am i proud?

Chapter 287 My Goal Is To Win The Championship
The accommodation conditions in the Athens Olympic Village are not bad. Although it is much worse than the Beijing Olympic Village four years later, it is also much better than the Tokyo Olympic Village in 2021!
The Olympic Village in Little Japan really lives up to the name "village", it is definitely "village"... The conditions are probably similar to the country guest houses in China in the early 90s!
There is also no refrigerator, and there is also no internet... The bed in the country guest house is bigger than yours, and the ceiling is higher!
At the very least...they have set up a bed made of solid wood anyway, so what's the matter with your cardboard bed?

Not to mention the poor accommodation, and the food is so unsafe. It is said that the food ingredients are seafood from the sea area of ​​Fukushima... People who travel thousands of miles to participate in the Olympic Games have to be worried, for fear of contracting some kind of disease.

Little Japan really deserves to be Little Japan, this little life is so comfortable!
Fortunately, the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee is not as shameless as the villain Japan. Their accommodation conditions can be ranked above average in the entire history of the Olympic Games, and the food is also good, and all kinds of preparations are adequate.

At noon on August 8, when everyone was having dinner together at the restaurant, Yao Ming ran over to the women's basketball team with the dinner plate.

Everyone in the men's basketball team and the women's basketball team knew about his affair with Ye Li... There was nothing shameful about it, anyway, they were both unmarried men and women, both national athletes, and they were a good match.

It's okay for Yao Ming to go alone, but this guy is embarrassed, so he has to drag Wang Dalin to sit among the women's basketball players, which is a bit embarrassing.

"Da Lin, are you sure that you will play Spain in the first game this time?" Miao Lijie couldn't help asking Wang Dalin when he saw that he only knew how to eat.

Wang Dalin hurriedly replied: "Sister Miao, it's not that you don't know the strength of Spain. Among other things, Pau Gasol and that 'bomb' Navarro are enough for us to drink a pot. Who dares to say for sure?"

Miao Lijie is the number one star of this Chinese women's basketball team, and she is considered an old seniority. She asked this question quite well, at least it was about the game. Others are not as rational as her.

"Da Lin, how much did you spend on this engagement? I read in the newspaper that you spent millions on the banquet alone. Is it true?"

"Dalin, your fiancée is still in college, do you plan to wait until she graduates and get married, or wait a few more years?"

"Dalin, is the matter between you and that Jessica Alba true? You have to know that you are a married man now, so don't resist the temptation of the foreigner blonde beauty!"

"Dalin, it's a pity that you're already engaged now, or else I'd introduce one of my best friends to you... My best friend also plays basketball, she's pretty and has a height of 1.8 meters [-], she's a good match for you!"

"Dalin..."

These women's basketball girls usually have very hard training, and they can't gossip during the training, and they all become chatters. This chatter caused cold sweat to break down Wang Dalin's head.

In order to shut their mouths, Wang Dalin suddenly had an idea and asked loudly: "Sisters, how are you all eating? How about I add some dishes for you?"

Sui Feifei smiled and said, "That's a good idea... By the way, what do you want to treat us to?"

Wang Dalin stood up and said with a smile: "Of course it's delicious or whatever!"

As he said that, he went to buy a lot of good things... There are a lot of Australian lobster, king salmon, three-headed abalone, bluefin tuna, Canadian geoduck, etc. The standard of hospitality is quite high!
Board and lodging in the Olympic Village is of course free, but if you want to "extra meal" or eat better, you have to pay for it yourself.

Just like this Athens Olympics, they provided athletes with many types of meals, including Western and Chinese food, but these dishes were made of common ingredients.

Of course, there are those who want to eat "high-end dishes". In a word...add money!

In order to entertain this group of women's basketball girls, Wang Dalin spent more than 1 US dollars on this meal... It really is the most embarrassing one in the entire Chinese delegation!
Seeing that Wang Dalin paid for everyone to eat well, Ye Li also poked Yao Ming's head with her finger and said with a smile: "Look at Dalin, and then at yourself, now you know the difference?"

Yao Ming said angrily: "Yes, the income gap between me and him is really quite big!"

Ye Li smiled and said, "You guys can't be more generous?"

Yao Ming hurriedly laughed and said, "Dalin has bought so much, I will buy it in two days... Today I have to attend the rehearsal for the opening ceremony, tomorrow is the opening ceremony, and the day after tomorrow you will fight in Korea, eating too much seafood and ruining your stomach will be bad!"

Ye Li thought for a while and said: "That's right... Sisters, if you have a bad stomach, don't eat too much sashimi. If you eat too much, the old palace will not spare us!"

The "Old Palace" she refers to is the head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team, Gong Luming. He has led the men's basketball team before and led the team to the quarterfinals in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Gong Luming has served as the head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team since 1999. In 2001, he led the team to win the Asian Championships and the runner-up in the Universiade. In 2002, they won the Asian Games again... Although it is not comparable to the runner-up in the Barcelona Olympic Games, it has been considered good in recent years.

The team leadership style of "Lao Gong" is indeed very strict. These women's basketball girls are very afraid of him. After hearing Ye Li's words, many people dare not eat too much seafood.

Wang Dalin and Yao Ming had no choice but to open their stomachs and eat hard, which was really bad... In the afternoon, they both had a little stomach trouble.

Fortunately, both of them were young and in good physical condition, and they almost recovered after sleeping that night.

……

On the evening of August 8, the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games finally officially kicked off at the main venue "Athens Olympic Stadium".

I have to say that the opening ceremony of this Olympic Games is really wonderful... If there is no opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games four years later, Athens should be number one this time!
Among other things, the idea of ​​turning the entire stadium into a sea of ​​Aegean is a masterpiece. It is absolutely brilliant when compared with the slowly unfolding picture in the "Bird's Nest" four years later.

At this time, the athletes were all in the waiting area, and all the Chinese sports delegation had already stood in a neat queue, but at this time they were all fascinated by the wonderful performance on the TV screen.

Yuan Weimin, the head of the Chinese sports delegation, and Li Yuanwei, the leader of the basketball team, came to the front of the queue. Li Yuanwei said to Wang Dalin, "Dalin, the leader has to ask you a few more words, please listen carefully!"

Although the 65-year-old Yuan Weimin should retire at the end of this year, he still took the initiative to carry the banner of this Olympic Games.

Some people say that he wants to earn more political capital before retiring. In fact, those who say such things are purely "sour grapes when they can't eat grapes".

Gaining political capital?
In case the Chinese delegation's performance in the Olympics is dismal this time, wouldn't he, the head of the delegation, take the blame?

As the saying goes, "The true qualities of a hero can only be revealed when the sea is in the middle of the sea." Yuan Weimin took the risk of being the head of the regiment... He is a 65-year-old man. Wouldn't it be good for him to retire safely?

Therefore, Wang Dalin respected the hero who led the Chinese women's volleyball team to five consecutive championships. After hearing this, he nodded and said, "Leader, please tell me if you have anything to say!"

Yuan Weimin patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Xiao Wang, this time you are the standard bearer of our Chinese delegation, representing our China. If you lose the chain, the Chinese people will poke our back!"

Wang Dalin patted his chest and smiled: "Leader, don't worry, I will definitely not make any mistakes!"

Yuan Weimin smiled and said, "You are the standard-bearer of our Chinese delegation, so it's fine if there are no mistakes? You must show the spirit of our Chinese delegation!"

Wang Dalin couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and asked, "How do you show your spirit? Do you want me to hold my head up and my chest high?"

Li Yuanwei scolded with a smile: "I said, why don't you get enlightened, kid? Let me ask you, what are you holding in your hand?"

Wang Dalin said without hesitation: "The national flag, what's wrong?"

Li Yuanwei smiled and said: "Have you heard the song "Five-Star Red Flag Flying in the Wind"? The first line of the lyrics is 'Five-Star Red Flag Flying in the Wind'. You must raise the national flag high for me tonight. If there is no wind, just wave it twice...The five-star red flag has to be fluttering high, and the people behind will be refreshed when they see it, understand?"

Wang Dalin quickly stood still and said seriously, "Understood, I promise to complete the task!"

Yuan Weimin smiled and said, "Good boy, I can wait to see your performance!"

……

After the performance session, there was thunderous applause at the scene, and such a wonderful performance really deserves such applause.

Then there was the athlete admission ceremony, and the Chinese delegation entered the stadium in the 78th place.

Wang Dalin was at the front of the team, and he held his head high and held the national flag high in his hand, waving it lightly from time to time.

Following the five-star red flag fluttering high, all members of the Chinese delegation walked in unison. Each of them had a confident smile on their face. This scene made hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers in front of the TV feel proud and proud.

After seeing the end, Zhang Zilin's father couldn't help laughing and said, "Our Chinese delegation walked the best... How neatly we walked. The delegations of other countries all walked in a mess, especially the American delegation, which is just a bunch of mobs who have just lost a battle!"

After all, he is a member of the army, and he just can't understand anything that is not neat.

Americans naturally like to show off their individuality, and their appearance is indeed quite "individual". Not to mention that they walk around scatteredly, and many people take pictures with cameras in their hands, just like those Internet celebrities who take selfies in later generations.

After the entrance ceremony of the athletes is the ignition ceremony. The main torch of this Olympic Games is lit by the Greek windsurfing athlete Nikolaos Kakramanaski. He won the gold medal of the windsurfing event in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and is a well-known meritorious athlete in Greece.

However, his ignition ceremony is a bit too ordinary. This idea is indeed much worse than the "Archery Ignition" in Barcelona in 1992 and the "Mix of Water and Fire" in Sydney in 2000.

When it comes to the performances of the opening ceremony, the Athens Olympics is definitely one of the best in the century-old Olympic history. Except for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, none of them can compare with this one in Athens.

But speaking of this ignition ceremony... I'm really sorry for the beautiful Aegean Sea in the stadium just now!
Uh...Of course, no matter how bad it is, it will be many times better than the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Leaving aside the ignition ceremony, the performance of the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics is full of yin and ghosts, crying and howling... They dare to say that they are the second-to-last, but no one dares to admit that they are the last-to-last!

After the opening ceremony, many reporters entered the venue to interview the athletes. Wang Dalin was the most popular in the Chinese delegation, so the reporters who interviewed him were naturally indispensable.

The reporters asked Wang Dalin a lot of questions, and his answers were impeccable... The leaders had explained how to answer these questions, so naturally he couldn't just follow his own temper.

But there was one problem where he crossed the line.

When the reporters asked him about the goal of the Chinese men's basketball team in this Olympic Games, Wang Dalin pondered for a while and said, "I won't talk about our team's goal. It has been published in newspapers before. Let me talk about my own goal... My goal in this Olympic Games is to win the championship!"

Yu Jia, a reporter from CCTV, couldn't help being stunned for a moment... Isn't this kid too daring to say it?

The best result of the Chinese men's basketball team in the Olympic Games was only No. 8. You are going to win the championship with your mouth open, will you be too overwhelmed?

Seeing Yu Jia's expression, Wang Dalin guessed his thoughts in his heart, so he smiled and said: "I know that with our previous results, many people will think that I am talking big when I say that I won the championship. But I want to remind the audience friends in front of the TV that our strength is very strong. The victory over the European champion Lithuania in the warm-up match is a proof!"

He paused for a while and then continued: "I know that there are still many people who don't believe that we have the strength to compete for the championship. It's okay, just wait and see the night after tomorrow... When we beat Spain, everyone will know that what I said is true!"

After saying this, Wang Dalin pointed to Yao Ming who was not far away and said with a smile: "Did you see that Yao hasn't shaved since he got on the plane to Athens. He said that as long as the Chinese men's basketball team doesn't make it to the quarter-finals, he will always keep his beard and never shave. This is called 'growing a beard to show his ambition'! Here I also swear in front of the national audience..."

After finishing speaking, he leaned closer to the camera lens and said seriously: "If the Chinese men's basketball team can't win the Olympic Games, I, Wang Dalin, won't shave... The audience all over the country will testify to me!"

Yu Jia was taken aback, and quickly asked the cameraman to turn off the phone, and said, "Hey, Dalin, what are you doing? This is a live broadcast..."

(End of this chapter)