West Asian opponents

No one among Chinese athletes can run 1500 meters into 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The national record before this is 3 minutes, 36.49 seconds held by Dou Zhaobo.

Zhang Guan was originally here to surpass Dou Zhaobo, and today Dou Zhaobo is also very cooperative. His condition is very good. Although he did not reach the level when he created the national record, he is still much faster than ordinary athletes. It also made Zhang Guan's running speed increase, eventually leading to him breaking the national record. If the leading athletes are not strong enough, Zhang Guan may not have a chance to break the national record.

His national record was broken. Although Dou Zhaobo was somewhat lost, he stepped forward and congratulated Zhang Guan, his brother. Then he slowly walked to the sidelines, and coach Zhou also happened to come over, handing him a towel.

"Don't be discouraged, you ran very well. The loss of the game is not because of you, but that Zhang Guan played well." Coach Zhou stepped forward and comforted.

Dou Zhaobo nodded, "You can rest assured, coach, I'm fine. When Zhang Guan ran 800 meters yesterday, I already guessed it might be this result. I'm mentally prepared, but it's still a bit hard to accept at this time."

"Don't think too much. In the future, your chances of meeting Zhang Guan can be said to be very limited. This child is destined to not to belong to the domestic arena, just like the 100-meter sprint that year. After taking out the Asian track and field trial, he won't have much time to play in China. I believe that it won't take long before he will go to the international arena to compete with world-class athletes!" Coach Zhou sighed and then said, "In fact, from another perspective, Zhang Guan winning two championships in middle distance running and breaking the national record is good for the development of the entire middle-distance running career in China."

Dou Zhaobo froze for a moment. From Coach Zhou's words, he recalled some of the things in previous years. Many of them were personally experienced by him, and he also sighed with emotion.

During a flight inspection one month before the opening of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Ma Jiajun was almost completely overwhelmed. The urine test was positive and the blood test exceeded the standard. Six of the seven athletes tested for the use of stimulants. In that session, Ma Jiajun was rejected by the Olympic Games.

Ma Jiajun's collective use of stimulants was an open secret before the Sydney Olympics. At that time, reporters had made corresponding investigation reports, but in the end, some of the content related to stimulants was deleted and has always defaulted on Ma Jiajun's approach.

Until the Sydney Olympics, Ma Jiajun still did not converge and was still using stimulants. At this time, the higher authorities realized that if Ma Jiajun was allowed to participate in the Olympic Games and the use of stimulants was detected in the Olympic Games, it would be a world-class scandal. Instead of letting Ma Jiajun go abroad to embarrass people, it is better to let him stay in the country honestly. That's why they deprived Ma Jiajun of the Olympic Games that year.

Ma Jiajun's withdrawal from the altar had a great impact on the domestic middle and long-distance running events. At that time, sports funds were also relatively limited. Therefore, the management level once considered middle-distance running and long-distance running to be a guarantee one, and compared to the two, long-distance running is more advantageous. The general aspect is even discussing whether to cancel the 800-meter and 1500-meter middle-distance races at the National Games and then invest limited resources on the long-distance races.

The two events of 800 meters and 1500 meters are in the Olympic Games. When discussing the cancellation of an Olympic event in track and field, it can be said that these projects have reached the point of survival or getting canceled.

Athlete training needs to have a periodicity. In the domestic athlete selection system, many begin training from early childhood. Elementary and junior high schools also spend their time in sports schools. After completing compulsory education, excellent talents enter the professional team. It is only after adulthood when the results will begin, and the whole process takes more than ten years. Therefore, once the athlete's fault occurs, it may take a generation of time to re-train the athletes of this project.

It was precisely when the middle distance race was about to be canceled that Dou Zhaobo entered his peak period. He first won the 1500m championship in the National Athletics Championships successively, and then won the 1500m gold medal in the Asian Games. Then, the national record of 1500 meters was broken. A series of achievements made people see the hope of the national team in middle distance running. The management eventually gave up the plan to cancel the middle distance running in the National Games. However, in terms of resource tilt, the middle distance run is still at the end of the track and field event.

Only when coach Zhou said, "We have a middle-distance running event. In the track and field event, we can't even match a girl's event. There is no attention. The sports school students are not willing to practice, not to mention the results. These years it has been even more bleak year after year. So Zhang Guan's entry into this field may be good news for the entire middle distance running. With Zhang Guan's reputation, it will bring some attention to the middle-run project, and will also encourage some sports school students to participate in this project. At least in the next couple of years, the middle-distance running project need not worry about being cut off!"

Then Coach Zhou's voice changed, and then said, "Let's not talk about these heavy things. It will be the award ceremony in a while. Our team has also taken the top two anyway. When we go up to receive the award, we have to be spirited! Recently you had to prepare for a long time, you are also very tired of this National Athletics Championships. After going back, I will give you a week's vacation, take a good rest, and go home to see your family."

...

On the rostrum, Director Ma is very average at this time, or he is now numb.

This National Athletics championship has become Zhang Guan's one-person exhibition game: breaking records here, breaking records there, and breaking records continuously. After four days of competition, everyone only remembers Zhang Guan breaking records.

"Zhang Guan, this kid, it's okay to brush up the record!" Director Ma Ma couldn't stop talking, and then he asked Yu Gui next to him, "Old Yu, do you think if Zhang Guan can participate in the Asian Games, he can run against those West Asian athletes?"

"You mean middle-distance running?" After a moment of the coach being stunned, he was silent for a few seconds, and then said, "I find it very difficult. In the middle-distance running event, even the national record is just running into the Olympic A standard. Those Western Asian countries have the best middle-distance running. The West Asians are already good at middle-distance running. In recent years, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have naturalized a large number of Kenyan middle-distance runners. You know the level of middle and long-distance running, and it is not an exaggeration to rank first in the world in terms of overall strength."

Director Ma just wanted to follow up, but his cell phone rang.

Director Ma picked up his mobile phone and found that it was a phone call from the staff of the field management center. It was still an office phone. He couldn't help but say, "It's already evening. Why is there still a call from the center, what happened?"

Director Ma answered the phone and said, "It's me, what's the matter?"

Just listen to the other end of the phone and said, "Director Ma, there has just been a message from Switzerland, asking athletes participating in the Golden League Zurich station to arrive at the stadium three days in advance and participate in a unified blood test."

"Blood test? Why do you need a blood test suddenly? Last year's Golden League did not have this." Director Ma said.

"This is the case. We also contacted the IAAF in our center. According to IAAF staff, they are preparing to introduce the athlete's biometric passport soon, and now they are ready to try it in the Golden League."

"Biological special passport? Is it the one that detects the long-term blood traits of athletes?" Director Ma then asked.

"Yes, that's the one." The other end of the phone continued, "The Golden League Zurich station also has a 110-meter hurdle, so Zhang Guan and Liu Feiren both need to take a blood test this time."

"Okay, I know." Director Ma hung up the phone and said to Yu Gui next to him, "The IAAF had a sudden attack. The Zurich station will add a temporary blood test and prepare to be used as a biological passport for athlete's file creation."

Coach Yu suddenly nodded, "I have read this information. This biometric passport was proposed in the past few years. It is a long-term blood trait. It seems to be able to systematically track all the results shown in the erythropoietin and urine test results for a typical athlete."

"Yes, it seems that after the outbreak of the stimulant incident last year, some track and field athletes began to rely on frequent blood transfusions and the input of small amounts of human erythropoietin to increase the count of red blood cells to evade the inspection, so that their physical examination results look more normal. It seems The IAAF is also aware of this and is starting to move against it." Director Ma continued, "But we don't have to be afraid. Zhang Guan and Liu Feiren are very innocent, not afraid of their test."

"But those who use stimulants, after hearing this news, I'm afraid they won't be able to sit still!" Yu Gui said with a smile.

...

As early as in the 1980s, scientists developed a way to draw out the blood of the athletes and refrigerate them, and then input them into the athletes before the game, which can enhance the oxygen transferability of red blood cells and improve the performance in the game to a certain extent.

However, in the beginning, when no athletes using this method, blood drawing would cause pain to the body, and it would cost more to save the blood. It is not as easy as using stimulants directly.

However, with the outbreak of the US doping scandal, many athletes began to use similar methods, such as frequent blood transfusions and the introduction of trace amounts of human erythropoietin to increase the count of red blood cells. This is also a means of cheating, but the routine urine test and physical examination can not find any problems.

Therefore, the IAAF introduced a special bio-passport to enter the athlete's body information into the bio-passport and compare the blood test results in the bio-passport to determine whether the athlete was cheating.

...

Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

The temperature in Riyadh in mid-afternoon can rise to more than 50 degrees Celsius, but as a country with good money, the electricity price is very cheap. The Saudi government subsidizes 75% of the electricity price for residents, which means that Saudi residents only need to pay 25% of the electricity price, so in the summer season, every household is open 24 hours air conditioning.

The temperature of more than 40 degrees on weekdays and the unique dry climate of the Middle East make people unwilling to stay outdoors. Many companies even require employees not to work in the hot noon, even if they are athletes who have to train every day. They will also be training in the indoor training ground enjoying the central air conditioning.

In the training ground, athletes are sweating.

A tall black coach was particularly conspicuous, coming from a distance, and stopped at the sand pool in the long jump.

This black coach is Mike Powell, the world record holder of the long jump event.

Today, Mike Powell is a long jump coach in Saudi Arabia. As a world record holder, Mike Powell's worth is not low, and only Saudi Arabia is willing to pay a large price to dig Mike Powell from the United States.

And Mike Powell is also worthy of the name of his world record holder. In the past few years of teaching in Saudi Arabia, he has improved the level of Saudi Arabia's long jump and cultivated several top Asian long jumps contestants, including Al Saba, Ben Mazuk, and Aluk Walid, who broke the Asian record twice.

Aluk Walid broke the Asian record of 8.40 meters long jump held by Chinese athletes with 8.44 meters in 2005, and last month, Aluk Walid broke the Asian record again with a score of 8.48 meters.

When coach Powell came over, the several long jumpers who were practicing stopped immediately, waiting for Powell's instructions.

Powell clears his throat and said, "Boys, I know you are working hard, and I am very satisfied with your efforts, but then, I am afraid you will have to work harder! Because of the Asian long jump record was broken yesterday!"

"I think you must want to know who broke the Asian record for the long jump!" Powell looked at Aluk Walid subconsciously, and then said, "You should be very familiar with this person, he is Zhang Guan! Zhang Guan! I have told you before that Zhang Guan is very likely to enter the long jump project, just like my old rival Carl Lewis, and now he has finally entered the long jump project! Powell continued.

"Coach, what was Zhang Guan's performance?" Aluk Walid asked.

Powell looked at the information in his hand and said, "Zhang Guan jumped 8.49 meters in the fifth test jump of the game!"

Aluk Walidi breathed a sigh of relief. His score for breaking the Asian record was 8.48 meters. Zhang Guan was only 0.01 meters farther from him, which is 1 centimeter. Aluk Walid felt that this one centimeter was not enough. Is there a gap?

However, Powell continued, "In the sixth trial jump, Zhang Guan jumped 8.52 meters, he jumped past the 8.5 meters mark!"

"What! Skip the 8.5 meters!" Aluk Walid took a breath. At this moment, he finally felt unprecedented pressure.