[Short track speed skating] From academic master to Winter Olympic champion

Both flexibility and agility are Gu Ran's strengths. After testing, they can be completed with quality and quantity, and there is no penalty point.

Next, starting with the endurance test, is the real test.

After 21 days of training, he has made great progress. Although it is still obvious that there is a gap between the first two parts and the latter two parts, at least he can complete it completely.

Today is probably because the waiting time is too long, and his condition is not very good.After finishing the skating position - split legs, he was panting very badly, and big beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

When it was time to squat quietly for 3 minutes in the first movement of the comprehensive strength quality, he could clearly feel the process of his thigh muscles from tense to stiff to trembling.

It seemed that in the next second, he would kneel on the ground involuntarily.

Gu Ran clenched her teeth, and kept hinting to herself in her heart: "Persist a little longer, and it will pass!"

"There are three more items, don't think about anything, get through!"

The second sit-ups, the third back muscles, Gu Ran seemed to be exhausted, and did it unconsciously. During the period, the referee reminded him several times: "The movements should be standard. If you can't do it, you can give up. Be careful not to get injured." .”

It is impossible to give up. Sweat flowed into his eyes, which made him uncomfortable. Gu Ran blinked vigorously, and finally made it to the last kneeling push-up.

The 1 minute was long and tormented, and he no longer cared about the standard of movement, he just wanted to be able to persist until the end.

Gu Ran let out a long breath when he heard the whistle for the end.

Then he heard the conversation between the two referees: "The action is not very standard, and the interval is a bit long."

"Endurance and comprehensive strength are a bit worse."

"..."

Gu Ran is a little flustered, everyone else has come to Shanghai, if they don't qualify for the competition...

He opened his mouth, wondering if he could give him a chance to do it again.Before the words came out, the referee said first: "Comprehensive score 86, pass the test."

The moment Gu Ran heard the grades, a hanging heart finally fell into her stomach.He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed to the referee: "Thank you teacher!"

Gu Ran walked out with a blank face, Xu Qing looked at him, and said with a serious face: "Don't tell me you didn't meet the standard."

Gu Ran grinned: "86 points."

Xu Qing nodded: "Barely, let's prepare for the next game."

In fact, this score is not reluctant, and it ranks among the top three in the team.If his stamina is better, the proper one will be number one.

Each participating unit and each individual event can register three athletes. The 500m and 1000m are the events with the largest number of applicants.

In addition to Gu Ran, there were also three team members from Province J who signed up for the 500-meter event. All three of them successfully passed the preliminaries and quarter-finals, and entered the semi-finals.

After the two games, Gu Ran could clearly feel that there was a huge gap in the strength of the players. Some players were really strong, and they were far ahead at the start, leaving their opponents behind.

Some people don't know whether it is because they are not good at technology or their psychological quality is not good, and they can trip themselves up.

Gu Ran watched all the preliminaries and the quarter-finals, carefully observed his opponents, and had a rough idea in his mind. With his results, it shouldn't be a big problem to enter the finals.

But they never expected that the three people from Province J would be in the same group after the results of the semi-finals came out.

According to the rules, the semi-finals are divided into two groups. According to the results of the quarter-finals, the first, third, fifth, and seventh places are divided into the first group, and the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth are divided into the second group.

The top two in each group enter the final group A, and finally decide the first to No.4, and the last two enter the final group B, and finally decide the fifth to No.8.

And Gu Ran happened to be the No.7 in the quarter-finals. One of his two teammates was third and the other was fifth. No.1 was from H province, and his name was Chi Lang.

After dinner, all the team members came to Xu Qing's room for daily regular meetings.

Xu Qing opened the order book and went through the next day's games one by one.He is just the head coach leading the team, and he is not familiar with these selected young players.

Usually, it is Director Wang who leads everyone to train together, and he is mainly responsible for the technical problems that everyone has to explain.

When it was the turn of the men's 14-meter competition in the 16-500 age group, Director Wang also didn't know how to speak.

Although short track speed skating is a racing competition, there are many tactics that can be used in the competition, especially the cooperation between the players, and the final results of the competition are quite different.

Director Wang coughed lightly and said, "Now, we have guaranteed at least one place in the finals. The key to the problem is how to maximize the benefits—two people enter the finals."

"Aren't you the most particular about coordination in short track speed skating? Playing support alone, blocking the player from Province H, and allowing the other two teammates to enter the final."

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man sitting under the window. His name was Zhao Ping. He was a staff member of the Provincial J Winter Olympics Sports Management Center and the leader of the Provincial J team.

As soon as Zhao Ping said this, the standard hotel room crowded with dozens of people became so quiet that a needle could be heard.

Three people participate in the competition, let one sacrifice to help the other two enter the final.

It sounds fine, but the crux of the problem is, who should be sacrificed?

Director Wang looked at Xu Qing, who lowered his head, seemed to be concentrating on looking at the order book in his hand, and did not speak.

Zhao Ping picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table: "This is today's report card... Gu Ran is ranked seventh."

He raised his head, looked over the crowd, and landed on Gu Ran.Then he looked him up and down again, and seeing that he was short and thin, he asked, "How old are you?"

When he cast his gaze over, Gu Ran guessed his thoughts all over the place.At this time, being called by name, he answered truthfully: "There are still four months to turn 14."

Director Zhao frowned: "If you don't say it, I thought it was a U12 player." He glanced at the report card again, "You are the last and the youngest, so you should sacrifice a little bit, after all, the two of them are better than each other." You have a better chance of getting a good ranking.”

Gu Ran rolled her eyes in her heart, but did not speak.

His ranking in the quarter-finals is not so high, because after observing all the players participating in the competition, he deliberately reserved his physical strength in the first two rounds, not because he did not have the strength to achieve better results.

Zhao Ping saw that he was not happy, so he continued: "I know, all of you athletes are competitive. This is a good thing, and I appreciate it very much. However, collective honor is always higher than individual honor. It is also thanks to everyone that we can get a good ranking in the total score of the group."

"It doesn't mean that you are not good enough to support two teammates. On the contrary, if you can dedicate yourself to the team regardless of personal gains and losses, and put the interests of the team first, I think you are good and worthy Praise, what do you think?"

He didn't blush when he said this big truth, Gu Ran couldn't control the corner of his mouth and gave him a sneer.

The others also lowered their heads silently, without saying a word.The other two players who participated in the 500-meter race also sat quietly.Although Team Leader Zhao was not one of them at the roll call, he couldn't be happy about it. Everyone knows the reason why the lips are dead and the teeth are cold. Maybe it will be one of them who will sacrifice next time.

Everyone could tell that if Gu Ran refused to agree to what Leader Zhao said, he would be selfish and only caring about himself, not the group.

He is the leader of the provincial winter management center, and he is in charge of all the winter Olympic events in the province.If the team members want to embark on a professional path, they will inevitably deal with him in the future, and no one dares to offend him.

The problem was just thrown to Gu Ran. If he promised, he would not be reconciled. If he didn't agree, he would be ignorant of the general situation.

Everyone was waiting for Gu Ran's answer. After a while, he turned his head and smiled at Zhao Ping: "Don't worry, the leader, I will definitely cooperate with the two brothers."

Zhao Ping nodded in satisfaction, stood up and walked out: "I still have something to do, you guys continue the meeting, I'll go first."

When he walked out of the room, Xu Qing raised his head, as if nothing happened just now, and said slowly: "The three of you are teammates, you should cooperate well on the court."

Having said that, his eyes swept over everyone, and finally fell on Gu Ran: "As for who can enter the finals, you all have to rely on your own abilities. After all, the top three are related to the qualifications for the elite league."

Xu Qing went through all the rest of the game again: "Are there any questions?" After waiting for a while, no one from the team members spoke, and then he continued, "The meeting is over, everyone go back to the room and have a rest early, Gu Ran stays here."

So, when everyone walked out of the room, they all cast complicated glances at Gu Ran, with sympathy, comfort, and gloating.

Director Xu said just now that everyone should rely on their own abilities, and now they let Gu Ran stay. It seems that he actually agrees with what Team Leader Zhao said just now, but he is more tactful, taking care of the emotions and face of the team members, and leaving Gu Ran alone to talk about this thing.

When they were almost gone, there were only the two of them left in the room.

Xu Qing tapped the opposite stool with his chin: "Come and sit."

When Gu Ran was facing him, Xu Qing asked, "What do you think of tomorrow's semi-final?"

Gu Ran asked back: "What do you think?"

"Do you think it's possible for us to get two final spots?"

Gu Ran replied affirmatively: "Yes, and only one."

Xu Qing was interested in this answer: "Why?"

Gu Ran's expression was calm and firm: "Chi Lang in Province H, I observed in the preliminaries and the quarter-finals, and his strength is far stronger than others. He has always been promoted as No.1, and it is very easy to get rid of others. far gap."

Xu Qing continued: "So if the three of you cooperate, you may have a chance to defeat him."

"Impossible!" Gu Ran shook her head, hesitated for a moment, "Unless there is a foul, pull him off the track together."

Xu Qing sneered: "Then he will be sent directly to the finals, and you will be disqualified."

"That's why I said we have, and only one will make it to the final."

Xu Qing nodded noncommittal: "Go, boy, don't let me down."

Gu Ran muttered softly: "The yin and yang are weird."

"What did you say?"

Gu Ran laughed dimpled: "I'm going back."

After returning to the room, Gu Ran took out his mobile phone and opened the photo album - he recorded Chi Lang's two games today, watched them repeatedly, and studied the opponent's technical characteristics.

It is not difficult to see that Chi Lang has also kept his strength in the preliminaries and quarter-finals.Gu Ran guessed that with his strength, he would continue to use his strength in the semi-finals. I am afraid that only in the finals will he show his full strength.

It can be seen how strong this person is, and he can lead all the way to the semi-finals before he exerts his strength.

The next day started with another set of semi-finals.After changing her clothes and completing the inspection, Gu Ran stood on the sidelines and watched the game.

The four people could clearly see the difference in strength. Not long after they set off, Gu Ran had already guessed which two people would be promoted, and the final result was exactly as he expected, even the rankings were the same.

Then came the second group of semi-finals.

Gu Ran put on the helmet and goggles before playing. He felt that the lights in the venue were too bright yesterday, so he chose a pair of dark goggles today.

His face was already small, and with the addition of the helmet and goggles, more than half of it was covered. In addition to his small stature, the other three people were all fifteen or sixteen years old, and they were all much taller than him. It was nothing wrong with him being caught in the middle. presence.

More than half of the venues that can accommodate thousands of people are seated, some are the team members and staff of the participating teams; some are teenagers learning short track speed skating, organized by the school to watch the competition; some are parents of children.

The game hadn't started yet, and there was a lot of excitement in the stands:

"Look! Three team members from Province J encircled and suppressed a team member from Province H."

"In my opinion, there are more bad luck than good luck, and those three people will definitely join forces to kill him."

Hearing this kind of remarks, the team members in H province were naturally unhappy: "These people don't know our Lango's strength."

"In his eyes, none of these three people can fight."

"Lango's goal is the elite league and the national youth team!"

"..."

Standing on the starting line, Gu Ran and his two teammates looked to the far left at the same time.

That Chi Lang is at least 175 centimeters tall, and Gu Ran is about as tall as his chin.

He stood there, staring ahead, not even looking at the three people beside him from the corner of his eye.

Gu Ran turned her eyes back and focused on the game.

The starting gun is fired, and the game officially begins.

Chi Lang was already on the first track, so he took the first position as a matter of course when he started.

Gu Ran was just the opposite. He was in the fourth lane, and it was impossible for him to fight for a position with his two teammates. When he reached the first corner, he fell directly to the end.

After sliding down the first lap, the three people felt Chi Lang's amazing strength.Why rely on matching the card position, the opponent didn't give them a chance at all.Leading all the way, even gradually widening the distance with them.

Gu Ran saw that something was wrong, and if they slipped like this, they would only be thrown further and further away by Chi Lang.

So, entering the third lap, he found a suitable time and passed his two teammates directly when crossing the corner.

At this time, Chi Lang had already left them half a circle away.

Three people competed with one person, and they were so far behind by the other party. Province J became a joke of the audience, and the whole stand was discussing.

Some people praised that Chi Lang was too strong, and that Province H deserved to be a traditional strong team in short track speed skating. Some people laughed softly, that Province J didn't have anyone who could fight, no wonder it has been suppressed by Province H for so many years.

Xu Qing stood in the coach command area outside the track, watching the game calmly. He was not surprised by this situation.

After all, Gu Ran has been practicing short-track speed skating for a short time, her talent is there, and her learning ability is also very strong, but some things need time to temper after all.

It can be seen that he worked very hard, even because of his excessive pursuit of speed, the skating was not stable enough, and he almost fell down.

Fortunately, he was born with a better sense of balance than ordinary people, which made him almost fall, but he didn't fall in the end.

He didn't want to be thrown too far away, and he would start at every corner. Because of the pursuit of speed, he couldn't take care of the details when he was pedaling, and he slipped several times. The audience was terrified, and they couldn't help pinching for him. sweat.

However, his desperate pursuit finally paid off. The distance between him and Chi Lang is shrinking, and at the last corner, he can even try to overtake his opponent!