Chapter 181: It's great to be Zhang Guan's coach!
Zhang Guan did not wake up too early the next day but slept in late. After lunch, Zhang Guan did not rush to the scene. The 1500m competition will not be held until evening, so Zhang Guan hurried to the competition site after dinner to participate in the 1500m final.
In the 1500-meter competition, the opponents' strengths are relatively ordinary. The only person who counts as strong is the national record holder Dou Zhaobo who runs in the men's 1500-meter race.
Zhang Guan and Dou Zhaobo are still relatively familiar. Dou Zhaobo is Zhang Guan's teammate in the provincial team. He once set a national record of 3 minutes, 36 seconds, and 49 seconds in 2003. The ability of an East Asian athlete to reach the Olympic A standard of 1500 meters is a remarkable achievement. In the Asian competition, Dou Zhaobo has also won medals many times.
Dou Zhaobo underwent a major operation before the Athens Olympics and then participated in the Athens Olympics with injuries. He did not run at his best level in the competition and stopped the preliminary round. Because of that injury, Dou Zhaobo did not return to the peak state throughout 2005, but even so, he still won the 1500m championship of the 10th National Games.
...
On the track, the 1500m final is about to begin.
Coach Zhou has a smug smile on his face. Among the 12 contestants, Zhang Guan and Dou Zhaobo are their athletes. Among them, Dou Zhaobo is the national record holder and can be regarded as the strongest athlete among the athletes. Moreover, Dou Zhaobo's recent state is very good, and the possibility of winning gold is very high.
As for Zhang Guan, Coach Zhou shook his head silently, he still can't figure out exactly what Zhang Guan's middle-run strength is.
"In terms of physical conditions, Zhang Guan is more powerful than black athletes. This is no longer necessary to prove. And he broke the 800-meter national record yesterday. In the 1500-meter project, even if the strength is slightly worse, it is estimated that he has a chance to win a medal!" Coach Zhou thought of raising his eyebrows when thinking about it. A total of thirty or forty teams participated in this level of events of the National Athletics Championships, and the team was able to get two medals on one event which is a remarkable thing.
Standing on the starting line, Dou Zhaobo's expression is slightly dignified. With his strength, it is an easy thing to win a championship in domestic competitions, but today he is keenly aware that it is very difficult to win a championship. There was a strong opponent, it was Zhang Guan.
"I didn't expect Zhang Guan to be so powerful in the middle distance. He broke the 800-meter national record yesterday! The time is so fast! Three years ago, this kid just entered the provincial team. A newcomer who didn't understand anything I never imagined that in just three years, this kid has become the king of the world sprint, and now he is heading towards the middle distance running project!" Dou Zhaobo thought of this instead laughed.
"That's fine if I put it in peacetime, I don't have a chance to compete with the world champion." Dou Zhaobo thought silently, and at this time, a person patted Dou Zhaobo's shoulder from behind, Dou Zhaobo looks back, it was Zhang Guan.
"Brother Dou, after a while I will run behind you!" Zhang Guan said with a smile.
"Running behind me and finally overtaking me again? Am I that slow? You want to take the gold medal from me. You have to show some real power!" Dou Zhaobo responded with a smile, the two people have known each other for more than three years, and the age gap is only three years. Even if they compete in the same field today, there are not many barriers between them.
However, this intimate conversation between the two fell in the eyes of other athletes and coaches but was discussing game tactics.
In track and field middle and long-distance running, the use of tactics is very important. If only one athlete is participating in the same team, there may be few active uses of tactical running; if two athletes of the same team participate, you can actively use some tactical running; if there are three athletes in the same team, then the tactical choices are more diverse; and if three athletes are participating in the game it is very good, they can even arrange some tactics to win medals. So it seems that in the long-distance race, the three Kenyan or Ethiopian athletes will often take the gold, silver, and bronze medals.
After a few minutes, the athletes were ready and the game began.
After the start, the outside athletes began to squeeze desperately to the innermost track to seize a relatively good position. As this kind of competition in which twelve athletes participate, the fourth and fifth places are in a better position. This ranking will not be too far away from the front runner. The rhythm of the front runner can be observed more clearly. You can make adjustments relatively quickly; at the same time, because more athletes are running behind, you will not be psychologically nervous because of backwardness.
After the athletes entered the innermost track, the rankings began to stabilize. At this time, the race was only 100 meters, and everyone's physical strength was relatively abundant, so they were all in the same group.
The speed of the leading athlete can only be said to be quite satisfactory, not too fast or too slow. For professional 1500-meter runners, this mid-range speed is the easiest to adapt to, so in the next 100 meters, everyone can easily run.
After the race entered the 200 meters, the athletes entered the straight, and at this time, Dou Zhaobo suddenly flashed out of the crowd, slowly overtaking to the first position.
"Dou Zhaobo wants to lead? He is ready to take a fast pace!" Other athletes judged.
In the competition, some athletes with strong examples will choose to lead in the early to mid-term if they feel the rhythm is slow. The leader is most worried about being attacked by the athletes behind. In the early and middle stages, when the lead time is still too early, even if the leader loses a little distance it will have no impact on the final sprint position, there is no need to worry about the surprise attack by the athletes behind.
However, Dou Zhaobo did not lead as everyone expected. His speed far exceeded the speed required by the leader. He saw that he had separated from the big army and slowly pulled away from other athletes.
"Dou Zhaobo ran so fast from the beginning. This is not normal. With his strength, there is no need to run this way at all. This must be a tactical arrangement! This is to consume our physical strength. It is a trap so we can't keep up." The athletes remembered the situation before Zhang Guan and Dou Zhaobo talked, thinking that this was a specially arranged tactic to consume the physical strength of other athletes."
In the middle and long-distance race, an athlete exerts strength in the early stage, lures other athletes to catch up, and then consumes the opponent's physical strength. This is a very common tactic. Some young athletes who are inexperienced in the competition are also easily fooled, resulting in excessive physical exertion which is a subsequent weakness in the second half.
None of the other contestants caught up. Everyone thought it was a tactical temptation, so they were still running at a normal pace. But what everyone didn't think of was that Zhang Guan even left the team and then caught up.
Zhang Guan's idea is very simple. Since he is following the run, then he chooses the fastest one to follow, and the final result will be better.
But other athletes don't think so. Zhang Guan's performance makes other athletes very confused.
"Huh? What's going on? Isn't Dou Zhaobo tactically tempting? Why did Zhang Guan also catch up? Dou Zhaobo set a trap, but his teammate Zhang Guan was also fooled? Certainly not, there may be tactical arrangements for the teammates of the special pit. This must still be a trap. This is to perform a full set of acting!"
The following athletes made "reasonable" judgments, and they thought they were clever to maintain the original rhythm, and continue to maintain a team formation, and follow behind.
...
Today's Dou Zhaobo is in a very good state. The 1,500-meter national record holder has not returned to the state of victory after the major surgery in 2003, so he also needs to prove himself on the field.
There is a running method that follows the running, and a leading one also has the leading method. For Dou Zhaobo, as the 1,500-meter national record holder, he has a lot of experience in leading to the finish line. For him, leading is not a problem.
For Zhang Guan, running is not a problem. Zhang Guan, who has master-level follow-up skills, maybe the best person in the world.
Zhang Guan followed closely but did not initiate the transcendence. Dou Zhaobo could feel that Zhang Guan's rhythm was the same as himself.
"He learned my rhythm! The front is straight, just change the rhythm." Dou Zhaobo thought about it, he changed his rhythm after entering the straight track.
"Zhang Guan is still a newcomer in the 1500-meter running event. Now that I have changed my rhythm, he should have to adjust it for a long time!" Dou Zhaobo secretly turned his head to observe Zhang Guan while thinking.
To Dou Zhaobo's surprise, however, Zhang Guan's rhythm is still the same as his.
"Huh? Zhang Guan kept up with my rhythm so quickly?" Dou Zhaobo quickly thought of the countermeasure in his mind.
"Zhang Guan is the fastest person in the world. In absolute speed, I am not his opponent. I am a little slower in the next corner, let him lead the race."
Dou Zhaobo slowed down a little when he was about to enter the curve, and after entering the curve, the speed became slower and slower.
The crown behind Dou Zhaobo also slowed down, and the speed was getting slower and slower.
"Zhang Guan is also slowing down? Why is the rhythm adjust like mine?" Dou Zhaobo froze for a moment, then thought, "I'm fast and he's fast, I'm slow and he's slow, now I can see it, Zhang Guan is just following me! In this case, I should just let go!"
Dou Zhaobo thought of this, and once again adjusted the movement rhythm to the kind of feeling he is most familiar with, and reduce the consumption of physical strength as much as possible.
700m, 800m, 900m, 1000m... Dou Zhaobo entered the straight from the bend and then entered the bend from the straight. Finally, he crossed the finish line and heard the alarm bell.
"It's the last lap!" Dou Zhaobo knew that the moment to decide the outcome was about to come.
...
When Dou Zhaobo entered the last lap, Coach Zhou subconsciously lowered his head and looked at the number displayed on the stopwatch in his hand.
"Dou Zhaobo's condition seems to be quite good today, which is very fast. If he continues like this, he should be able to run within 3 minutes and 39 seconds. Just don't know if his physical strength can hold up in the end." Coach Zhou silently thought.
The 1500-meter Olympic B-mark score was 3 minutes and 39 seconds. For domestic athletes, being able to run into the Olympic B-mark is worth celebrating for the team.
After 1300 meters, Dou Zhaobo played his strength as the national record holder. Even after entering the last lap, his speed has not slowed down, his rhythm is getting better and better, and other athletes gradually began to fail to keep up with the speed of Dou Zhaobo, and the weakest athletes had fallen out of the big army.
Only Zhang Guan was closely following Dou Zhaobo, he ran across the last corner, and entered the straight.
"It's time to sprint right away. As expected, Zhang Guan didn't get rid of the whole game! This kid is a genius!" Dou Zhaobo thought about Zhang Guan's performance in the 1500m preliminaries, and then thought of Dao, "According to Zhang Guan's rhythm, he should start surpassing me at this time!"
This idea just emerged from Dou Zhaobo, Zhang Guan had already left the innermost runway and then launched the final sprint.
The 1500-meter sprint acceleration is very rhythmic. It is not necessary to reach a very high speed during the sprint, but it must be kept as fast as possible. Sustained speed is more important than short-term high speed. So in the final sprint, when the athletes surpassed each other it is much slower than sprinting. The sprint surpassing is almost completed in a blink of an eye, and the middle and long-distance surpassing requires you to speed up, catch up, hold, and surpass, and then also stabilize the position to avoid being overtaken, which requires a long process. From an ornamental point of view, the surpassing process of middle and long-distance running is not as violent as sprinting, but the degree of stimulation is not inferior to sprinting.
After Zhang Guan started accelerating, he quickly approached Dou Zhaobo, and at this time Dou Zhaobo also began to accelerate. However, Dou Zhaobo was inferior to Zhang Guan in speed, and he was finally caught up by Zhang Guan.
"Zhang Guan is catching up! It's much earlier than I expected." Dou Zhaobo quickly looked at Zhang Guan's speed and was shocked.
"I can't keep up with this speed! I have already run 1,400 meters. How can he still support such a fast speed at this time! This is the same as the previous day's preliminaries." At this moment, Dou Zhao made a judgment in his mind.
Dou Zhaobo remembered Zhang Guan's performance during the preliminaries. At that time, Zhang Guan was always running. It seemed that nothing was surprising, and he didn't show an amazing speed until the last sprint.
Next, in the final tens of meters, Zhang Guan surpassed Dou Zhaobo, slowly pulled away from Dou Zhaobo, accompanied by the cheers of the audience, and crossed the finish line.
Dou Zhaobo crossed the finish line for the second time. There was a sense of inexplicable tension in his heart, so he involuntarily turned his attention to the large timer on the sidelines. The above shows the first athlete to cross the finish line, which is Zhang Guan's performance. Then Dou Zhaobo's face changed dramatically.
The timer showed Zhang Guan's final score, 3 minutes, and 35.85 seconds.
Zhang Guan successfully ran within 3 minutes and 36 seconds!
The Olympic standard for 1500 meters is 3 minutes and 36.60 seconds.
But Zhang Guan's achievement not only reached the level of the Olympic A standard, but also a new national record!
"It's not over yet, why is there another national record?" Coach Zhou could not help but glance at the rostrum, and instantly found the bright bald head of Coach Yu. At this moment, Coach Zhou finally realized the kind of accomplishment that Coach Yu felt.
"It's cool to be able to coach Zhang Guan!" Coach Zhou thought silently.
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