On July 3, the senior leaders of the Sports Federation visited the National Swimming Training Base to participate in the pledge meeting of the Chinese swimming delegation to the Barcelona Swimming World Championships.

The director attached great importance to the Chinese swimming corps that was about to go to Europe, and he delivered an enthusiastic mobilization speech, and appointed Director Qin of the Swimming Management Center as the head of the group to lead the group to Barcelona.

On July 4, under the leadership of Director Qin, a total of 202 team members, coaches, team doctors, logistics personnel, intelligence collectors, and translators from five sub-categories of swimming, diving, water polo, flower swimming, and open water, went to the capital airport to prepare for a chartered flight to Europe.

More than 200 members of the Chinese Swimming Corps are dressed in uniform formal clothes with red background and yellow edges, red and yellow, which is the color of the national flag and the traditional clothing color of the Chinese Olympic Corps and various sports corps to compete in the international arena.

The mighty and quite visually impactful, the Chinese swimming corps attracted countless eyeballs at the airport.

The Chinese swimming team has Olympic champions such as Sun Yang, Ye Shiwen, Jiao Liuyang, Liu Zige, etc., as well as Du Ke, who has high hopes for people, and a large wave of small fresh meat and little beauties, they are the team with the largest number of people.

The Chinese diving team, with Wu Minxia, He Zi, Qin Kai, He Chong and other male and female overlords, will continue to defend the honor of the diving dream team.

The bronzed skin of the beautiful woman with the temperament of Huayou, the sturdy man in water polo, and the open water player highlights a kind of masculinity, and in anticipation and blessing, the Chinese Legion boarded the plane and prepared to set off.

At noon on July 4, capital time, the Chinese swimming delegation's Air China chartered flight took off from the capital airport, and the destination: Barcelona!

The Boeing traveled westward, across Eurasia, arriving in Europe 11 hours later, but landing not in Barcelona but in Frankfurt, Germany.

There are two large hub airports in Europe, Frankfurt Airport in Germany and Amsterdam Airport in the Netherlands.

After an hour-and-a-half-hour layover at Frankfurt Airport, the plane took off again, turned south, and arrived at Barcelona's Prater International Airport at 7 p.m. local time on July 4. (At this time, it was the early morning of July 5 in China, and the sky was almost bright, in order to facilitate reading, during the World Championships, the date and time in the text are all Madrid, Spain time)

The staff of the Chinese Consulate in Barcelona who met the airport at Prater Airport had already arranged six buses, and after picking up the Chinese swimming corps, the bus convoy went straight to the Montjuïc district, located in the west of Barcelona.

The whole of Montjuïc is basically on Montjuïc, where the Chinese swimming corps stayed, and this time they did not stay in a hotel, but in a higher existence: the estate of the Duke of Rodríguez-Cazbello Vermont III.

The Duke's Manor is home to villas of all sizes, detached, townhouses, and even a medieval castle!

The castle is not inhabitable, because it is a place of interest, and no matter how much money you give, you will not be allowed to live. Consulate staff have helped the Chinese swimming delegation rent 20 units of villas, with an average of 10 people per villa.

The players who have the task of the game are basically a separate room for one person, and the officials and coaches also arrange a single room. The other staff members have two people in a room, which is similar to staying in a hotel anyway.

Director Qin of the Chinese swimming delegation was very satisfied with the accommodation arranged by the consulate colleagues, and after thanking the consulate colleagues, Boss Qin ordered the rest of the team members: don't go out at night, wash and sleep, and fall jet lag.

Director Qin led by example and took the lead in starting to wash and sleep jet lag, so everyone began to wash and sleep jet lag.

……

The first event to be held at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona started on July 19 and was a water polo and diving competition.

From the Sports Federation, the Swimming Management Center to the national teams in each sub-event, they all attach great importance to this World Championships, so the Chinese swimming corps arrived in Barcelona half a month ahead of schedule to adapt to the local environment.

Barcelona is located in northeastern Spain, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and is the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia. With a population of 4 million, the Barcelona metropolitan area is the second largest city in Spain after the capital Madrid.

Barcelona is the largest port and the largest container terminal on the Mediterranean coast, the largest comprehensive port in Spain, and the most important trade, industrial and financial base in Spain.

You may have heard of FC Barcelona, you may be a fan of football stars such as Messi, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Puyol, etc., yes, who hasn't heard of Barcelona and who doesn't know about these football superstars?

However, there is more than one FC Barcelona football club in Barcelona that is well-known.

Barcelona Basketball Club, Handball Club, Hockey Club, and Water Polo Club are all powerhouses of the Europa League.

Barcelona has a good, even fanatical, sporting atmosphere and a long history in many sports.

The city successfully hosted the '92 Olympic Games and the 2003 World Swimming Championships and other major events, and the Duke's Manor where the Chinese swimming corps stayed is located on Montjuïc Hill, which is the competition area of the Barcelona '92 Olympic Games, and the main stadium of the Olympic Games, the Montjuïc Stadium, is one kilometer away from the Duke's Estate.

This is the second time in 10 years that Barcelona has hosted the World Swimming Championships, which are also held on Montjuïc Hill, not far from the Ducal Estate, 2 kilometres away.

Therefore, the Chinese swimming corps is very satisfied with staying in this manor, not far from the competition venue, and living in a villa, which is much more comfortable than staying in a hotel.

Another benefit of staying in a villa is that the team chef can cook food during the athletes' competitions in the villa to ensure that the athletes will not have any surprises in their diet.

In short, the logistics arrangements that can be made, the Sports Federation and the consulate have done a good job for the athletes with the most convenient plan, as for what kind of results can be achieved, it depends on the team members to work hard.

On the afternoon of July 5th, Du Ke, Liu Xiang, Ning Zetao, and Dr. Jiang, the team doctor, went down the mountain to visit the downtown area of Barcelona and enjoy the style of this famous city.

The reason why Du Ke and the others were able to go down the mountain was because the training venue of the Chinese swimming team was still in urgent contact. Originally, three months ago, Director Qin personally went on a business trip to Barcelona, and at that time he booked a swimming training hall for a whole month from July 5th to August 4th, and the advance payment had already been paid.

However, this morning, the person in charge of the training gym suddenly told Director Qin: I'm sorry, friends from China, our swimming pool has been booked to the Canadian team half a year in advance, so please find another one.

The Spaniard reversed course and blew up Director Qin's lungs, but he knew that it was useless to get angry in Europe, so he could only entrust the leaders of the consulate again to help find another swimming training hall as soon as possible.

After all, the consul of the consulate is familiar with the local environment and has certain network resources, and they helped the Chinese swimming team contact a new training hall within half a day, and they will be able to enter the gym for training tomorrow, July 6.

So today, July 5th, the swim team took a day off and allowed the team members to travel together and go to the city of Barcelona.

Du Ke, Ning Zetao, Liu Xiang, and Dr. Jiang went shopping in downtown Barcelona together, and after shopping, they went to the Camp Nou, which is the home of the Barcelona football team.

The Camp Nou, which can accommodate nearly 100,000 people, stands majestically in front of four Chinese, but at this time Camp Nou is quite deserted, in early July, there is no game, and the players are on vacation.

It was already evening, and Duke said to his three companions with some frustration: "We spent an afternoon walking around the downtown area of Barcelona, why didn't any of the local people know us?" ”

Ning Zetao shook his head: "We are not famous." ”

Liu Xiang also felt strange: "Yes, it's just that no one knows about me and Brother Baozi, Brother Du, you are also the holder of a swimming world record, and no one knows you in Spain?" What kind of eyes are they? ”

Dr. Kong said: "What about the world record holders? This is Europe, not China, I have been in Spain for a year, I know a little bit about Spaniards and Europeans, Europeans will not be fascinated by a Chinese swimmer, even if this Chinese athlete breaks the world record? The name of Du Brush is thunderous in China, but in Europe, who has ever heard of any ghost Du Brush, Du Ke has brushed a lot of gold medals in domestic competitions, but that is in China, Europeans who cares about our domestic competitions in China? So it's normal that no one knows you, but it's not normal for someone to know, Sun Yang is still no one on the street. ”

"You're so ugly." Du Ke said to Dr. Jiang, and then added, "But it's reasonable." ”

There were some newspaper kiosks around the Camp Nou, and Duke pointed to a newsstand and handed Dr. Jiang 5 euros: "Dr. Jiang, you can speak Spanish, please help me buy a copy of the most famous local sports newspaper." ”

"Damn! I'm out chic, not your little brother! Dr. Jiang took Duke's 5 euros and walked to the newsstand very upset.

After a while, Dr. Jiang bought back a newspaper and handed it to Du Ke: "This is today's Marca, the most authoritative sports newspaper in Spain, Marca mainly reports on football, but also reports, analyzes, and comments on other sports, you can read it yourself." ”

Du Ke took the Marka newspaper and began to read it, and Liu Xiang and Ning Zetao also came over to read the newspaper together.

On July 1, the summer transfer market in European football opened, and the transfer news related to La Liga flooded the main pages.

Flipping through the pages, Duke finally found the content related to this World Swimming Championships, and there is a page of content. It can't be compared with football, but the World Swimming Championships can occupy a page of the Marca newspaper, which can be regarded as more important.

In addition to Dr. Jiang, Du Ke and the three athletes naturally can't read Spanish, and it's okay if they can't read Spanish, there are pictures.

But after reading these pictures related to the World Swimming Championships, Du Ke found that none of them were related to the Chinese team. The general public in Spain can understand that they don't know the Chinese swimming team, and the Spanish sports media don't know the Chinese team? Or do they not care about the Chinese team at all and are too lazy to take care of us? The Japanese team has a picture in the newspaper, which is a group photo of Kosuke Kitajima, Kosuke Hagino, and Ryosuke Irie.

Du Ke handed the Maka newspaper to Dr. Jiang: "Dr. Jiang, could you please help me take a look at this page, the World Swimming Championships, see if the text report reports on the Chinese team?" ”

"Lao Tzu is a doctor, not a junior brother, nor your personal translator!" Dr. Jiang took the newspaper unhappily and read it.

Looking at it, Dr. Jiang was unhappy again: "What's the matter, there is not a word that reports on the Chinese team, I know that the group behind the Marca newspaper is a bit right-leaning, but I didn't expect it to be so right-handed?" It doesn't matter if the ordinary people here don't know you, these professional sports media are so unobjective. Forget it, don't look at it, it's good if they don't hack the Chinese team, do you still expect the Marca newspaper to sing praises to us? ”

"I'm not happy, as a patriotic doctor, I want to serve the country loyally, wash away this shame for the country and the nation, Du Ke, Ning Zetao, go, walk with my brother, I will take you to Rabar to have fun and serve the motherland!"

La Barr is a red light district in Barcelona, before coming to Spain, Dr. Jiang talked to Duke every day, saying how enjoyable it is, how unrestrained the Spanish girls are, and saying that when he goes to Barcelona, he must take Duke to La Barl for a five-star health care in Europe and a real patriotic man.

Du Ke snatched back the Maka newspaper from Dr. Jiang's hand and said, "Come on, patriotic hero, you go and be loyal to the country yourself." The three of us have to go back to the manor, we have to go back by 8 o'clock, it's discipline. ”

"Are you two still not men? It's boring! Dr. Jiang despised Du Ke and Ning Zetao, and embarked on the road of serving the country with loyalty alone.

"This Dr. Jiang really has a personality." Ning Zetao said with a smile, he knew what Dr. Jiang meant by serving the motherland, similar to the soldiers, they all used bullets to shoot the enemy.

Go to the red light district to have a cool time, the athletes of the Chinese team are absolutely not allowed to do this kind of thing, and once they are found out, they will be directly repatriated to China. In principle, team doctors and other auxiliary personnel are not allowed to do some glamorous things during the Chinese team's competition.

But Dr. Jiang's wonderful flower doesn't care about so many principles or anything, he just wants to be patriotic once. Du Ke and they are not Dr. Jiang's direct leaders, and they can't control this guy.

Liu Xiang is not a fool, she can also understand what Dr. Jiang is going to take Du and Ning to do, she looked at Dr. Jiang's back and said, "This doctor has bad water in his stomach, hmph, you both stay away from him in the future." Along the way, he always took the opportunity to tease me, what a big color. Demon! ”

"This guy actually dares to tease us Ah Xiang? There's another time, see if I don't gelding him. Du Ke comforted Liu Xiang a few words, then spread out the Marca newspaper, turned to the World Championships page again, pointed at the pictures in the newspaper, and said: "Look, this World Championships, the fierce people who should come are here, the American team is Rochette, Clary, Greaves, Adrian; The Australian team is Springer and Magnussen, the French team is Agnel and Straves, the Brazilian god Cielo is here, the South African frog king Van der Berg is here, and the old rival Kosuke Kitajima, who has bullied us for ten years, is also here, how old is he this year? More than thirty, right? It can be said that on the men's side, except for Phelps, the world's top swimmers are all here. Oh, by the way, our other old rival, Park Tae-hwan, didn't come either. ”

Ning Zetao nodded: "That's right." He looked at the picture of Brazil's Cielo with a desire to fight in his eyes. Cielo is the current world record holder in the men's 50 and 100 free, and Ning Zetao is particularly interested in the Brazilian star.

Indeed, in addition to Phelps, all the top players in the world swimming are here.

After the London 2012 Olympics, Phelps announced his retirement, so he did not come to the World Championships. According to reliable sources, Phelps will return in early 2014, but he certainly won't be competing at the World Championships.

As for Park Tae-hwan not coming to the competition, it is really a bit embarrassing, according to Korean media: "Since the London Olympics, the relationship between Park Tae-hwan and the Korean Swimming Association has been tense, and the root of the conflict between the two sides is 50 million won (about 275,000 yuan)." This was supposed to be the prize money that the Korean Swimming Association promised to pay Park Tae-hwan after the London Olympics, but after the game, the swimming association refused to pay the money on the grounds that Park Tae-hwan had violated the team rules. This affected Park Tae-hwan's training, and he simply couldn't compete at the World Championships at his current level. ”

For a bonus of less than 300,000 yuan in soft sister coins, Park Tae-hwan tore up with the Korean Swimming Association, which ultimately led to his failure to participate in this World Championships, which is indeed emotional. (A few years later, Park Tae-hwan tore up with the Korean Swimming Association again, and the Korean Swimming Association just didn't allow Park Tae-hwan to participate in the Rio Olympics, and it was useless for you Park Tae-hwan to kneel.) It can be seen that this kind of thing is not a Chinese characteristic, but a worldwide issue. ）

Although Phelps didn't come, Park Tae-hwan didn't come, but the other top men's players came.

On the women's side, Franklin Franklin, a talented girl in the middle and long distance, Ledesky, Australia's Campbell sisters, Russian beauty Efimova, and Hungarian girl Hoszu...... Wait for all the female masters to arrive.

It can be said that this World Swimming Championships brings together masters from all over the world and will surely be a wonderful international top swimming event.

……

(Thanks: Eucalyptus Press Baby, Lonely 101, pjl89, Dumpling Xiaoxiao, Big Death Otome, Ruthless Crazy, Ma Ge Invincible, Xin Kong, qiuqiujuno, Lee00700, Soul of Steamed Pork, Personality No. 2, Five Tone Incomplete Book Friends and other book friends for their tips)