182 Dead Weight 1

Before the start of the preliminaries, the stations for each country gave their outlook on their respective teams.

NBC Sports, a well-known American sports channel: We lost to the Australians in the freestyle relay. But now with the medley, it's a chance to get that 14th gold medal.

beIN Sports (Australia): With the freestyle relay in the bag already it's time to add the medley relay to it.

J Sports: In the past World Championships and Olympic Games, we have won too many bronze and silver medals. This time, our team members are at their peak. It is time for us to win gold!

...

Based on the report, it was clear to see that everyone was targeting this gold medal, Especially the Japanese national team. The lineup was the same as the Beijing Olympic team, where they previously came third.

During the training sessions at noon, Japan's breaststroke star, Kojima Kitajima, the current men's 200m breaststroke world record holder, who won gold for 100m and 200m at the Athens Olympics and Beijing Olympics, seemed very confident. Saying only gold would do and bronze and silver medals would be a failure for them.

What was worth mentioning as well was his response when a Chinese reporter begging for a headline asked what he thought of Tang Yan and the Chinese teams chances, his answer was rather intriguing.

"Well Tang Yan is a talented swimmer no doubt, I'm looking forward to his performance, especially in the 1500m....I expect it will be an intense race between him and Sun Yang, it'll be interesting to see who will come out on top. As for the relay, well it's always been an intense 'team' competition but I wish the Chinese team the best of luck."

Kitajima spoke in euphemisms, saying little whilst implying a lot. Praising Tang Yan's talent whilst highlighting his 1500m race beforehand, wishing the Chinese team the best of luck whilst emphasising the team aspect of the relay an element in which the Chinese team suffered in, being weaker comparatively with the exception of Tang Yan.

After the interview video went out, it soon attracted a lot of chatter online along with some indignation.

Some implored Tang Yan drop out of the 1500m race, which attracted hate from other netizens who disagreed and the situation devolved into three camps:

- Those who wanted him to sacrifice 1500m

- Those who wanted him to sacrifice the medley relay

- Those who wanted him to do both events

◘ You lot are so dumb! Wtf should Tang Yan drop out of the 1500m. At least with 1500m he can win a medal without people holding him back, hate to say it but Kitajima is right the rest of the team is trash. He's literally the only person in the team who's actually won a medal. Guaranteed medal or trying to carry a weak group of rookies.

↪ He can do it though, if he drops 1500m I reckon he could easily help secure 3rd or 4th, look at the freestyle relay, him and  Sun Yang carried. Honestly it comes down to whether he wants individual glory or team glory.

↪ Exactly with or without him, we will win gold in 1500m it'll just be with Sun Yang instead of him

↪ Yeah but why should he have to sacrifice a chance at gold/silver for 3rd or potentially even lower just because his teammates can't keep up. Like that doesn't seem like a fair thing to ask of him. In fact the fact people are tryna make him choose despite him saying he wants to do both events is dumb. Hey maybe he'll pull it off and get "individual and team glory".

↪ Is it really team glory though, if he literally has to carry them on his back every time.

....

The Chinese team ranked 14th among the 16 teams. In their group, they ranked second to last in the group.

As a result, they were in lane 7.

Their group was made up of three other notable teams, France in lane 4, the US team in lane 5 and Japan in lane 3.

The final warm up began, swimmers from the other nations were warming up whilst chatting. The strong teams being next to one another found a common topic and chatted with ease. The weaker teams were less carefree.

The Chinese team in the corner was in such a state at this time, even the Dutch team besides them were turned around, chatting with the British team on the other side.

The home team was watching on in silence.

However, although the Chinese team was limited in strength, the youth team was strong in fighting spirit.

Soon, the referee came over to signal the swimmers to prepare for the race.

The medley relay order was backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. The first swimmer for the Chinese team was Xu Jiayu.

Xu Jiayu took fifth place in the 100m backstroke. He was the strongest at backstroke with the exception of Tang Yan.

The swimmers got onto the pool, for backstroke the swimmers started in the pool

"On your marks."

"Get set!"

The swimmers grabbed the edge of the platform and got into position.

Buzz!

With the sound of the electric buzzer, the swimmers dove into the pool and after a distance of underwater snorkeling, they started to kick forward.

"And we are off! Xu Jiayu has made a very good start. He's ranked third behind the Japan and French team!" As the race began, the live commentator followed up with excitement.

Japan's team first stick was the world-renowned backstroke swimmer Ryosuke Irie. He was the world record holder for the 200-meter backstroke. As the race continued, his lead continued to increase and expand as he pulled away from Xu Jiayu.

However he lagged behind Frances, Alain Bernard who was pulling away little by little. Xu Jiayu tried hard to catch up, but he was struggling to close the gap.

Entering the 50-meter turn, the swimmers from the US and the British team began showing their might, successively surpassing Xu Jiayu.

The audience on the sideline saw Xu Jiayu falling behind and began chanting.

"Come on! Xu Jiayu!"

The shouts of thousands seemed to have an effect as Xu Jia desperately went all out, surpassing Britain's Adam Brown in the last 10 meters, taking fourth as he touched the wall.

This performance attracted a burst of excited cheers from the audience. According to this trend, the Chinese team was looking hopeful to break into the finals.

But soon, the second-stick Li Xiang showed how weak the Chinese team's breaststroke was.

Not just struggling to catch up, he actually fell from fourth to fifth, then to sixth, and after 50 meters turned, he had fallen to seventh.

This result almost made the Chinese fans throw up blood in shock.

In the end, Li Xiang, who did his best to maintain his seventh position, touched the wall.

In one move the disparity in the Chinese team was shown and Kitajima's remarks were proved true.