"How? See something? After returning to the station, Hoganband and the coach analyzed the video of Guo Zizhao's preliminaries.

For Guo Zizhao, a strong opponent who suddenly appeared, Hoganband and others still attach great importance to it. It's just that Guo Zizhao has never participated in international swimming competitions before, and everyone knows nothing about Guo Zizhao's true strength and technical characteristics.

Therefore, now the video of this game has become the only research material.

"Judging from the whole game, Guo Zizhao's swimming skills are average." Hoganband also shook his head, "Guo Zizhao's main advantage is in physical fitness. It can be seen from the strength, frequency and leg strokes of the arm that although Guo Zizhao's figure is not very suitable for swimming, he can make up for this deficiency with his super physical fitness. ”

"You're right, especially in this sprint in the final stage, it simply exerts Guo Zizhao's speed, strength and endurance to the extreme!" The coach couldn't help but sigh, "Now I just don't know how much Guo Zizhao put in this preliminaries." If his final strength can really reach 48.20 seconds, it will be on par with your current time! ”

"Hmm...... According to Guo Zizhao's competition habits on the track and field, the preliminaries are definitely the worst. Then, the semi-finals and finals will be better and better. Hockenband also said noncommittally, "However, the rules for qualifying for swimming competitions are different from those for athletics. I just don't know what kind of tactical arrangements Guo Zizhao will have this time. ”

"Leave this alone! After the semi-finals in the evening, you will probably understand! The coach also ended the topic, "Okay, you have a good rest first, there is a final in the evening." This is the most crucial game at the moment! Whether you can defend your title at this Olympics depends on your performance tonight! ”

"Don't worry! If I can win Thorpe once, I can beat Thorpe a second time! The men's 200m and 100m freestyle champions at this Olympics are still my Hoganband! The Dutchman said with confidence, too.

……

At 7:10 p.m., the night's swimming competition was rekindled at the Olympic Aquatics Center.

According to the arrangement of the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee, the preliminaries of each swimming event are held every morning. The more exciting semi-finals and finals are usually scheduled in the evening. In the afternoon, there is no swimming event.

And the reason for this is also very strange, it is actually because the Olympic Aquatic Center, the venue of the swimming competition, has no roof!

It's not that the organizing committee doesn't repair the roof of the venue, and the progress of the early construction period is too slow, and the venue is basically renovated a few days before the start of the Olympic Games, so there is really no time to install the roof. Therefore, the swimming competition had to be held in a semi-open-air water center.

And in Athens in August, the weather in the afternoon is too hot. In order not to let the hot weather and direct sunlight in the afternoon affect the competition, the organizing committee had to take turns in the afternoon.

As a result, the schedule for the evening is very tight. Less than half an hour after the semi-finals of the men's 100m freestyle, the final of the men's 200m freestyle will be. Therefore, this will also be a big test for Hoganband and Thorpe in terms of physical strength.

Just before Guo Zizhao packed up his things and was about to play, Deputy Director Shang Xiutang's mobile phone rang. Shang Xiutang took out his mobile phone and looked at it, and he was immediately happy, "Hehe...... What a sign! The delegation just released the good news that our country has won another gold medal. In the men's 10-meter air rifle of the shooting team, Zhu Qinan broke the world record with 702.7 rings and won the gold, and teammate Li Jie won the silver medal. ”

"Haha...... That's a good sign! I hope that in the swimming competition to come, Luo Xue can also win and win the first gold medal for our swimming team! Guo Zizhao also said with a smile.

"Haha...... Luo Xue's game is still an hour, you win this semi-final first! Come on, we are waiting for your good news. Head Coach Zhang Dongya also said happily.

"No problem, you can take it for you in minutes!" Guo Zizhao said hello to everyone with a smile and walked to the arena under the leadership of the staff.

……

The semi-finals of the men's 100m freestyle consisted of 16 competitors divided into two groups.

A wave of top players such as Popov, Hockenband, Thorpe and Schumann were all unsurprisingly successful. Of course, in the morning preliminaries, the biggest dark horse is Guo Zizhao.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that the two American players Jason. Lezak and Ian. Crocker actually played abnormally in the morning heats, and both failed to enter the semifinals of the men's 100m freestyle.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a great shock in the international swimming world. As one of the two hegemons in the international swimming world, the U.S. team has never had a chance to win the title of "the world's No. 1 Flying Fish" over the years, but it is also a strong contender in the "Flying Fish War".

Especially the two contestants this time, Jason. Lezak swam the world's best time of 48.18 seconds this year, and is regarded as the biggest challenger to Hockenband in this "Flying Fish War". However, what I didn't expect was that this guy only swam 49.87 seconds in the preliminaries, ranking outside the 20th place in the preliminaries.

And another player, Ian. Crocker is not only the world champion in the men's 100m butterfly at last year's World Championships, but also ranks in the top eight in the world in the freestyle event this year. Unexpectedly, this time, he also returned home in the preliminaries.

Only once in the history of the Olympics did the U.S. team not compete in the final of the men's 100-meter freestyle in nearly 100 years, and that time was at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which the Americans boycotted. And now in this Olympic Games, the Americans did not even enter the semifinals, which is also a blow to the American swimming team.

However, no one expected that when the semi-finals were over a few minutes later, another top master was unexpectedly out......

……

In the first group of the semi-finals, Hockenband, Thorpe and others appeared first. Since there was still a final after half an hour, neither of them gave it their all in this semi-final.

But even so, Hockenband still won the group with a time of 48.53 seconds, and it is certain that he will enter tomorrow's final. Thorpe also swam a time of 48.95 seconds, which was enough to ensure that he entered the final.

In Guo Zizhao's second group, there are also masters with good strength such as Popov and Schumann. In order to win the first place in the semifinals, Guo Zizhao went all out this time.

The skill of "earth-shattering leap" was not hidden this time, coupled with the "strong advanced sprint skill" in the second half, Guo Zizhao once again ignited the semi-finals, and finally won the first place in the second group with a time of 48.18 seconds.

This result not only equaled the American player Jason. Lezak's world best this year also ranked first in the semi-finals again, and entered the final of the men's 100m freestyle.

When the total results of the 16 players participating in the semi-finals came out, the audience was in an uproar again.

Guo Zizhao was first with a time of 48.18 seconds, followed by South Africa's Schumann with a time of 48.37 seconds, and then Hoganband's 48.53 seconds. Further on, there are Italy's Magnini, South Africa's Netlin, Australia's Thorpe "Torpedo", Croatia's Dragania and Algeria's Elias.

And the veteran Popov, the former "world's No. 1 flying fish" and "swimming czar", only swam 49.23 seconds this time, ranking 9th, and missed the final of this "flying fish war"!

I'll go...... After everyone saw this ranking, they were also shocked in their hearts, something big was going to happen......