Bird's Nest National Stadium.

When the first group of athletes in the men's 100m preliminaries took the field, more than 90,000 spectators in the stands let out an exclamation.

In the third lane of the 100-meter starting line, Ursain Bolt, who was clearly half a head taller than the other athletes, wore a Jamaican yellow sprint tracksuit, which was somewhat surprising to the atmosphere of the audience.

He competed in the men's 200m heats at Athens 2004, but the Olympic Stadium in Athens didn't have so many spectators at the time, and it was the first day of athletics.

And, to his surprise, he could hear a few "Usain Bolt" sounds from time to time in the crowd, and he didn't know if it was his Jamaican compatriots who came to watch him play, or other spectators.

In another time and space, Usain Bolt at that time, although he broke Powell's world record at the New York Grand Prix, did not make much of a splash in the Olympic atmosphere in China at that time.

Although the men's 100m event was a flyer battle, there were no athletes in China who could compete at that time, and most ordinary spectators did not know in advance who the participants would be in this most exciting event.

On the contrary, it is the 110-meter hurdles, several of Liu Yangyu's opponents, Trammell, Robles, etc., after a period of media hype, many people have learned a thing or two.

And in this time and space, the men's 100-meter world record is Su Zu's, which is Chinese, and it is already one of the most concerned events in the track and field event. However, a few months before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games, it was suddenly broken by athletes from other countries, and there is no doubt that this is the most important thing that can attract the attention of countless Chinese people.

One of our own biggest gold points, suddenly a strong opponent appeared, and no one would fail to understand.

If it's like our strongest sport, in the heyday the audience doesn't care about competitors from other countries, everyone only cares about the performance of our own athletes.

And once there is an opponent, such as Li Zongwei and Lin Dan in badminton, even if he is not interested in this sport, but occasionally the news media report on the discussion with friends around him, and many things will naturally be understood.

Like the current Usain Bolt, his popularity in China is much greater than that of the original time and space. At least before the Olympics officially began, his competition videos and pictures appeared one after another on many pages of domestic television and newspaper networks. became the most important athlete who occupied the pages, and in the original time and space, such treatment could not have such an influence until he participated in the men's 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay races.

In the men's 100m ten-group preliminaries, Bolt was in the first preliminaries group.

He has been very relaxed since he entered the Bird's Nest Stadium and started to check in. And among the competitors in the same group is a person he knows very well, Daniel Bailey, a sprinter from Antigua and Barbuda.

Usain Bolt and Daniel Bailey had a training partnership for a while earlier this year, and the pair were surprisingly placed in the same group for this game. Basically from the beginning of the warm-up to the check-in, Bolt has been joking with Daniel Bailey, without paying any attention to the upcoming preliminaries.

The result of the preliminaries was not unexpected, after the gunfire of the race, Bolt was basically a leisurely stroll, from the start to the acceleration was not particularly tense, when he was leading in the 80-meter position, he began to release the water, and finally still advanced to the next round of the semi-final with a time of 10.20 seconds.

Before the game, Glenn Mills had already laid out a lot of clear rules for Bolt, not to fight too hard in each round of preliminaries, and the goal was to qualify for the final. Young athletes are often shocked by the atmosphere of the competition and can't help but burst into full potential. Especially in a field like the Olympic Games and World Championships, if it is not a veteran of the battle, it is often difficult for newcomers to calculate their position.

In this Olympic Games, there are a total of 10 preliminaries in the men's 100m preliminaries, and the promotion rules for advancing from the preliminaries to the semifinals (quarterfinals) are that the top three of the 10 preliminaries will advance directly, and finally the fastest 10 of the remaining players will be replaced, and a total of 40 athletes will participate in the second round of the men's 100m semifinals.

The men's 100m preliminaries were not directly broadcast by CCTV. Even the men's 100m preliminaries and semi-finals were not included in the TV broadcast, but there were always cameras filming the games, which were used as post-race material.

However, starting with the first group of Usain Bolt in the preliminaries, the players who appeared successively attracted the attention of the audience at the Bird's Nest Stadium.

In the second group of preliminaries, many of the black athletes in the stadium did not know the crowd, but like Bolt, there was still a familiar face that had been in front of the Chinese audience since a few years ago.

Asafa Powell, the former men's 100m world record holder and current men's 60m world record holder, also attracted the attention of many people in the field.

The result was normal, with Asafa Powell comfortably first in 10.16 seconds, followed by 2003 world champion Kim Collins. The sprinter was also trained under Usain Bolt head coach Glenn Mills.

Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson topped the third group in the heats, and Jamaica's Michael Flatt topped the fourth group, both of whom have the potential to reach the final of the men's 100m. In many of their respective preliminary groups, they did not spend too much effort to win the group.

In the fifth group of the preliminaries, another familiar face of the Chinese people appeared, Tyson Gay. For track and field enthusiasts, Tyson Gay at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki was noticed by many. In the second half of 2006, he became Su Zu's biggest opponent after Powell.

And most of the country's real understanding of Guy should be from the 2007 World Championships in Osaka last year. Guy competed fiercely with Suzu in the 100m and 200m, and finally won the men's 4×100m relay for the United States.

In the fifth heats, Gay was also barely challenged, finishing 10.22 seconds faster than group runners-up Olusoki Fasuba.

In the sixth group of the preliminaries, the top three in the group are Britain's Tyrone Edgar, the United States' Davis Barton and France's Rodney Bonnon.

Group 7 of the preliminaries, the top three in the group, Portugal's Francis Obikviru, Nigeria's Obina Murtu, and the United States' Walter Dix.

In the eighth group of the preliminaries, when eight athletes appeared on the starting line, the mood of the two somewhat uneventful preliminaries became a little high.

Justin Gatlin, who has returned from the king, stood on the starting line of lane seven, and the eyes of the audience were almost focused on him.

The much-criticized American athlete did not win applause and cheers after his comeback this year, and he won the title in the boos of several European Grand Prix and Golden League games before the Olympics.

Compared with the previous Bolt, Powell, and Guy, the Chinese are more familiar with Justin Gatlin.

In 2004, Suzu made his first appearance on the Olympic stage, losing to his opponent in the 100m final, which made Gatlin enter the national people's field of vision for the first time. Then came the next game after game.

The most prominent report was that after the Yokohama All-Star Game, Suzu defeated Gatlin and was called the Olympic champion. In the 2005 World Championships, the men's 1200m race. Suzu even became one of the world's top sprinters by winning Gatling.

Before Gatlin was banned, almost every game of Suzu, Powell, and Gatlin would be hyped up as a world battle by Chinese and foreign media. And after a one-and-a-half-year ban, Gatlin announced his comeback with a time of 9.72 seconds.

In the preliminaries, Gatlin won the group with a time of 10.23 seconds, followed by Bahamian sprinter Derek Atkins.

The audience cheered.

Long swaying banners and various small red flags held high appeared for the first time in the first hour and 50 minutes after the Bird's Nest Stadium officially began to enter the Olympic track and field field.

When Su Zu crossed the corridor and appeared in the Bird's Nest Stadium, his heart was shocked like never before.

The stadium of 90,000 people has more spectators than he has ever attended any previous game, and these people are his fellow citizens.

Before the competition began, just an appearance, the people of the motherland gave him the greatest support and the warmest applause.

After several months of media coverage, the Chinese audience sitting in the stadium at this time is very clear about one thing, the challenge faced by Su Zu in this men's 100m Olympic Games is very huge.

Usain Bolt, Powell, Gay and Gatlin from the previous groups all comfortably qualified for the semi-finals, and they will all be Suzu's strongest rivals in the final.

At this time, what the audience could give Su Zu was applause and cheers, expressing their full support for their national athletes and Su Zu in turn.

The other athletes in the same group as Suzu, Mark Burns of Trinidad and Tobago, and Madik Osovnikar of Slovenia are all veterans, but they are still shocked to see such a frenzied scene.

Standing on the starting line of the sixth lane, Su Zu took a light breath, squinted his eyes and felt the tsunami-like sound of the mountain, and an unprecedented pride surged in his heart.

This is the home field, this is the home field of us Chinese.

I've waited too long and prepared for this moment!

And I, I won't let you down!

Gently moved his body, and in the sound of the starter's command, Su Zu leaned over, lowered his head, and squatted in front of the starting line.

Syllable!

The starting gun rang out!

It's game on!