Singapore, 19 August 2010.

Since the first two days, the whole of Singapore has entered a state of boiling, and the streets of the city are full of mascots Lyo and Merly.

From 14 to 26 August, the first Summer Youth Olympic Games are being held in Singapore, the first time an IOC major sport has been held in Southeast Asia.

The concept of the Youth Olympic Games was first conceived in 1998 by Austrian Johann Rosentsov, but the IOC was initially reluctant to hold the Youth Olympic Games, fearing that the Youth Olympic Games would overtrain many young athletes and because of the high cost.

It wasn't until 2007 that IOC President Jacques Rogge officially announced the YOG programme at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City on 6 July 2007.

At that time, 11 countries competed for the right to host the Youth Olympic Games, and in the end, Singapore won 53 votes, beating Moscow's 44 votes to become the host of the Youth Olympic Games.

The Games attracted around 3,600 athletes aged 14-18 from 204 countries competing in 201 events across 26 sports.

Singapore has 18 venues for the Youth Olympic Games, including the famous floating Marina Bay Stadium. It is a stadium floating on the sea and the largest floating platform in the world.

More than 30,000 seats were installed as the Singapore National Stadium was demolished and renovated two years ago to become the main stadium of the Youth Olympic Games.

However, although the Marina Bay Stadium is large enough to host a football match, there is no running track, and athletics events are not held here, but at Bishan Stadium, which is located in the center of the city.

There were 6,000 people at Bishan Stadium, and at 10:30 a.m., the entire stadium was already full of spectators who had come to watch the game.

"Don't be nervous, just play at your proper level!"

Tao Jianglong stood and looked at Xie Zheng, who had already warmed up, and reached out and gently pulled his collar for him, "This time, several coaches from the national team came to see, you have always wanted to enter the national team, and now the opportunity is in front of you." ”

"Really? Which coach is coming? Xie Zheng was wearing a red sprint suit, although he was not very old, he was tall and tall, and he only had the sharpness of a young man, and after hearing Tao Jianglong's words, his eyes couldn't help but reflect.

"What are you so excited about, forget what I told you?" Tao Jianglong patted Xie Zheng's shoulder, his face was slightly pale, "Every time there is a big event, you need to calm down, the bigger the game, the more stable your emotions are." ”

"Got it."

Xie Zheng scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. Seeing that Tao Jianglong shook his head a little helplessly, and said again:

"I know they're coming, but it's not coming for this game, I can't be sure, it's just the preliminaries. Telling you this is not to put pressure on you, but to prepare yourself a little mentally. ”

"Hehe......" Hearing Tao Jianglong say this, Xie Zheng couldn't help but laugh again, "I think it should be Coach Yuan who came to watch my game." ”

"Alright, don't think about it, get ready to play!"

Tao Jianglong looked at the appearance of the hippie smile of his last disciple before retirement, and couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Leather monkey, if you can't run well, don't blame me for not letting go." ”

"Don't worry, Coach!"

Xie Zheng trotted in the direction of the check-in area next to him, and when he heard Tao Jianglong's words, he turned his head again, gave a military salute, and then continued to trot away.

Looking at the back of Xie Zheng leaving, Tao Jianglong slowly picked up the thermos cup he was carrying from the chair next to him.

Although the weather in Singapore is very hot, his stomach can't stand the cold, and he has been drinking warm water and hot water even in the summer.

After taking a sip of tea and smashing his mouth, Tao Jianglong walked along the passage towards the coach and media seats at the bottom of the audience at Bishan Stadium.

The atmosphere in the stadium has become more and more enthusiastic at this time, the men's 200m preliminaries of this Youth Olympic Games are about to begin, although the whole venue is not large, but there are still many spectators who came to watch the game.

"Coach Tao, this way!"

As soon as Tao Jianglong's figure appeared in the coach's seat, he saw a man who was not tall and beckoned to him.

"Director Yuan, I didn't expect you to come over today!"

Tao Jianglong looked at the man, a smile appeared on his face, and he opened his mouth to greet.

"Talent is rare, this doesn't just happen to come with the team, how can I come and see, this Xiao Xie has not yet entered our national team, but I have heard a lot of people say his name."

Yuan Guohua replied with a hearty smile, he really didn't bring any moisture with his words, and he basically knew all the outstanding young track and field athletes in China, although he had selected a few more sprinters from Guangdong Province than other provinces.

But this is not because he is only sending talents for his own province, but because he is from Guangdong Province, where the network is much stronger than in other places.

In addition, the overall sprinting level of Guangdong Province itself is also stronger, and there will be a few more athletes who have entered the sprinting events of the national team in recent years.

However, in the same way, he also spared no effort to collect sprinters from other provinces, and the evaluation of him within the national team is that he can jump out of geographical limitations and find and select the most suitable team members for the national team.

"I can't hide from you if I want to!"

Tao Jianglong shook his head with a smile when he heard this, Xie Zheng entered the national team, he knew that it was basically a certainty, whether it was the team or Xie Zheng's own wishes, he actually wanted to enter a higher platform.

But in his heart, he has always been reluctant to let Xie Zheng enter the national team, on the one hand, Xie Zheng is still young now, and in his opinion, there is still enough time to lay the foundation.

On the other hand, it may also be because he is about to retire, and the last disciple he brought with him will inevitably be a little soft-hearted. This is like most old people, who always want to keep it around.

But the eagle will always grow up, and he needs a wider sky to let him gallop.

"Coach Tao, it's just the right time."

Yuan Guohua doesn't care about Tao Jianglong's words, the old coach will always have such and such emotions, especially when he is about to retire, but the current situation is still different.

After a pause, Yuan Guohua continued, "It's 2010, Xiao Xie is still young, but his upward momentum is very good, now training with the national team, next year is the World Championships, polish it, and you may have the opportunity to participate in the Olympics the year after tomorrow." ”

"What's the situation with the relay team right now? Is there such a lack of people? ”

Tao Jianglong's heart had already been shaken, but the tone of his words still made people sound a little harsh.

Yuan Guohua smiled and said: "There is no shortage of people, but it is easy to get a thousand troops and it is difficult to find a general." Now Su Bingtian, the first baton of the relay team, and Zhang Peimeng, the second batter, are very mature, and Ye Qin, the fourth baton, I don't need to say this, he is the core of the whole team. Now it's just that a third stick is missing. This is not to say that no one in our national team can run, but it is not easy to have a high level and potential.

I don't want the Olympics in two years, the World Championships in five years, the Olympics in six years...... That's what I want, that's what I'm looking for now. ”

"You're really a head coach!"

Tao Jianglong frowned and listened to Yuan Guohua's words, and his heart was also full of emotion. The head coach of the national relay team has brought out a series of outstanding sprinters, not to mention, the relay team has jumped from the Asian level to the top of the world in his hands.

Of course, there is an element of this in addition to one super player, but it can be seen from the training level and performance of other players.

Moreover, at the Asian Championships held in Yangcheng, Guangdong Province last year, the Chinese team also defeated the Japanese team in the men's 4×100m relay event without Ye Qin playing and won a gold medal, which is enough to prove its ability and the growth of domestic track and field sprinters over the years.

"Haha......"

Yuan Guohua laughed, his face was red, and he was a little excited about choosing materials for the country.

It was also at this time that the track and field field.

The men's 200m heats at the first Youth Olympic Games have been held in two sets in succession, and the third group has just been on the field.

Because it is the first Youth Olympic Games, the age of the athletes is between 14 and 18 years old, and although there are many countries participating, there are not many athletes who can reach the level of participation in each event.

The four preliminary groups of the men's 200m, with a total of only 26 athletes, only played the preliminaries and finals.

Seeing that the third group of the preliminaries was about to start, whether it was Tao Jianglong or Yuan Guohua, both of them stopped communicating and turned their eyes to the track and field track of Bishan Stadium.

A red sprint suit was assigned to the seventh lane on the edge, and although Xie Zheng was not very old, he looked at him in a sturdy shape, and he did not look immature among the crowd of runners.

After a single gunshot, the game began.

After the gunshots rang out, Yuan Guohua couldn't help but pat his thigh.

He hadn't seen Xie Zheng race before, but he had heard this term in his ears many times.

One of them was at last year's World Junior Championships, and Ye Qin came back to recommend it to him after going to cheer for the players.

Sure enough, after Xie Zheng started, Yuan Guohua saw the extraordinaryness of such a runner, with a large stride and excellent explosiveness.

In this group of players, many black and white players of the same age are far inferior to Xie Zheng in terms of physical fitness, and in the short distance of 50 meters, Yuan Guohua has already judged that the opponent has taken the lead in the corner.

When it came time to enter the straight stage of the corner, Xie Zheng was already far ahead, and the speed he showed made Yuan Guohua feel a little like seeing Ye Qin compete for the first time in the City Games.

There was not much suspense in the final result, Xie Zheng crossed the finish line all the way and won the first place in this group of preliminaries.

The time was 21.27 seconds, which was 0.5 seconds faster than the 21.81 seconds of Landon Saunders of the United States, who finished second in the same group.

When the four groups of preliminaries were over, Xie Zheng's 21.27 seconds was the best among all the young players, and even the first place in several other groups, the best result was more than 0.2 seconds behind Xie Zheng.

Seeing the results of this preliminaries, Yuan Guohua no longer hesitated, and only had one thought in his heart, such a talent should come to the national team.

At Xie Zheng's age, Ye Qin's results are nothing more than that.

He didn't dare to guarantee that Xie Zheng would grow to the same level as Ye Qin in the future, after all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that an athlete with excellent talent could not be a cabbage, and the kind of top athlete who was improving step by step every year could not be found.

But looking at the potential that Xie Zheng is showing now, it can be said that he feels that the future is quite optimistic.

First of all, Xie Zheng's height is very good, although he can't catch up with Ye Qin and Zhang Peimeng, but he also has 180, although he is not the kind of coach who follows the selection of height, but the advantages that height can bring are still very obvious.

Another point is that in terms of explosiveness and rhythm, Xie Zheng's stride is very large, but his cadence is not slow, and he runs at a good pace, and one of the advantages of being a 200-meter athlete is that as he gets older, he gradually enters the peak period, and his muscle strength grows, and whether it is 100 meters or 400 meters in the future, it is very promising.

This is one of the reasons why they are now looking for a lot of 200m athletes, and good 200m runners need to balance explosiveness and speed endurance, both of which can be combined in multiple events.

After the game, Yuan Guohua and Tao Jianglong came to the backcourt and found Xie Zheng, who was still a little excited after finishing the game.

"Xie Zheng, this is Coach Yuan of the national team."

Tao Jianglong looked at Xie Zheng, who was excited, and although he was still a little reluctant in his heart, he still introduced Yuan Guohua to Xie Zheng.

He is just an old coach, who has trained athletes for so many years, and when he reaches a certain level, he still has to go to the top of the ladder after all. Now the national team is not adopting the previous pre-competition training mode, but unified training management.

If he was a few years younger, he would have followed Xie Zheng into the national team, but now that he is approaching the age of retirement, there is no point in tossing these, it is better to let go.

"Yuan guide!"

Xie Zheng shook hands with Yuan Guohua excitedly, not mentioning that the other party was the coach of the national team, and the holder of the first national men's 100-meter stopwatch record alone was enough to make him admire.

"Xie Zheng, I've already talked to Coach Tao, would you like to come to the national team?"

Xie Zheng first glanced at the mentor who had taken him for four or five years, and saw that the other party bowed slightly, before nodding heavily, "Director Yuan, I am willing!" ”

"That's good!"

Yuan Guohua laughed, "Then I'll recruit you, but ah, there is another premise!" ”

"What?" Xie Zheng suddenly became nervous again when he heard Yuan Guohua's words.

"That's to win the men's 200m championship at the Youth Olympic Games!"

"Good!"

……

Two days later, on August 22, at 20:48 p.m.

The men's 200m final at Bishan Stadium was held as scheduled.

In the brightly lit stadium, Xie Zheng competed with eight 200m finalists in the same age group, and finally won the Youth Olympic Games championship with a time of 21.22 seconds, and was officially selected for the national track and field team.