186 The Finale 1

Tang Yan and Sun Yang went ashore together, and as they walked up the venue lit up again.

As expected, the Chinese team won the 1500-meter freestyle event taking gold and silver. Though against some expectations it was Tang Yan who took gold not Sun Yang not that it mattered much to the fans onsite, they cheered and celebrated the moment wildly.

At the award ceremony, after the 400-meter freestyle, two five-star red flags were rising simultaneously.

"Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!"

The Chinese fans proudly sang the March of the Volunteers, they were no longer squirming their mouths but instead singing all out.

When the five-star red flag rose, they had no reason not to sing.

After the award ceremony, Tang Yan and Sun Yang kissed their respective medals and then lifted them up into the air.

The audience cheered excitedly.

"Tang Yan, Sun Yang!" Fans screamed.

After participating in 6 competitions and winning 4 gold and 1 bronze medal, Tang Yan was undoubtedly the most shining star in the stadium. His light had crowded out everyone else's even Phelps and Roche.

This World Championship was his stepping stone onto the world stage.

However, the Chinese teams victory lap was soon cut short, because in the following projects, the US team won 3 gold medals. Winning the women's 50-meter breaststroke, the men's 400-meter medley and the women's 400 meter medley, for a total of 14 gold medals. Putting them ahead of China in the medal table by 1 medal.

America was basically locked in as the country with the most gold medals in advance, just like in the past World Championships.

Under that umbrella the final event of the 2011 World Aquatics Championships, the men's 4x100m medley relay was about to be underway.

The TV stations were fired up, with each trying to inspire hope for their respective teams.

Polsat Sport Extra: We have reached the finals for the first time in history, history has been made for Polish swimming!

J-Sports 1: The team performed very well in the preliminaries, but it's now time for the hard part, securing gold and bringing it home. I'm looking forward to Kitajima and the team's performance!

...

The media stations of various countries expressed their opinions before the race. It could be seen that although the US team were the favorites to win, the other countries also cherished the opportunity to enter the finals and strove to bring a medal home for their respective countries.

In contrast, the coverage for the Chinese team was a lot more low-key, it's not that they didn't want to be high-profile but there wasn't much to be high-profile about.

The main reason for this was naturally because of the absence of the veteran Zhou Jiawei. According to arrangements before the race, Song Xiaocheng chose Shi Yang to replace him after careful consideration. Wu Peng, who had just won bronze for the 200m butterfly was the expected choice, but in the end Song Xiaocheng chose Shi Yang for his explosiveness which was suited for such short distances.

Since the 4x100m medley was 100m per swimmer he felt he was better suited than Wu Peng who swam 200 metres, had a slower rate of acceleration and suffered in terms of explosiveness right off the bat.

There was nothing wrong with such an arrangement per say, but now all four swimmers were young swimmers without very much experience. And three of whom whilst dominant nationally struggled to stack up against the top athletes from other countries.

The Chinese media just talked about the hard work these young swimmers had put in. Even quoting Tang Yan's words from an interview: "A man must have a dream if not what's the difference between him and a salted fish." They congratulated them on getting so far but didn't seem to place much hope on them anymore.

Under this somber tone, a video appeared online of the beIN Sports France host seemingly a little bitter having a small rant: "Without Zhou Jiawei, even with Tang Yan, the Chinese team cannot avoid becoming the weakest team. At this point they don't even have a chance of contending and are just seemingly there to make up the numbers."

This instantly set off the netizens, as they launched into a tirade mocking the French Team.

"Is the French Team invisible or something, how come I can't see them in the final?"

"Why can't the French media be as low-key as their team? Just go into hiding with your team and stop making stupid comments when your team can't even make it into the finals!"

...

The comments were ridiculous and the French media were torn a new one.

Of course, this kind of targeting by the media and netizens was only an off-site thing. In the end, who would have the right to speak after, depended on the outcome of the race.

Because it was the end of the day and at the same time the finale for the 2011 World Championships. Despite it nearly being 12 o'clock in the evening, there were no fewer than 15,000 people on the spot in the swimming centre.

Media outlets and commentators from various countries were all in place early, as they broadcasted the race to domestic audiences back home.

"Just believe in yourself and your teammates, no matter what the outcome, as long as we know we did our very best to win a medal, we can walk with pride and our heads up." Tang Yan gave some encouragement to his teammates as they headed out.

When they heard what Tang Yan said, all of them had fighting spirit in their eyes.

Although their strength was worse than Tang Yan's, they didn't lose out at all in fighting spirit and dedication.

"China on three!"

"1, 2, 3, China!" They shouted together with their hands stacked.

At this time, the final countdown to the 4X100m medley relay began outside.

The countdown began.

With this countdown, the audience also shouted out with excitement.

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

When the countdown reached zero, the tunnel door opened, revealing a door panel covered with stickers from the sponsors.