Lawrence World Sports Awards
On the plane, Zhang Guan looked over at the newspaper's sports section about the US doping scandal.
"I remember Gatlin's doping scandal was only reported in 2006. Why is it a year earlier? Is this the so-called butterfly effect caused by my arrival? But I haven't even been to the United States. Why would it concern me." Zhang Guan thought secretly.
Zhang Guan did not know that it was caused by him. Zhang Guan became the world champion, and also broke the world record, so Kondo Kumi was so persistent to check Zhang Guan but did not expect to find out the problem of Gatlin, and then Kondo Kumi was directly arrested for the robbery. The issue of athletes used of doping was reported, and only then did a series of IAAF investigations occur and the current large-scale doping scandal in the United States was the cause of that.
Zhang Guan didn't pay any attention to these things, but he knew that at least in the next few years, it was unlikely that he would meet Gatlin on the field. He closed the newspaper and began to think about the Lawrence Sports Award.
The nominations for this year's Lawrence Sports Awards were announced not long ago. The nominees for the best male athletes include Tour de France Six Champion Lance Armstrong, Formula One Seven Champion Michael Schumacher, Tennis King Roger Federer, Olympic 1500m, and 5000m Champion Shilam Al Kwai Roy and Valentino Rossi, the four-time champion of the World Motorcycle Grand Prix. The golfer Tiger Woods, who has won several awards before, was not nominated.
Nominations for Best Female Athlete include Pole Vault Queen Yelena Isinbayeva, Olympic heptathlon champion Carolina Crawford, Olympic 800m and 1500m champion Kelly Holmes, seventh Annika Shorenstein, the winner of the four major golf tournaments, and Leontian Van Mossel, the Olympic cycling champion.
As for the best newcomer nominations, in addition to Zhang Guan, Sharapova, and Phelps, there are 17-year-old French women's swimming champion Roll Manado, Spain's 19-year-old motorcycle champion Danny Pi De Rosa and 17-year-old Athens boxing silver medalist Amir Han. This Amir Han is not an Indian movie star, but an Englishman, just with the same name.
It is worth mentioning that all the athletes nominated for this year's best newcomer are under 20 years old, and the oldest was Phelps who will not be 20 years old until next month.
From the nomination of the best newcomer, Phelps is undoubtedly the hottest to win, followed by Zhang Guan and Sharapova. As for several other young athletes, no matter whether they have achievements or fame in the sports field, compared with these three people it was nothing.
However, Zhang Guan knew that Sharapova was unlikely to win the Best Newcomer Award because Federer defeated Schumacher, Armstrong, and other series of strong men this time and became the best male athlete. It is unlikely that another tennis player will be selected to get the best newcomer by balancing the benefits of each event.
But track and field events are not the same. Track and field is a big event, which is divided into many small items. It is enough to get nominated for achievements in each small item, and it is also the same for the swimming event, so for the first session of Lawrence, there may be multiple track and field athletes or swimmers that may win the award.
"Phelps! With him in, I am afraid it will be difficult to win this newcomer award! Forget it, I want to go to sleep!" Zhang Guan changed into a more comfortable posture, ready to fall asleep.
...
In the selection committee of the Lawrence Awards, the selection committee members are also intensively discussing.
"Schumi (Schumacher) once again ruled the F1 field last year. He won 13 games throughout the season. I think he is well suited to become the best male athlete."
"No, no, Schumacher has won the best male athlete last year and the year before the first year. I think this award should be awarded to Armstrong. It is said that he will retire after this year's Tour de France."
"Isn't Armstrong the best male athlete of the previous year! I think this award should have some new faces, such as Federer! Federer won 11 titles last year, including three Grand Slams."
Everyone expressed their opinions, and after a vote, Federer was rated as the best male athlete.
Later in the women's project vote, the popular Issinbayeva lost to the British Holmes, the main reason is that Isinbayeva is Russian.
Immediately after the vote for the best sports team of the year, the Italian men's football team won the favor of the jury, defeating the powerful opponents such as the Argentine men's football team, the Portuguese Porto football club, and the Italian Ferrari team. The so-called Iraqi football team, which is touted as the most representative of sportsmanship in the Olympic Games, has not even won a nomination.
These judges are not so impartial. Under the same conditions, they are more willing to choose athletes from developed countries in Western Europe, and the public relations behind the nominees will also play a big role at this moment. Such as the Iraqi football team, they played so tenaciously in the Olympics, but because there were no one behind them for public relations and they couldn't even get nominated.
Next, everyone began to comment on the Best Newcomer Award.
"Since Federer is already the best male athlete, I don't think there is any need to award Sharapova the best newcomer, and she is also a Russian, although she grew up in the United States."
Although the Cold War has ended for more than ten years, Western European countries still generally have a hostile attitude towards Russia. In sports, Western Europe has been suppressed by the former Soviet Union for so many years. Nowadays, it is no longer necessary to fear Russia. Naturally, they don't want to choose a Russian athlete.
"So what about China's Zhang Guan? He was the first Chinese and Asian to win the track and field sprint championship and the first Asian to break the world record for the track and field sprint. He broke the 100-meter sprint world record twice last year, and this year, he won seven indoor championships in Europe and broke the world record of 60 meters indoors twice. This kind of achievement is put on the resume of the best male athlete. There must be no doubt and his popularity in Europe is still very high."
"If this is the case, wouldn't Phelps be more appropriate? Phelps won six gold medals at the Athens Olympics, and he has also set five world records, and his results are more dazzling than Zhang Guan. Plus, he is a world-class star."
"Athletics is more popular than swimming. And the recent doping scandal that broke out in the United States. More than a dozen big stars have been involved in the case, which makes me a little cautious about Phelps."
All the jury members fell into silence. A series of stimulant scandals just broke out. Many big names were caught in this scandal, and the projects involved were extremely broad. Although Phelps was not exposed to use illegal drugs, everyone present knows how virtue Americans are. At the same time, Phelps's usual image doesn't represent him as a good guy. Phelps himself is a little prince in a nightclub. Not to mention, he was arrested twice after the Olympics for drunk driving. which is unconsciously strange.
The higher the high-end award, the more you care about your reputation. If it is some small prizes, they wouldn't want to check your back ground, but the award level of Lawrence is unwilling to accept any scandal.
Many of the winners of the Academy Awards are scandal-ridden, and there are all kinds of chaos in the Hollywood circle, but this does not affect the authority of the Oscars. Even if a film actor killed someone, his acting skills are very impressive so, personal acting can't be fake.
However, the Lawrence Sports Award is different, especially for problems involving illegal drugs. If a Lawrence winner is exposed to use illegal drugs, it means that his achievements are also false. Choosing an athlete with false results to become the winner will directly affect the authority of the Lawrence Sports Award, which is precisely the root of the Lawrence Award survival. This is like if you find that the research of a Nobel Prize winner is plagiarism, the authority of the entire Nobel Prize will be questioned.
So far, Phelps has not been implicated in this doping scandal, but what about in the future? Will the doping scandal continue to be investigated? One big player after another was found using illegal drugs, and no one knows if the next person found would be Phelps. What's more is that the use of stimulants is even a tradition for Americans.
Although the members of the award committee have accepted various public relations, their attitude is still very clear on this kind of matter. Compared with Phelps, the choice of Zhang Guan, who has no negative news, is very good. The award is safer.
In the end, as a result of the vote, Phelps didn't even get a vote, but Zhang Guan was approved by all the judges.
...
Hotel suite.
"How about I wear this dress for the Lawrence Awards?" Sharapova wore a gown and turned around in front of Zhang Guan.
This is a khaki sleeveless dress with no collar, just a semi-curved neckline just below the collar of the collarbone, the shoulders look a little tight, and the middle has a waist design. The pleated skirt was just above the knees, flowing out of smooth calves.
But Zhang Guan always felt that Sharapova looked a little strong in this dress.
"You look beautiful, dear." Zhang Guan instantly became a sweet talker. Sure enough, Sharapova felt very happy after listening.
"Right, are we going to enter the field together tomorrow?" Sharapova asked.
"Okay, I have no problem. But will you be in trouble over there..." Zhang Guan said hesitantly.
"I'm fine. For public events, the media won't think much about it." Sharapova sat next to Zhang Guan, leaned back in his arms, and then said, "If you win an award, the trophy will be mine!"
"Then if you win an award? The trophy..." Zhang Guan asked with a smile.
"The trophy is still mine!" Sharapova leaned up, and the two became tied together.