On the sidelines, Chen Jian watched the results flashing on the big screen of the Olympic Stadium, and his lips seemed to bite blood.

In the first group of the preliminaries just finished, the first place was Namibian veteran Frankie Fredericks, born in 1967, with a time of 10.12 seconds; second place went to Nigeria's Uchena Emmoduli with a time of 10.22 seconds; Third place went to Japan's Asian 200m record holder Shingo Sueko with a time of 10.27 seconds.

And he Chen Jian was fourth, and the time of this group was 10.34 seconds. In the moments before the start of the game, he suddenly got nervous.

His best starting reaction and acceleration in the first half of the race were completely unplayed, and his starting reaction was 0.181 seconds from the bottom in the group.

For a runner who is good at the first half of the race and has the advantage of starting reflexes, this performance can be said to be extremely bad.

After the start, even if he tried his best to catch up, he could never recover the disadvantage caused by the nervous start.

Waiting for a second, the noise in the venue seemed to have nothing to do with him.

Chen Jian watched the players from various countries in the group stage walk onto the track one after another, and the electronic starting gun was like wind and lightning galloping on the field.

Soon, when it came to the fifth group of the preliminaries, Chen Jian saw Su Zu and saw him raise his hands and signal to the audience with a confident smile.

When the fifth group of athletes in the preliminaries finished running, Chen Jian looked at the rows of athletes' performance rankings on the big screen of the stadium, and Su Zu's name and a five-star red flag icon were listed in the first place, Chen Jian felt that there was a surging blood in his body.

"Good brother, it's amazing, no matter how well I run, at least you're already in the next round."

We have always been competitors in the domestic arena, and when we go abroad, we are the most solid teammates, at this moment, standing on the field of Athens, there is no jealousy, no unwillingness, I have only to be proud of you.

Group 6, Group 7, Group 8, Group 9...... The preliminaries have been going on.

The level of the players in each group is uneven, after seeing that the top three in the seventh group, Jamaica's Asafa Powell is 10.06 seconds, Britain's Jason Gardner is 10.15 seconds, and Australia's Joshua Ross is 10.24 seconds, Chen Jian was uneasy and even a little disheartened. The strength of this group of players is really too strong!

When the results of the ninth group of preliminaries were announced, the first-place Nigerian player Deji Aliu only ran 10.39 seconds, and Chen Jian felt a little more lucky. Maybe there's a chance.

The most grinding time is always waiting.

He is the fourth place in the first group of preliminaries, and can only wait for the players in ten groups to finish, and after the top three in each group, the remaining players will be ranked according to the 10 people with the best results.

Maybe in another time and place, he might not have been as nervous in the heats as he was today, and after winning several national victories, he was already at a loss. Foreign high-level can't catch up, and domestic practice is only ten seconds one, ten seconds two.

What else? In the first time he participated in the Olympic preliminaries, he finished the race hastily, looked at the unsatisfactory results, showed a bitter smile, and never had the idea of entering the next round of semi-finals.

But this time it was different, starting from the Grand Prix in 2002, a teenager suddenly appeared and began to surpass him again and again.

From the opponent on the field, to the teammates who later became training together, talent, understanding, and diligence, Chen Jian knew that the other party far surpassed him.

He has also been disheartened, slack, helpless, and more often rekindled the idea of an athlete catching up.

Silent efforts, even if I really can't catch up with you, then I have to know where my limits are!

From China to Asia to Europe, thousands of rivers and mountains, and finally stood on the field of the Athens Olympics. Strong opponents, teammates who rely on each other, and companions who chase me again and again in the closed base to catch up with training.

Even if he was nervous, even if he wasn't at his best, he ran fourth in the group in lane nine, which he never looked down on.

10.34 seconds, which is a very good result in China and Asia, but this is in the Olympic arena.

Do I have a chance next time?

Chen Jian is still waiting, and the 10th group of athletes in the men's 100m preliminaries of the Athens Olympics has already taken the field.

……

"Chen Jian is now in the first place."

When the preliminaries of the tenth group walked onto the field and the conference broadcast was introducing the athletes, Mai Shaoqiang turned his head and asked Yuan Guohua, who was comparing the athletes' data results in a group.

"Excluding the athlete results in the tenth group, the athletes in the first nine groups, removing the top three, and the remaining results are ranked, Chen Jian is now eighth, and Jabas Marshcarenash in ninth place, he is a Brazilian athlete in Suzu's group, and Chen Jian is the same 10.34 seconds, but it is slightly slower in 1,000 seconds."

Yuan Guohua looked at the table of the results of each group in his hand, which were all counted manually by Li Zhizhong and Shen Yunbao, several coaches and athletes, as well as translators and assistants of the regiment department, when the results of each group were announced on the big screen.

Although it is a redundant thing, not doing anything and waiting there, and the results will come out in a while, but I can't bear the extremely anxious hearts of these people present.

Everyone wants to know too much about Chen Jian's current ranking.

Only 40 people entered the semi-finals of the men's 100m group preliminaries, and 30 were the top three of the 10 preliminaries groups.

Now, not counting the athletes in Group 10, the top three athletes in the first nine preliminary groups have already accounted for 27 places. Among the remaining athletes, Chen Jian's time of 10.34 seconds ranked eighth, that is, 35th.

There must be three places in the 10th preliminary group to enter the semi-finals, and if you extend the rankings, Chen Jian is 38th.

That is to say, in the tenth preliminary group, if only the third and fourth places surpass Chen Jian, he will be able to advance, and if the fifth place also surpasses Chen Jian, he will be eliminated and miss the rematch.

On the field, the information of the athletes on the field was introduced one by one with the broadcast. On the screen at the Olympic Stadium, the list of athletes from the final group of the men's 100m group heats appears.

Because there were only eight athletes, the first lane on the inside was canceled, and the pass arrangement started directly from the second lane.

the second French, Eddie Lepin;

Third Jamaica, Michael Frete;

Fourth Way Trinidad and Tobago, Nacona Alexandria;

Fifth Gabon, by Wilfried Bingenoye;

Sixth Path, St. Kitts and Nevis, Kim Collins;

Seventh Course Italy, Simone Corrio;

Eighth Bermuda, Xavier James;

Ninth Monaco, Sebastián Gattuso;

With the universal international standard slogan "On your marks", the attention of the audience was focused on the last group race of the men's 100m preliminaries.

"Run slower, run slower."

Shen Yunbao listened to Coach Mai Shaoqiang standing in front of him, the corners of his mouth moved slightly, as if he was praying in a low voice.

He stood behind with a few staff members who had just counted the results of the players in each group, waiting equally nervously and anxiously. Like Mai Shaoqiang, Shen Yunbao was also silently shouting in his heart, hoping that the results of this group would not be too good.

As an athlete, it's not a glorious thing to hope that these competitors don't perform properly. If you say it, you will be laughed at, and if you don't have the strength, you expect others to play poorly.

But as a teammate and a friend, he really wants the players in this group to play poorly.

He didn't run into the A standard, except for the relay race held at the end, he could only be a spectator these days, and there was no way to replace him in the race, he could only cheer and pray on the sidelines.

After Su Zu finished the group stage, he also walked to Chen Jian's side.

Chen Jian watched Su Zu appear, gave him a thumbs up, and focused his eyes on the tenth preliminary group that was about to start the competition.

Su Zu didn't speak, standing beside Chen Jian, waiting for the results to be revealed.

And at the same time.

In the other corner of the field, Brazilian Jabas Marshcarenias, dressed in a teal tracksuit, with a cross on his chest, equally nervously awaited the result of the match.

He is a player in the fifth group of the preliminary round in which Suzu is located, and in that group, the top three are Suzu of China, Obikviru of Portugal, Ronald Berniwin of France, and the fourth place is Jessouma Saidi of Gambia. He was fifth with a time of 10.34 seconds.

is the same 10.34 seconds as Chen Jian, but it is slower in 1,000 minutes and seconds, ranking behind Chen Jian.

Although Jabas Marshcarenas doesn't know where he is now, the expectations are the same for players who need to be ranked to advance to the next round.

The stadium of 70,000 people gradually fell silent.

There was a snap of the electronic starter, and the gun rang out.

The race is on!

The starting movements of the runners are very fast, and in the short acceleration stage of twenty or thirty meters, the individual strength of the runners in each pass is vividly reflected in each other.

Chen Jian's face turned pale in an instant, as a long-time experienced sprinter, he didn't dare to say how fast he ran, but visually judging the speed of other athletes, it was still a bit bottom.

At a distance of tens of meters, the five players in front of them opened up the gap with the three players behind.

No, the sixth place is lagging behind, but it's also fast!

Seventy meters, eighty meters, ninety meters......

The players on the field are running.

Chen Jian's whole heart was raised, as if he was being held tightly. This time, the tension was even worse than standing on the field.

Suddenly—

Figures crossed the finish line at high speed.

On the timing board, the first time in the group has appeared, 10.11 seconds, Kim Collins from St. Kitts and Nevis, a somewhat old black athlete, the men's 100m champion at the 2003 Paris Athletics Championships,

Immediately afterwards, on the big screen of the Olympic Stadium, the results of the eight players in this group were listed one by one.

1. Sixth lane, Kim Collins, St. Kitts and Nevis, reaction 0.154, score 10.11;

2. Third lane, Michael Frete, Jamaica, reaction 0.161, score 10.20;

3. Fourth lane, Nacona Alexandria, Trinidad and Tobago, reaction 0.139, score 10.22;

4. 7th lane, Simone Corrio, Italy, reaction 0.151, score 10.27;

5. 2nd lane, Eddie Lepin, France, reaction 0.192, score 10.27;

6. Eighth lane, Xavier James, Bermuda, reaction 0.147, score 10.40;

7. 9th lane, Sebastián Gattuso, Monaco, reaction 0.152, score 10.58;

8. Fifth lane, Wilfried Binguenoye, Gabon, reaction 0.206, score 10.76;

"The sixth-place finish was 10.40 seconds?!"

Chen Jian looked at the data on the big screen and muttered aloud.

Sixth in this group is Xavier James of the Eight Lane Bermuda. The names of these players look long and complicated, and there are flags, and not many people can really spell them correctly.

But that achievement is an Arabic numeral, and Chen Jian has already seen it.

The top five results were all frighteningly good, all of them were under 10.30 seconds, but from sixth place onwards, they jumped directly to 10.40 seconds.

"I'm in the cut!"

Chen Jian jumped up suddenly, hugged Su Zu suddenly, and then jumped in front of his head coach Mai Shaoqiang and gave him a hug fiercely.

In the melting mood!

Li Zhizhong, Yuan Guohua, Shen Yunbao, Su Zu, and the officials of the regiment headquarters next to them, as well as the translators and other staff, all smiled and applauded warmly.

In the men's 100m race at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, two Chinese athletes made history by breaking into the second round of the semi-finals.