cut the waves

Su Liao turned around and listened carefully.

"It has been one hour, two and 10 minutes since the start of the game, and now our second echelon is about to enter the corner - this is a very critical match point - based on the experience of previous competitions, from this time on, the on-court There will be a very big change in the ranking—however, the distance between the first echelon and the second echelon in this competition seems to be much larger than usual.”

"Whether the second echelon can overtake, let us wait and see!"

The commentators on FINA's official website are two foreigners, both of whom have strong British accents.

"No. [-]! We can see that the No. [-] player from the Chinese team took the lead in this corner buoy! He temporarily surpassed the No. [-] player Sun Haijie!"

"Ah, Sun Haijie is a player we are familiar with. He has won the championship in China's domestic competitions for two consecutive years, and he was No. 12 in the World Championships last month—er, No. 17 ——The number nine player is Yu Yu, he is very young and only [-] years old this year—this should be his first time participating in a FINA competition!”

"Having said that, I don't think this game was Sun's best performance."

The two commentators talked about Sun Haijie again: "Yes, that's right, I think the consumption of the World Championships last month—and jet lag and other factors—may have had a certain negative impact on him."

"Sun may feel the pressure to play this game, which is their country's home ground after all."

"Unfortunately, perhaps for the same reason, many players we are familiar with did not participate in this World Cup, and hope to meet in Arabia at the end of September." Another commentator laughed, "Oh, Andrei Marozov , but you can always meet Marozov!"

Soon, the commentators chatted about other players again. Su Liao squatted for so long, but only saw a shot of Yu Yu—a player wearing a Chinese swimming cap at the bend cut through the water first and accelerated. Going out, there are black Arabic numerals "9" painted with white borders on the raised arms and shoulders.Except for the moment when the athletes appeared at the beginning, Yu Yu has only obtained such a shot so far.

It has to be said that swimming marathon, as a competitive sport, has very limited viewing.Except for the water entry and sprint stage, it is simply lifeless.Su Jianjun sat with Su Liao for a while, then got up to make lunch.When the two of them were about to have dinner, the live broadcast reached the point of the final match.

Holding the bowl, Su Liao went back to watch TV.

The camera is located above the finish timing pontoon, the first echelon is completing the final sprint, and the regular sound of "refueling" can be heard in the background.Su Liao took a glance, and through the swimming cap, he recognized that the German player took the lead, followed by a British player and a Russian player. Looking back, there was still no swimming cap for the Chinese team.

Actually, Su Liao was not surprised by this result.

Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Brazil are the "powerhouses" in the swimming marathon event. The Chinese women's team once won the World Championships, but it is not easy for the men's team to get the top ten.In the past few years, it is very common for domestic national champions to win [-] or [-] places in world competitions.

The commentators commented on the top three excitedly, and one commentator broke his voice, because the No.3 winner was also from the UK.It wasn't until No.7 touched the board that the two calmed down: "Now our first echelon has reached the finish line one after another—"

"I have to say that the gap between the first and second echelons in this game is indeed very large. The finish timing pontoon has been 'empty' for a while, and the second echelon is about to usher in. It is worth mentioning that any team in the World Cup The top ten places in the competition will all get annual points, but only the top eight will have the chance to share the bonus! Old man, how much bonus will No.8 get?"

"$650. Let's see, who will get the $650?"

"I think that No.8 belongs to the Australian team player No. 21 Michael Fullerton - you know, he is the younger brother of the world famous swimmer Thomas F - aha, he is followed by the German No. 27 August! As we all know, the sprint It's not August's strong point, the gap between the two is getting bigger and bigger!"

The narrator almost shouted: "Yes, Fullerton is about to lock the last seat of the prize money!"

But at this moment, a white swimming cap with the five-star red flag printed on it cut between No. 21 and No. 27 at a very fast speed.The chopsticks in Su Liao's hand paused,

The commentator gave an unexpected "Oh": "Where did he come from?"

"Number [-]! Chinese player No. [-]—my God, please forgive me—I forgot his name again—unbelievable, Number [-] is overtaking at a very fast speed!"

Another commentator pushed his glasses, looked down and checked the personnel number list: "Yu Yu, a 17-year-old athlete from China! Sun Haijie is chasing after him! August has been dumped !"

The camera was cut at an angle, and the screen was covered with splashes, and Yu Yu's figure was looming in the splashes.

"The three of them reached the finish line almost at the same time - let's look at the electronic scoreboard -"

Soon, the ranking list at the bottom of the screen paused for a moment, and the final score jumped out.

The commentator shouted again excitedly: "No.8, Yu Yu from China; No.9, Michael Fullerton from Australia; No.10, Sun Haijie from China! Let us congratulate the Chinese team!"

Many people in the swimming team of No. [-] Middle School were watching the competition, and the news exploded in an instant.

Yu Yu's mobile phone must not be with him, and he doesn't know when he will reply to the message.Su Liao wished he could fly to City S to give someone a bear hug—if he hadn't had this operation—Su Liao couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and at the same time made up his mind: I also want to work hard!

The camera of FINA was returned to the live broadcast room, and Su Liao switched the channel back to the live broadcast of China TV.Sure enough, the camera returned to Yu Yu's body again. The young man was wet all over, and the tip of his hair was still dripping with water. He stood with Sun Haijie and was interviewed by domestic reporters.Yu Yu was quite bored facing the camera, and most of the time he relied on Sun Haijie to speak Mandarin.

The award ceremony has not yet started, and many athletes got together to chat after landing.Coincidentally, Michael came over, he shook hands with Sun Haijie actively, then turned around and gave Yu Yu a warm hug, and he could be heard shouting in English in the vague live recording: "Orca didn't expect you to be so good! You deserve it!" He is a man who loves killer whales as much as I do!"

Su Liao: "?"

The reporter obviously thought this was a very touching moment, so he insisted on shooting the two of them with the camera, and introduced himself outside the screen: "This is the third time that S City has held an international open water competition, and it is a link between Chinese sports and the world. It has made a contribution, and at the same time, it has also promoted friendly exchanges between Chinese and foreign athletes."

Su Liao: "?"

The concentration of friendliness is too high to make people feel uncomfortable.

Afterwards, the reporter interviewed Michael and asked him what he thought of the competition and if he had anything to say to the Chinese audience. Michael is not as bored as Yu Yu, and he is quite able to speak to the camera.

"To be honest, this is the first time I have met so many Chinese players in this event-of course this is China's home field-I used to think that the Chinese team is not strong in long-distance swimming, but I think this competition It changed my opinion.” Michael paused, “I’m very glad to see that there are so many athletes who love open water swimming in China. This is my second visit to China, and I like eating hot pot very much.”

At that time, Yu Yu was still the No. [-] "can't remember the name" in the FINA commentator's mouth, and there were no scenes for two hours of the game.But one day, Su Liao thought, that boy will introduce himself to the whole world.

Yu Yu never bubbled up in any group, nor did he post on Moments. He just messaged Su Liao back an hour later.

Little killer whale: Social fear patient is dying

Little killer whale: [Little killer whale covers its face with its fins.jpg]

Little Killer Whale: Missing You

Su Liao suddenly felt that his unwillingness and regret of not being able to be by Yu Yu's side at this moment was completely healed by these few short messages.

All the contestants this time were arranged in a high-end seaside resort in S City. On the night after the game, FINA officials held a gathering of athletes and coaches in the hotel lobby. The self-service food, but considering the diet of the athletes, the drinks are all changed to freshly squeezed juices, the bread slices are all whole wheat, with grilled chicken breast, smoked salmon or tofu inserted with toothpicks, served with carrots, cucumbers or tomatoes Celery slices are very healthy.

Translators in formal attire with hangtags around their necks shuttled through the crowd.

The friends of the Chinese team are used to holding groups, and Tao Zebo's English is better, wandering around and saying hello to the athletes he knows.Yu Yu is not familiar with the athletes of the marathon team, and the communication is limited to superficial mutual flattery.

Obviously they were all compliments, but those compliments made Yu Yu feel very uncomfortable, and there was a panic attack on the spot.

"Hey, I wanted to talk about it at the championship game. I really didn't expect that you are not from a professional sports school." The boy who said hello was Pan Yinan. Yu Yu remembered him because he was No.2 in this year's championship game. Won the World Championships but ranked more than 40.

A boy with a cropped head and big eyes pulled him and asked, "Xiaoyu, I wanted to ask you a long time ago, how do you usually train? How long do you train for?"

Pan Yinan smiled and bumped him with the shoulder: "What is your name Xiaoyu, you are impolite, call me Yushen!"

Yu Yu laughed awkwardly, and said that he only spent 2-3 hours after school every day, and the provincial team trained for one and a half days on weekends, which caused a lot of grief.

"We practice from morning to night every day and that's it. This is the legendary God rewards us with food!"

"Brother Yu, you should come to the marathon team for training in the second half of the year, right?"

After the championship game, Coach Li did mention that Yan Zheng said that after the recommendation of the escort was settled, he could spare time to participate in the training camp.However, the matter of recommendation has not been finalized yet, and this matter is still uncertain: "I-for the time being-not sure. I still have one year in high school."

Several young boys were stunned when they heard this, and then burst into laughter.

"You still want to go back to your third year of high school?! You can walk as you please!"

"Hahaha, it's too ordinary, it's too ordinary."

"Don't tell me you're still a top student, it's unreasonable."

"No, no, no, I'm not a top student—" Yu Yu realized that he might have said something inappropriate, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed, "What I mean is—the specific plan has not yet been decided."

"There will be the Asian Games next year. If you want to participate in the selection, you have to come to the training camp." Pan Yinan frowned, "Don't you plan to participate in the selection?"

Yu Yu heard a trace of suppressed excitement from the boy's tone, but soon, the man sighed again: "Impossible. Mr. Li will definitely not let you go."

"Hey, to be honest, I really envy you guys who are still studying." Sun Haijie, who hadn't spoken much, chuckled twice, "I went to the sports school after finishing junior high school."

Yu Yu didn't know what he should answer, but it seemed impolite for him not to speak.To be honest, this period of ineffective social interaction made him feel extremely tired.But at this moment, a shout suddenly came from behind Yu Yu: "Orca, Orca, here you are!"

With a plate of food in his hand, Michael rushed over like a whirlwind.Seeing so many Chinese players, he uttered a series of meaningless syllables: "Chin-ha-wo-ba-cha!"

Everyone in the Chinese team showed disgusted eyes when they saw him, and the atmosphere was united in an instant: "?"

Yu Yu stumbled and asked in English: "What did you say? Killer whale language?"

"No, I'm speaking Chinese! Hahaha! Bo-ba-ha-E-derrrrrr!"

Yu Yu was speechless: "...you are very rude."

Michael said seriously: "Oh, I'm sorry, I mean no harm."

Yu Yu sighed: "I'll teach you how to say hello in Chinese, you can say 'Ni Hao'."

"Howl!" Michael licked his lips, "I also know a Chinese word-'sheshe'!"

Yu Yu: "...it's 'thank you', not 'sheshe'."

"Shoot!"

Yu Yu: "..."

Michael put his hand on Yu Yu's shoulder: "Guys, I want to borrow this little killer whale, do you mind?"

If Yu Yu received an amnesty, he quickly waved to Sun Haijie and the others.

"This is an international competition, you can't stay with people from your own country all day." Michael educated, "I'll take you to say hello to others."

Yu Yu: "..." She fears she just wants to lie flat.

Several players who often clock in the World Cup seem to have regarded the event as a "gathering of old friends". Michael yelled and introduced Yu Yu to his foreign friends.Yu Yu felt that he had never seen so many golden retrievers in his life.At this moment, he was full of gratitude to his homeroom teacher, Teacher Ye, and the AI ​​voice recognition translation app that Yan Zheng asked him to download.

Andrei Marozov is a shy, big bear, nearly two meters tall, with very light hair, in stark contrast to his marathon-tanned skin all year round.He looks fierce when he doesn't smile, but he speaks softly and is very polite, which is in stark contrast to Michael, a Tu-Australian who speaks nonchalantly at every turn.

In Yu Yu's view, Andre is a fantastic big brother, he has never won a championship - he swam fifth in last year's Olympic Games, third in this year's World Championships, and a regular silver medalist in the World Cup - although he has never won Gold medal, but he is now No.1 in the World Cup standings, because he almost never hits the card.

It was hard for Yu Yu not to admire this.After all, these match points are all over the world. Sometimes the plane will fly for more than ten hours, and the time difference is reversed day and night, which can easily affect the performance.He just flew to S City from Ninggang, and the airsickness was enough for him to drink a pot.

Speaking of this, Andre couldn't help but smile wryly, saying that in their country, athletes have only two choices - to become a champion, or to be nothing.However, he likes the World Cup competition. Unlike the $3500 bonus for a single championship, the top spot for a whole year can get a $50000 bonus.

Michael embraced Andre's shoulders affectionately, and said with a smile: "The champion may be your fate, brother."

Yu Yu: "..." You will be beaten for talking like this.

Andre pushed Michael away in disgust, his tone was still very polite: "I'm different from you."

Yu Yu looked at Michael: "Do you also often participate in the World Cup?"

Michael said with a smile: "As long as it is a sea that I have never swam, I will definitely try it!"

Yu Yu was taken aback for a moment: "Those who have swum before will not swim anymore?"

"It depends on whether I like it or not." Michael gritted his white teeth, "If I like it, I will swim a second time!"

Speaking of excitement, Michael reached out and shook his sports watch in front of Yu Yu, and then opened a mobile app: "Everywhere I swim, there are records here."

Yu Yu and Andre moved their heads from left to right, and saw that the screen of the mobile phone buffered for a moment, and a whole world map appeared, with more than a dozen small GPS coordinates on it.As he spoke, Michael clicked on a small fluorescent coordinate, and the screen displayed the route, time, breathing rate and heartbeat of the sea marathon at that time.

Yu Yu's heart suddenly moved, and he silently wrote down the brand of the sports watch: "Is this heartbeat record accurate?"

"It's very accurate, and it can also monitor your resting heart rate—you know, a very important aerobic indicator." Michael replied, "I'm not only here to participate in the World Cup this time. To challenge your Qiongzhou Strait!"

Andre raised his eyebrows: "How wide is the strait?"

"The narrowest point is only twenty kilometers."

"Wow, that's cool." Andre nodded, "Is there any bonus?"

Michael shook his head and said that I just want to challenge.

Yu Yu was taken aback: "Are you a professional athlete?"

"I'm not, my brother is. I just spend a lot of time at the club practicing swimming." Michael blinked and raised his chin. "I went to Queen St. Mary's Community College and studied management—well, because of swimming." , I may be late."

Yu Yu: "..." Hey, it's just a community college, why should you be so proud.

"I don't know if I can work in the killer whale research institute after graduation." Michael sighed, "If not, I think I will inherit my family's farm. I have always liked animals, and my family has alpacas."

"Speaking of killer whales——" Michael lifted up his clothes and showed Yu Yu a killer whale tattoo on his side waist, "I got a new tattoo, and her name is Veronica."

Yu Yu was puzzled.

"She is a killer whale that our local aquarium used to perform, but because of the animal protection movement, the aquarium decided to release her after marine socialization training." Michael sighed, "A few years ago, the biologist's tracker It is confirmed that she has returned to the whale group, but some time ago she was found stranded and died in the sea where we released her—for some reason, she came back again.”

The translator translated it very well, but Yu Yu understood the story and felt very sad.

Both Michael and Andre are fanatical tattoo lovers, and now they communicate along the lines of "tattoo".Yu Yu thinks that Michael’s tattoo is as casual as other people’s collection of travel refrigerator magnets—he said that he ate chili peppers when he had diarrhea in Mexico, so he tattooed a Mexican pepper jalapeno on his tailbone. He came to China for the first time last year, and he was on the right There is a Chinese character "fuck" tattooed on the ankle, as if someone tricked him that the word means "eternal love".

Yu Yu said he didn't understand, but was shocked.

"This is the one I regret the most," Michael pointed at his wrist, heartbroken, "This is my ex-girlfriend's name."

Everyone laughed.

Andre laughed twice, and pulled up the neckline of his T-shirt, revealing his full and firm belly.He pointed to the fifth rib on his left chest: "This is my wife's name, the closest to the heart."

Andre's tone was full of pride, and he immediately compared Michael. Michael had to switch the target to Yu Yu: "What about you, Orca? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Yu Yu was taken aback for a moment, quickly turned his eyes away, and continued to be his own boring gourd.Although the other party asked about his girlfriend, Yu Yu immediately thought of Su Liao.

"Shy, shy!" Michael booed, "You must have a girlfriend! Orca, is your girlfriend hot?"

Yu Yu didn't understand why these foreigners spoke so boldly. When asked, the tip of his ears turned red.Andre said you should stop teasing the children, Michael laughed out loud.

The next topic is "how to pick up girls in different languages".Yu Yu really couldn't make any contribution, so he chose to escape.He left the lobby and walked to the beach along a gravel path behind.There is an internal beach in the resort, and there is no one at this time.

The sea breeze was blowing towards his face with the damp heat that had not dissipated, and Yu Yu found a piece of soft sand to lie down on his own.The hustle and bustle in the lobby was far away from him, and only the waves were left in his ears.He began to review today's game carefully in his heart.

During this period, Yu Yu was in very good condition. He had just completed a month of strength training before the competition, and his muscles were in a peak state in terms of endurance and explosive power.Home field advantage, he doesn't need jet lag like other players, and he doesn't have physical collisions with other players like championship games.Yu Yu thought, this is almost a perfect match.

However, even so, he still felt the gap between himself and the top players in the world.In the previous national championship, the gap between him and the champion and runner-up was within 30 seconds, but this time there was a break after No. 7. The champion finished the game in 1 hour, 49 minutes and 23 seconds, while he took 1 hour, 51 minutes and 17 seconds.According to Sun Haijie and Tao Zebo, there are still many European and American bigwigs in the first echelon who did not participate in the competition this time.If they come, then their ranking will definitely be further down.

Just 2 minutes, like a towering mountain, a bottomless trench.This sense of disparity sometimes arouses great pride in Yu Yu's heart, and sometimes makes him feel panic-what if the most perfect time is just like this?

He thought of the phrase "become a champion, or be nothing" that Andre said, and suddenly felt a deep sadness.Just like those marathon players who have been training in sports schools since they were young, Yu Yu knows that everyone is very friendly on the surface, but the very cruel reality is: there are only a few places for international competitions, and he will inevitably squeeze one out if he appears suddenly person's position.

In China, there is a huge difference between athletes who win prizes and those who don't.

Does he really want to be a professional athlete?

Yu Yu opened his eyes and looked at the sea under the night.Two incandescent lamps hung at the end of the wooden trestle, and the black tide below surged.

Why is he swimming?

No, why do humans swim?

Swimming can go to the sea to catch fish to eat.Swimming allows him to go from one island to another.Open water is even the oldest Olympic sport – Olympic swimming took place in the sea before there were modern facilities like swimming pools in the world.

People in this world swim for various purposes.

Wang Xiaopang swims to lose weight.

Mao Kaijie swims for escort.

Su Liao swims in order to become a better version of himself.

Tao Zebo swims for national honor.

Cheng Zhefan swims to win.

Michael swims to conquer the straits——

What about him?

He never swam to win an opponent, or to "conquer" the sea.Rather than conquest, it is better to say that he and the sea are symbiotic.He didn't want to stake all his future on winning or losing swimming.

……

Although Yu Yu didn't win the medal, he was still a little surprised in the national swimming team. Soon, Yan Zheng and Zhang Yanming's phone calls almost exploded.Yan Zheng listed some possibilities for Yu Yu to be recommended.Among them, the highest ranking is Ninggang University, which can be said to be the best school in the entire Yan Province.

"Double first-class universities, you still have to take the college entrance examination, but you only need to pass 75% of the second line. You are a second middle school student. I think even if you don't study for half of the third year of high school, you should be able to do it with a surprise attack at the end. .Even if you can’t take the exam—it doesn’t matter—you can choose to only take the internal papers at Ninggang Sports University.”

Yu Yu looked at the recommendation brochures and frowned slightly: "Then I can only choose sports major?"

"This is also divided into schools." Yan Zheng explained, "In some schools, you can choose management, business, or law."

Yu Yu frowned even deeper, and threw the brochure back on the table with little interest.

Yan Zheng couldn't help but click his tongue: "Are you still not satisfied with this condition?"

Yu Yu blinked and confessed honestly: "...I want to learn marine biology."

Yan Zheng: "?"

"You don't want to study sports, so it's good to just learn management?!" Yan Zheng tempted him with money again, "I really don't think about becoming a professional athlete? If you win a prize in a competition, you will have enough money to live on for the rest of your life gone."

Yu Yu obviously moved his heart for a second, but soon he shook his head and repeated firmly: "If marine life is not good, environmental studies are also good."

Yan Zheng was very depressed for him, and said that he asked Teacher Zhang to communicate with the school again. In theory, there must be no problem, but there will be some score requirements for the cultural courses of the college entrance examination.

After accounting for 650 US dollars, it can be almost 4000 yuan. In addition to the provincial team's international competition reward mechanism, Yu Yu won another 6000 yuan bonus, and received the first "big money of [-] yuan" in his life.

He bought a present for his mother, and then chose a watch for Su Liao like Michael used.That brand of smart sports watches is not cheap. Yu Yu originally wanted to buy a pair of couples, but he didn't want to spend all his prize money all at once.Yu Yu thought about it, and finally bought a separate one for Su Liao - a black wristband with a rose gold dial.

After wearing this sports watch, it will be more convenient for Su Liao to plan his own recovery plan. Yu Yu can also synchronize the heartbeat data of the other party to his mobile phone through the APP.Even half a world away, he can see the heartbeat and breathing of the other party by clicking on the phone.For some reason, this thought made Yu Yu feel at ease.

Su Liao tried several functions, and immediately fell in love with this watch: "Hey, why don't you get one yourself?"

Of course, Yu Yu was embarrassed to say that he wanted to save money, so he hesitated and said: "I——Why should I monitor this? I have no heart problems. If I want to test it, the team will monitor it for me."

Su Liao checked this kind of watch online, only to realize that he asked a stupid question.Without further ado, he bought Yu Yu the same model, with a white wristband and a silver dial, which matched his dark honey-colored skin especially.

He put a wristband on Yu Yu and synchronized the other party's information in his mobile phone.

The friend on the screen is wearing the head of a little killer whale, with a little pink heart shining brightly beside it.Su Liao couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth: "Little killer whale, your heart beats so fast."

The author has something to say: Yu Xiaoyu, an atypical competitive player (x

Thanks to the little angel of the irrigation nutrient solution: Yu yr, 1 bottle of Senyu;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!