponents like Qiu Wen."
By the time the race reached the third leg, thanks to Qiu Wen's clever moves, the Chinese team had already secured the second position. Zhang Jiale, when receiving the baton, felt a bit stunned, but despite that, he wouldn't allow the advantage of the Chinese team to be completely lost on his watch.
Fully immersed in the competition, even though Zhang Jiale was somewhat inferior to the other competitors on the track, he successfully maintained China's position in the third rank during his leg.
Finally, as promised before the race, Li Junhao on the fourth leg fulfilled his commitment. Although he fell slightly behind during the baton handoff and the first bend, he quickly caught up and overtook the third-placed Tekawu, securing the Chinese team's final position in third place.
Upon seeing Li Junhao successfully cross the finish line, Shao Minyi and Li Sen also excitedly announced during the broadcast, "Congratulations to the athletes of the Chinese 4x400m relay team! They have secured direct qualification for the 4x400m relay final with a third-place finish in the group with a time of 3 minutes and 00.19 seconds!"
Soon after, when the results were displayed at the venue, the official Weibo account of the national athletics team also posted the latest content:
National Athletics Team Weibo: "In tonight's Tokyo Olympics men's 4x400m relay race, the Chinese 4x400m relay team secured a group third place with a time of 3 minutes and 00.19 seconds. They successfully qualified for the men's 4x400m relay final and set a new record for the Chinese men's 4x400m relay with this performance! Let's congratulate them and cheer them on together!"
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