In the preliminary round of the 200-meter sprint, the level of the athletes is uneven, and basically the athletes who can advance with the Olympic A standard can enter the final.

The first group features two strong athletes, Crawford of the United States and Obi Keviru of Portugal, with Crawford the reigning Olympic champion in the men's 200m sprint. In the end, Crawford easily qualified as group winners. Obikwiru, on the other hand, retired due to injury.

There were no overly famous players in the second group, including sprint powerhouse Jamaica's Williams, who seemed to Zhang Guan to be fresh. However, there is another person Zhang Guan knows, and that is Japanese player Shinshi Takahira. Takahaira finished fourth in the race with a time of 20.58 seconds, which was a good result in the preliminary round, and if there were no surprises, his time would have been enough to secure an additional eight places.

In the third group, another Jamaican player, Anderson, also appeared and successfully qualified. And Kim Collins, who is more familiar with Zhang Guan, also advanced in this group. In the fourth group, American Dix appeared on the field. Dicks, a recent college graduate, is the only athlete on the U.S. team to compete in both the 100m and 200m events, and he was able to make it in the U.S. Olympic qualifiers.

Usain Bolt appeared in the fifth group, and this time Bolt didn't show his strength, it was completely like coping with the game, after all, the level of the preliminaries was too low, so Bolt couldn't be interested at all. In the sixth group, the American 200m star Spearman, a 200m athlete who competed against Zhang Guan in the 2006 Athletics World Cup 200m dash, also qualified and won a silver medal.

In the seventh group, Japan's Shingo Sueji appeared. The first Asian sprinter at the time was 28 years old, which is still a small tail in the peak for European and American track and field athletes, but for a Japanese, it is actually a time of declining form, even if Shingo Sueji has specialized in the 200m in recent years, he only ran sixth place, and his time of 20.93 seconds basically said goodbye to this Olympic Games.

In the eighth group, Zhang Guan appeared in the cheers of the audience, and the strength of this group of players was weak, so Zhang Guan easily qualified for the first place in the group. Like Usain Bolt, he doesn't need to show his true strength at all, just a little run, and this won't leak too much information to his opponent.

……

After the 200-meter preliminaries, Zhang Guan didn't even have time to be interviewed by reporters before he stepped onto the triple jump qualifying competition.

A total of 39 competitors participated in the qualification round for the triple jump, and the athletes were divided into two groups, although the two groups were held at the same time. The qualification rules for the triple jump event are the same as those for the long jump, and the top 12 in the total score enter the final. From the perspective of the strength of the athletes, if they can jump above 17.20 meters, they should be able to qualify safely, and if they jump above 17.15 meters, they have great hope of qualifying.

The triple jump is traditionally a strong sport in Europe, especially the British, who are among the best in the world. Britain has always had a tradition of triple jump, and the world record in the triple jump was set by Edwards, a famous British long jumper known as the "Bird of the Century". However, in the new century, Britain has never had a triple jumper as dominant as Edwards.

In this event, the national team sent a total of three players to participate. In addition to the Chinese team, only a few players from Asian countries participated in this event.

By the time it comes to the Olympic Games, the world's top competition, there are very few athletes like Zhang Guan who participate in both the long jump and the triple jump. The long jump and the triple jump, although they share a lot of common features, are two different events. In the last century, athletes in the long jump and triple jump were still relatively popular, and in the 21st century, there are some outstanding long jumpers who can do both. However, with the continuous progress of sports, every sport has developed in the direction of professionalism and sophistication, and athletes who have both long jump and triple jump have slowly disappeared.

In the qualifying group, Zhang Guan was placed in Group A, while the other two players of the national team were placed in Group B.

Zhang Guan's Group A includes several of the world's top triple jumpers, and three of the four favorites to win the Olympic Games are in Zhang Guan's group. They are British triple jumper Phillips Eduu, Portugal's Nelson Evora and Cuba's David Girard.

Great Britain's Phillips Eduu is 30 years old and competed in Sydney in 2000, so this is his third Olympic Games. Adouu jumped 17.68m at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and in the years since, he has regularly jumped over 17.50m. In the first half of 2008, he jumped 17.75 meters.

Portugal's Nelson Evola, 22, also jumped 17.74m at last year's World Championships in Osaka and won the triple jump at the World Championships in Osaka. And at last year's IAAF Golden League, he also achieved great results.

Cuba's David Girard, also 22, rose to fame at a young age after winning the triple jump at the World Junior Athletics Championships. This year, Girart is in very good form, jumping more than 17.50m many times.

In addition to these three favourites, this group also includes Russia's Spasokhovsky, Romania's Opria, and Ukraine's Kuznetsov, all of whom are also very strong triple jumpers.

However, the rules for qualifying for the Olympics are based on the sum of Group A and Group B, so the impact of grouping on promotion is much smaller.

……

When Zhang Guan appeared in the sand pit run of the triple jump, he immediately became the focus of attention of all the competitors.

"That's Zhang Guan? How did he get here? Did he go to the wrong venue? Ukraine's Kuznetsov spoke.

"I remember Zhang Guan participated in the long jump competition, and the results were quite good. But now it's the triple jump competition, did he remember the time of the game wrong? "Said the Russian Spasokhonsky.

The Belarusian player Giratnisky next to him took out a piece of paper, looked at it carefully, and said: "It turns out that Zhang Guan also participated in the triple jump event!" It's written on it. ”

"Zhang Guan also competes in the triple jump? So he's a long jump and a triple jumper? This kind of player is rare now! Spasokhowski continued: "But it's not surprising that Zhang Guan competed in several sprint events, and also played tennis, long jump and triple jump. ”

"I don't know how high Zhang Guan's triple jump is? He is still very good in the long jump, and maybe the triple jump is also very strong. Kuznetsov spoke.

"In addition to Zhang Guan, the Chinese team also has two players participating, which shows that Zhang Guan's strength can at least reach the Olympic A standard!" Platnitsky said as he checked the list of contestants.

"Olympic A standard!" Spasokhowski and Kuznetsov nodded at the same time, and there was a hint of solemnity on their expressions.

In the triple jump, Russia and Ukraine each have three athletes, so Spasokhowski and Kuznetsov are also Olympic A standard athletes. But they are not at the top of their game, and they may be able to reach the final, but they definitely don't have a chance to win a medal. So they can feel that Zhang Guan and they may be in the same division.

"It looks like there is one more opponent to advance to the finals!" Both thought at the same time.

All three spoke in Russian, so other non-Russian-speaking countries could not understand what they were saying. On the other side, Brazil's Gregorio and Portugal's Evola are also talking about Zhang Guan, both of whom are Portuguese-speaking countries.

"Zhang Guan is here too! All I knew was that he was competing in the long jump, not that he was going to compete in the triple jump. Evora said with a relaxed face that as the favourite, reaching the final would be a breeze for him.

Gregorio next to him obviously did his homework in this regard, and he said: "I found out here, Zhang Guan seems to have started to participate in the triple jump this year, but he has improved very fast, and after only a few months of practice, he has been able to jump into the Olympic A standard." ”

Gregorio's strength is somewhere between reaching the final and qualifying for elimination, and if he plays well, he can reach the final, and if he plays poorly, he will be eliminated, so he has made more adequate preparations before the game, including checking the information of other athletes.

Evora nodded slightly, and then asked, as if casually, "So what is Zhang Guan's best result?" ”

"I want to think about it." Gregorio frowned and thought for a while, and said: "I remember that I checked that Zhang Guan broke the Asian record in the triple jump in May, and his score seemed to be 17.37 meters at that time!" ”

"Cut! I thought it was amazing, but it was only 17.37 meters, and I could jump farther than that! Evora pouted, he clearly didn't have the crown in his eyes.

Not far away, three Britons were standing together.

As the first person in the British triple jump, Eduu naturally looks like he is above the top at the moment.

"The triple jump is my territory, I didn't expect Zhang Guan to come back to participate, but in a while, I will use my strength to tell you that you have crossed the line! With me, the triple jump is not something you can handle! (To be continued.) )