Chapter Eighty Four
The roster for the World Central Conference was reported layer by layer, and was finally approved by the head of the training center, and was quickly sent back to the teams.
Before the official announcement of the list, hundreds of team members were summoned to the square and held a summary meeting. The leaders of the Sports Bureau took the stage to give a speech, and the speech in his hand was full of three pages.
"...At this World Middle School Games, we will strive to increase the total number of medals while ensuring that the superior projects in previous years do not make mistakes. For the new projects this year, we will strive to win the first gold medal!......"
On the stage, the leaders of the Sports Bureau gave generous speeches, and off the stage, the athletes were drowsy (Shui Shui).
The cold wind was rustling, everyone hid in their down jackets trembling and yawning. Sure enough, no matter when, the leader's speech is so boring.
After the leader's lengthy and boring speech, the coaches of various events led their athletes back to the training hall.
The original relaxed atmosphere dissipated instantly, because everyone knows that the main event is only about to begin at this time.
Dozens of athletes on the swimming team lined up in two rows on the shore, with the girls on the left and the boys on the right. Everyone's eyes were concentrated on the thin folder in the coach's hands.
The four assistants stood behind the coach, and the expressions of all five were equally solemn.
Coach Yu took the lead: "I think you should all know the weight of this list. What I hold in my hand are the 32 names that finally played; and the remaining 48 people will leave the training base tomorrow. To your respective schools."
"I know that other projects will announce the list of players, and will choose a more gentle way. For example, the diving team next door, their assistant coach will privately notify the unsuccessful athletes and let them pack away quietly. But I won't be like this—" Coach Yu His eyes were as sharp as a knife, and he drew across every player in front of him, "——The game is like a battlefield, and the winners and losers are often within 0.01 seconds. The ones who are eliminated are not that you are not good enough, but that you stay Those who come down are even better than you!"
The team was silent.
Eighty players are left with thirty-two, and the odds of elimination are nearly two-thirds! After more than a month of rigorous training, all athletes who have survived until now have hopes and dreams, and want to set foot on the international arena and touch the distant trophy.
Who would be willing to be eliminated? Who would be willing to be replaced? Who would want to be the "not good enough" one?
Everyone held their breath, and even Xiang Li Cheng, who was full of confidence, could not help standing up straight at this time, his eyes scorching on the list in the hands of the coach.
Although Zhou Jian reminded him that coach Yu and X City Sports School might have "blacked" his quota, but Li Cheng's results are solid. How could he be "hacked" so easily?
In the trials, he won the first place with a clear advantage of 200 and 100, he did not believe that the coach would pretend not to see his results!
He waited confidently, waiting to hear his name...
Coach Yu stopped talking nonsense, she opened the folder and read out the final list. According to regulations, the same player can only register for two events at most. In the final list, there are players who participate in two events and players who participate in only one event.
The announcement order is the women's team first, then the men's team, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and finally freestyle. As a result, the men's freestyle list is bound to appear at the end.
As the names were pronounced one by one, it was natural that several families were happy and some were worried.
When the last name of the women’s team fell on the ground, the girls who were not selected all shed tears. They didn’t cry and didn’t want to provoke others’ sympathy. They had to gritted their teeth and hung their heads. The trembling shoulders have vented (exposed) their inner pain. Seeing tears in the eyes of the teammates beside him, the other selected female players also followed with red eyes.
Coach Yu didn't give them time to digest. She quickly flipped through the file page and read the list of men's teams.
Backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly stroke... Li Cheng never felt that time flies so slowly. Those unfamiliar or familiar names fell gently in the ears, and excited or frustrated faces showed up in front of them...Li Cheng put his hands behind his back and clenched fists.
Finally, finally reached the last list.
The final qualifications for the men's freestyle are finally announced! !
"Men's freestyle 1500 meters, the first body attached middle school, Zhou Jian.
Men's freestyle 800 meters, middle school attached to the first body, Zhou Jian. "
This answer was as early as everyone expected. Everyone turned their eyes to Zhou Jian with admiration in their eyes. Li Cheng also clapped with everyone, congratulating him in a low voice.
Zhou Jian turned to him, and instead of saying "thank you", he said "Tongxi".
Li Cheng knew what he was "with joy".
Next, it was 400, the coaching staff selected a player from Northeast Province.
Immediately afterwards, Li Cheng's long-awaited main items 200 meters and 100 meters—
"——Men's 200-meter freestyle, Hwaseong No. 1 Middle School, Li Cheng."
Hearing his name, Li Cheng let out a long sigh of relief, and finally let go of his heart raised high. He shook his fist and punched in the air, his face filled with confidence.
Look, it turns out that Zhou Jian is worried about the world. What shady is not shady? As long as Li Cheng swims well enough, how could coach Yu abandon Li Cheng and choose X City Sports School players?
"——Men's 100 meters freestyle, x City Sports School, Dai Yujing."
In the next second, the cruel reality was like a heavy punch, which hit Li Cheng's heart hard.
Li Cheng was beaten up.
His brain was blank, and his mouth seemed to have broken through a huge hole. The happiness and pride just disappeared in a flash, leaving only an endless pit.
What did he hear?
What did he hear?
His main item 100 has actually failed the election? ! After he got the first place in the trials, he, unexpectedly, lost, was selected, it was! ! !
And the person who replaced him was not someone else, it was the hairtail spirit from City X! !
A smile hung on the corner of Li Cheng's mouth last second, and now, the blood in his whole body was frozen. He stood there blankly, and he could feel everyone's eyes looking at him, and there were some sparse comments surrounding him, as if everyone was pointing at him.
Zhou Jian looked at him worriedly and asked in a low voice, "Li Cheng, are you all right?"
Li Cheng's voice (dry gan) was dumb: "I'm not good at all."
As for the other protagonist of this "civil cat for prince", he is standing in place with joy, accepting congratulations from the people around him.
The men's team was full of restlessness, but the coach Yu, who was standing at the forefront of the team, didn't hear it. He only slightly raised his eyes and glanced at the people who were talking about it.
An assistant teacher stepped up to organize discipline to keep everyone quiet.
Li Cheng was in the crowd, clenching his fists with both hands, clutching his pants tightly.
Why...why? ! Both 200-self and 100-self are his main advantages. Why does he want to hand one of them?
The list of all the members was announced. Coach Yu looked up from the folder, and the deep wrinkles on his face seemed to be carved out.
"Well, the list of entries for all individual projects has been announced," she said without ups and downs, like a robot without temperature, "Now, if you don't read the name, you can leave."
As soon as she finished speaking, suddenly, a hand was raised in the crowd and stretched straight into the air, which made it impossible to ignore.
Everyone looked at that hand.
——The owner of the hand is Li Cheng.
The omega boy raised his arms straight, his red eyes staring straight at the coach.
"Coach," he said loudly, regardless of the gaze of the people around him, "I have doubts about the result!"
Zhou Jian violently dragged him and whispered: "Li Cheng, calm down, don't be impulsive!"
The team rules are strict. The first one is to respect the coach and never contradict. The (guanguan) system between the coach and the student is like a general and a soldier, and the soldier cannot disobey the general's orders.
Zhou Jian knew that Li Cheng must have complained about the results of this reading, but he never expected that this hedgehog-like boy would tear the matter out in front of everyone.
"..." Coach Yu looked at Li Cheng calmly, spit out a word, "Oh?"
Li Cheng argued for reason: "In this special training for more than a month, my 100m performance improved by half a second. In the final trials, I was the first to hit the wall! Why is the 100-meter quota not mine? ?!"
The players were silent first, and then there was a rush of discussions. Everyone was actually very curious. With Li Orange's ability, he easily won the two games. Why did coach Yu assign 100 to other players?
Almost everyone has heard about the fact that "X City Sports School has recommended places", and the current situation just confirms the truth of this matter.
The face of the X City contestant that was discussed blushed. He was questioned in public. Of course, he had to argue for himself: "Li Cheng, what do you mean by this? Do you think you are the only one who is good? You do have outstanding results, but My average score is only 0.05 seconds behind yours! And I have participated in the middle school in junior high school. I have experience in international competitions, and you have only participated in provincial competitions at the highest!"
What he said is indeed the truth. If he insists on explaining it from experience, his reasons are also tenable.
But Li Cheng sneered: "Since you have experience and you are a veteran, how many medals did you win last year?"
Dai Yujing was at a loss for words. The World Central Committee is held every four years. The last time he participated in the competition, he was still in the third year. The internal competition was not fierce at that time, so he followed his teammates to participate in the competition, and then... won the fourth place.
It's fine if you rank low, but he took fourth place! The fourth place and third place are a little bit close, but it is this little difference that makes him miss the medal. He sighed and wanted to make a shame in this session, and in private, he expressed his determination with coach Yu, and finally got the place to return to the game in this session.
Coach Yu listened to their quarrel calmly and asked, "Li Cheng, are you questioning my quota allocation problem?"
Li Chengru has been walking like a small beast in a difficult situation, even if he knows that the road ahead is dangerous, he still moves forward. He looked at the coach menacingly, and refused to give up: "You just said that the game is like a battlefield, the winners and losers, everything is based on the results. Is my results not good enough?"
"Of course your grades are good enough." Coach Yu nodded, "You are the one with the greatest potential among the few student athletes I have led."
"Since my grades are good enough, why should I give a quota of 100 to X City Sports School?"
He is so stupid and so upright that he doesn't even think about the consequences of saying this. He knew that he questioned the coach in front of everyone and challenged her authority. This behavior is a serious violation of team rules. If he goes online, he is likely to be expelled from the team!
If he is smart enough, he should endure it, and at least keep one place in the game-but in that case, it would not be Li Orange.
Li Cheng hopes that the swimming pool he loves will always be clean, and the water here will always be clear. He is so idealized, but is idealization wrong?
Zhou Jian looked at him worriedly, and tried to speak several times, but finally gave up... Because Zhou Jian found that compared with Li Cheng, he was too weak. He thinks in another way. If he encounters a dilemma like Li Orange, would he dare to question the coach in person?
No, he dare not. If he is hacked out of his place, he will adopt a more "smooth" method, tell his personal trainer about the incident, and let the personal trainer "talk" to Coach Yu through private contact.
——He didn't have the courage to be like Li Cheng.
In the face of Li Cheng's straightforward questioning, unexpectedly, there was no trace of anger into the coach's face.
"Since everything is up to this point, it's better to spread it out." Coach Yu looked around all the players with his hands behind him, his tone did not fluctuate, "What are you talking about in private, I actually knew it a long time ago. But I have always felt that those rumors are too absurd and need no explanation at all, but now it seems that if you don’t explain it clearly, I’m afraid you little rascals will only use your big brains to think about it!-Li Cheng, Have you heard that the coaches of X City Sports School and I are in the mentorship (guanguan) department, so I will give them a quota every time? So you think I took the quota that should belong to you and gave it to Dai Yujing?"
Li Cheng: "...Yes."
Instead, Dai Yujing yelled: "Fuck? Is there anything else???"
Not only his eyes were shocked, but even his schoolmates were surprised. Their expressions didn't seem to be fake, but it was like the first time they heard this truthfully.
If they were acting... then the acting would be great.
Coach Yu nodded: "Their coach is indeed the student I have taken before."
This is completely "blow"!
However, Coach Yu still has not finished the second half of the sentence: "Not only him, but the coach of the middle school attached to the first body, he was also my student.
Everyone's gaze shifted to Zhou Jian again.
Zhou Jian, who was accidentally shot: "...???"
"Not only the two of them are intimate with me, but also the principal of **** sports school, who was my previous leader; the director of the academic affairs office of oo school is my former teammate; the coach of dd school is my former colleague... "She clicked the names of many schools in one breath, and the students who were named were selected and unsuccessful, but everyone looked blank and had never heard of this origin.
Coach Yu said: "You now think that this circle is so big that there are new athletes coming out every year, and every year someone retires sadly. You can always see fresh faces when you go out to participate in competitions. But when you reach my age , When you come to my position, you will find that this circle is actually very small, looking up and down, there are acquaintances everywhere-if I have to take special care of every acquaintance, then I don’t need to be a coach in the national team. Now, I might as well be a baby swimming teacher."
"..."
"What's wrong?" Coach Yu frowned and looked at them, "Isn't my joke funny, why don't you all laugh."
Everyone: "..."
In other words, the uproar "recommendation" previously reported is just a fiction?
Think about it carefully. X City Sports School was originally a swimming school, and it has cultivated many champions. It is not impossible if the athletes enter the competition list based on their strength.
but……
Li Cheng was shaken and hesitated: "I'm sorry to the coach, I shouldn't speculate about you and the (guan) department of X City Sports School. I now believe that you are not partial in the selection of candidates, but I still don't understand you. Why is only one place for me to play?"
Coach Yu took a deep look at him: "When did I say that only one place for you to play?"
Li Cheng was startled. "……what?"
Not only did he fail to react, but the other players who were watching and eating melons were also stunned.
Coach Yu said that she was tired. She was unwilling to talk too much. Apart from cursing during training, this was the first time she had spoken so much.
She took the hot water cup in the assistant's hand, threw the name list into her arms, and motioned her to continue reading.
So the teaching assistant opened the list obediently and read it out loud with nearly a hundred sights.
"——New items this year: mixed 4x100 for men and women, contestants: women's backstroke, ..., men's breaststroke, ..., women's butterfly, ..., men's freestyle, Hwaseong No. 1 Middle School, Li Cheng."
Everyone:! ! !
Li Cheng:! ! !
Li Cheng was stunned by this sudden reversal.
Men's and women's medley is a new project that has only emerged in recent years, and it is a rare figure in international competitions. Unexpectedly, this session of the World Congress, actually added the men's and women's medley to the schedule!
Li Cheng recalled when he had just led the meeting. Is it possible that the "new project for the gold medal" mentioned by the leader refers to the men's and women's medley swimming? The first gold medal of each new project often has an extraordinary meaning far beyond the ordinary, which is like the "dungeon first (kill sha in the game, which is an absolute honor.
Li Cheng is not familiar with the women’s team, but the breaststroke player sent by the men’s team is indeed an elite on the breaststroke side, and Li Cheng has an absolute advantage in the 100-meter freestyle—no doubt, these four The combination of "Wang Bo" was sent after careful consideration! Yu's coach's ambitions are clear, and his sword points to the championship!
It is precisely because a player can only apply for two events, in order to save energy, so these four players have only one event before qualifying.
Everyone finally understood what Coach Yu was planning.
However, this matter did not "stop here"——
The teaching assistant cleared his throat and read the last sentence on the list.
"——Captain of the swimming team of the World Central Committee, Hwaseong No. 1 High School, Li Cheng!"