August 19, 2010, Singapore.

Since the previous two days, the entire Singapore has entered a state of boiling moment, with the city streets full of mascots, Lyo and Merly.

From August 14 to 26, the first Summer Youth Olympic Games is being held in Singapore, the first major international Olympic Committee sports event was held in Southeast Asia.

The concept of the Youth Olympics was first proposed by Austrian John Rosenzov in 1998, but the International Olympic Committee initially did not agree with hosting the Youth Olympics. One was because of the concern that the emergence of the Youth Olympics would cause many young athletes to overtrain and the other was because the cost was too high.

Until 2007, IOC President Jacques Rogue formally announced the plans for the Youth Olympic Games at the 119th International Olympic Committee Conference held in Guatemala City on July 6, 2007.

At that time, 11 countries participated in the election for hosting the Youth Olympic Games. In the end, Singapore defeated Moscow's 44 votes with 53 votes and became the host of the Youth Olympic Games.

This Youth Olympic Games attracted about 3,600 athletes aged 14-18 from 204 countries and participated in 201 events in 26 sports.

Singapore has prepared 18 competition venues for the Youth Olympic Games, of which the track and field venue is the famous floating Marina Bay Stadium. This is a stadium floating on the sea and is also the largest floating platform in the world.

More than 30,000 on-site seats have been demolished and renovated in the previous two years, and has become the main stadium of this Youth Olympic Games.

However, although the Marina Bay Stadium is large and can hold a football match, there is no track set up. The track and field events are not held here, but are held at Bishan Stadium, located in the center of the city.

There were 6,000 actors at Bishan Stadium. At 10:30 in the morning, the entire stadium was filled with spectators coming to watch the game.

"Don't be nervous, just perform at your due level normally!"

Tao Jianglong stood looking at Xie Zheng who had finished warming up, and reached out to gently pull the collar for him, "This time, several coaches from the national team came to see you. You have always wanted to join the national team, and now the opportunity is in front of you."

"Really? Which coach came here?" Xie Zheng was wearing a red sprint suit. Although he was not old, he was tall and had only a young man's aura. After hearing Tao Jianglong's words, his eyes could not help but reflect.

"What are you excited about? I forgot what I told you?" Tao Jianglong patted Xie Zheng's shoulder lightly, his face slightly stern, "Every time there is a big event, you need to calm down. The bigger the competition, the more stable the mood."

"knew."

Xie Zheng scratched his head, as if he was a little embarrassed. Tao Jianglong shook his head helplessly and said again:

"I know some of them come here, but it's not just this game. I can't do it accurately, it's just a preliminary. I told you that this is not about putting pressure on you, but about making you mentally prepared."

"Hehe..." Hearing Tao Jianglong say this, Xie Zheng couldn't help laughing again, "I think it should be Coach Yuan coming to see my game."

"Okay, stop thinking about it, prepare to go on stage!"

Tao Jianglong looked at the smiley appearance of the last disciple before retirement and couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Pi Monkey, if you can't run well, don't blame me for not letting go."

"Don't worry, coach!"

Xie Zheng trotted towards the next inspection and recording area. When he heard Tao Jianglong's words, he turned his head and saluted him, and then continued to trot away.

Looking at Xie Zheng's back as he left, Tao Jianglong slowly picked up the thermos he carried with him from the chair next to him.

Although the weather in Singapore is very hot, his stomach cannot bear the cold. After decades of habit, he still drinks warm water even in the summer.

After taking a sip of tea and smashing her mouth, Tao Jianglong followed the passage toward the coach and media seats at the bottom of the audience seat of Bishan Stadium.

The atmosphere in the stadium is getting more and more intense. The men's 200-meter preliminaries for this Youth Olympic Games are about to begin. Although the entire venue is not big, there are still many spectators coming to watch the game.

"Coach Tao, here!"

As soon as Tao Jianglong appeared in the coaching seat, he saw a man with a low stature waved at him.

"Guide Yuan, I didn't expect you to come here today!"

Tao Jianglong looked at the man, a smile appeared on his face and greeted him.

"It's rare. You're not just here to come with the team, so you have to come and have a look. Xiao Xie hasn't entered our national team yet, but I've heard many people say his name."

Yuan Guohua replied with a hearty smile. He really didn't have much water. He knew the outstanding young track and field athletes in China, although he had selected several more sprinters from Guangdong Province than other provinces.

But this is not that he only provides talents for his own province, but that he is from Guangdong Province, and his relationship network there is much stronger than other places.

Another way, Guangdong Province itself has a stronger overall sprint level, and there will be more athletes who have entered the national team's sprint event in recent years.

However, he spared no effort to collect sprinters from other provinces. The national team's evaluation of him is to be able to break out of regional limitations and discover and select the most suitable players for the national team.

"I can't hide from you even if I want to!"

Tao Jianglong smiled and shook his head. He knew that Xie Zheng's entry into the national team was basically a foregone conclusion. Whether it was in the team or Xie Zheng's own wishes, they actually wanted to enter a higher platform.

But in his heart, he has always been less willing to let Xie Zheng join the national team. On the one hand, Xie Zheng is still young now, and in his opinion, there is still enough time to lay the foundation.

On the other hand, it may be because he is about to retire, and the disciple he brought in the end is inevitably a little soft-hearted. Like most old people, they always want to keep him by their side.

But the eagle will always grow up and need a wider sky to let him gallop.

"Coach Tao, the time is just right now."

Yuan Guohua doesn't care about Tao Jianglong's words. As the old coach, he always has all kinds of emotions, especially when he is about to retire, but the situation is still different now.

After a pause, Yuan Guohua continued, "It's 2010 now, Xiao Xie is still young, but his performance is on the rise very well. Now he is training with the national team. Next year is the World Championships. If you polish it, you may have the chance to participate in the Olympics the year after."

"What's going on with the relay team now? Is there so shortage of people?"

Tao Jianglong's heart had actually been shaken, but his tone still made people feel a little harsh when he spoke.

Yuan Guohua smiled and said, "There is no shortage of people, but it is easy to get a general in a thousand troops. Now Su Bingtian, the first bats of the relay team, and Zhang Pei Meng, the second bats, are both very mature. I don't need to say the fourth bat, Ye Qin, this is the core of the entire team. Now he still lacks a third bat. This does not mean that no one in our national team can run, but it is not easy to have a high level and potential.

What I want is not now, what I want is the Olympics two years later, the World Championships five years later, and the Olympics six years later... Such athletes are what I want, and I want to start looking for training now."

"You head coach is really planning ahead!"

Tao Jianglong frowned and heard Yuan Guohua's words, and felt a sigh in his heart. The head coach of the national relay team brought out a series of outstanding sprinters, not only did the relay team jump from Asian level to the forefront of the world in his hands.

Although there are factors in this, it is obvious from the training level and performance of other players.

Moreover, in the Asian Championships held in Yangcheng, Guangdong Province last year, the Chinese team also defeated the Japanese team in the men's 4x100m relay event and Ye Qin did not play and won a gold medal, which is enough to prove his ability and the growth of domestic track and field sprinters in recent years.

"Ha ha……"

Yuan Guohua laughed loudly, his face was red, and he felt a bit excited about selecting materials for the country.

It was at this moment, on the track and field.

The men's 200m preliminaries of the first Youth Olympic Games have been held in two consecutive groups, and the third group of players just happened to be on the court.

Because it is the first Youth Olympic Games, the age of the contestants is between 14 and 18 years old. Although there are many countries participating, there are not many athletes who can reach the level of participating in various events.

The men's four preliminaries in the 200m qualifying teams, with only 26 players in total, and only the preliminaries and finals were held.

Seeing that the third group of the preliminaries was about to begin, both Tao Jianglong and Yuan Guohua stopped communicating and all their eyes turned to the track and field track of Bishan Stadium.

A red sprint suit was assigned to the seventh pass on the edge. Although Xie Zheng was not old, he looked at him with a strong body and did not look young among the players.

After a gunshot, the competition began immediately.

After the gunshots rang out, Yuan Guohua couldn't help but pat his thigh.

He had never seen Xie Zheng’s race in the car before, but he had heard this term in his ears many times.

Another one was last year's World Youth Championship. Ye Qin went to cheer for the players and came back to recommend it to him.

Sure enough, since Xie Zheng started, Yuan Guohua could see the extraordinaryness of such a player, with a large stride and excellent explosive power.

Among this group of players, many black and white players of the same age are far inferior to Xie Zheng in physical fitness. With just 50 meters of distance, Yuan Guohua's eyes already judged that the other party had gained a lead in the curve.

When it was time to enter the straight road, Xie Zheng was already far ahead. The speed he showed made Yuan Guohua feel a little like the first time he saw Ye Qin in the City Games that year.

The final result was not too suspense. Xie Zheng crossed the finish line all the way and won the first place in this group of preliminaries.

The result was 21.27 seconds, which was as much as 0.5 seconds faster than the second-place American player in the same group, Randden Sanders, who was ranked second in the same group.

After the preliminaries of the four groups, Xie Zheng's 21.27 seconds was the best among all the young players. Even if he was the first in the other groups and the best, he was more than 0.2 seconds away from Xie Zheng.

Seeing this preliminary results, Yuan Guohua no longer had any hesitation and had only one idea in his mind that such talents should come to the national team.

At Xie Zheng's age, Ye Qin's achievements are nothing more than that.

He could not guarantee that Xie Zheng would grow to the level of Ye Qin in the future. After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that an athlete with excellent talent could not be a cabbage. The kind of top athlete who progresses one step at a time every year is hard to come by.

But just because of the potential that Xie Zheng has shown now, it can be said that he feels that his future is quite optimistic.

First of all, Xie Zheng is very tall. Although he can't catch up with Ye Qin and Zhang Pei Meng, he is 180. Although he is not the kind of coach who follows his height and selects materials, the advantages he can bring are still very obvious.

Another point is that in terms of explosive power and rhythm, Xie Zheng has a large stride, but his pace is not slow, and his running rhythm is very good. And one of the benefits of being a 200-meter athlete is that as he gets older, he gradually enters the peak period and his muscle strength grows. In the future, whether it is 100 meters or 400 meters in combination, he will be very promising.

This is also one of the reasons why they are now focusing on finding many 200-meter athletes when selecting materials. Excellent 200-meter athletes need to take into account both explosive power and speed and endurance. If both of these are excellent, they can participate in multiple events.

After the game, Yuan Guohua and Tao Jianglong came to the backcourt and found Xie Zheng, who had just finished the game, who looked a little excited.

"Xie Zheng, this is the coach Yuan of the national team."

Tao Jianglong looked at Xie Zheng who was excited and was still reluctant to leave, but he introduced Yuan Guohua to Xie Zheng.

He is just an old coach. He has been training athletes for so many years and has reached a certain level. He still has to go to the upper level. Now the national team is not adopting the training mode before the competition, but the unified training management.

If he was a few years younger, he might have followed Xie Zheng into the national team, but now he is close to retirement, so it is meaningless to bother with these things, so it is better to let go.

"Guide Yuan!"

Xie Zheng shook hands with Yuan Guohua excitedly, not mentioning that the other party was the national team coach, but being the first national man's 100-meter stopwatch record was enough to make him admire him.

"Xie Zheng, Coach Tao and I have already talked to you. Are you willing to come to the national team?"

Xie Zheng first glanced at his mentor who had been with him for four or five years, saw the other party nodding slightly, and then nodded heavily, "Guide Yuan, I am willing!"

"That's good!"

Yuan Guohua laughed, "Then I'll call you, but there is another premise!"

"What?" Xie Zheng was nervous when he heard Yuan Guohua's words.

"That is to win the men's 200m championship in this Youth Olympic Games!"

"good!"

...

Two days later, at 20:48 pm on August 22.

The men's 200m final of Bishan Stadium was held as scheduled.
Chapter completed!