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Chapter 148 African Legion

"So that's the case! Is it my contempt?" Li Tian murmured to himself as he looked at Nick's tired figure when he left. At this moment, he couldn't help but start to examine himself seriously.

"Since debuted in the 10th National Games G Provincial Trials a year ago, I have never lost all the competitions I have experienced. Every competition has won the first place. Whether it is the group preliminaries or the finals, I have never had the experience of running behind others. This is unique for a country like China with underdeveloped track and field events. Therefore, the attention of track and field fans and the media have followed one after another, and praise has almost brought myself to the stage. Although I had expected this situation and I have always believed that I should not care about my psychological qualities, but am I really not affected by it?" Li Tian couldn't help asking his heart.

"The answer is no! I have come back from Germany and my athletic level has indeed improved a lot. Coach Hart's recognition, media, and countless praises from the audience made my heart proud without knowing it, and subconsciously thought it was a matter of course to win the first place. Although I didn't want to admit it, I actually despised the opponents of this World Youth Championship. Not only did I have no idea about all the contestants, I never took the initiative to go over and understand. I subconsciously eliminated the threats of other contestants. Is this confidence or arrogance? At 100 meters and 200 meters

If it weren't for the unexpected stimulation of Wright and Bolt's strength, he wouldn't know that there would be two strong opponents. If the two completely hide their strength to the final, as long as they relax one thousandth of them and are not focused in the final, no one can tell what trouble they will cause in the end. As the saying goes: Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win in a hundred battles! It seems that you should be awake." Li Tian did not respond to the enthusiasm of the audience, and silently walked back to the players' rest area while thinking.

"Boss, that reversal was so wonderful that it made the audience almost crazy. At first I was worried that you would not catch up! It seemed that my worries were completely redundant. The 'unbeaten myth' is the 'unbeaten myth', worthy of being my super idol..." As soon as I returned to the contestants' rest area, Chen Qinan immediately stuck to him, hugging Li Tian's shoulder tightly and chatting endlessly.

"Sorry, I'm very tired now. I won't talk to you anymore. I'll go to the lounge to have a sleep first. You can prepare for the 800-meter race too!" Li Tian was not in the mood to listen to his nonsense now, and said, breaking away from his arm that was placed on his shoulder.

"Okay, okay! Just have a good rest first. I'll wake you up before the 1500-meter preliminaries start!" Seeing Li Tian's listless look, Chen Qinan really thought that he had consumed too much physical energy when he was reversing just now.

"Thank you!" Li Tian said in a low voice, turning around and walking towards the small personal lounge set up by the event organizing committee for Chinese contestants. As a contestant in the host country, of course, there will be some special treatment during the competition, which is a very common situation in international competitions.

Each of the personal lounges is an independent small room. Compared with the noise of the players' rest area outside, it is very quiet, and it is also equipped with various equipment for body relaxation and a complete set of daily necessities. It is much better than the dormitory of the National Youth Team where he lives. There is still some time before the 1500-meter preliminary round. Li Tian took off his wet competition uniform, took a hot bath in the bathroom in the lounge, changed into a set of dry clothes, felt extremely relaxed, fell on the bed, closed his eyes and calmly recalled his various performances and mentality in this competition. Being able to reflect on oneself and correct the existing problems immediately is a key to Li Tian's rapid progress and achievement of such results today.

However, when he recalled the situation just now, the crazy shouting of the audience and the ecstasy after the reversal when he was behind made Li Tian feel a huge pressure on his shoulders. Now he can fully understand the pressure that Liu Xiang has to bear after the 2004 Athens Olympics. Since he won the Olympic gold medal, almost all track and field fans regard winning the gold medal as a mission that Liu Xiang must accomplish. Even if he won the second place in the competition, it will attract countless disappointments and

Sighing, even pessimistic. My current situation is similar to that of Liu Xiang. I have never lost. I have also been entrusted with this "glorious mission" by the majority of track and field fans. But is it possible that I will keep this "myth" forever? Who among the great athletes in history has never tasted the taste of failure? It seems that I should be mentally prepared to face track and field fans after failure. Li Tian, ​​who was lying on the bed, thought a lot until he fell asleep in a daze.

"Dongdong...! Boss, it's me!" About half an hour after Li Tian fell asleep, there were loud knocks at the door of his personal lounge.

"Here, don't knock!" Li Tian, ​​who was awakened by the knocking door, opened the door and let Chen Qiannan in.

"How long will the 1500-meter race start?" Li Tian looked at the electronic watch on his wrist. It was only eleven o'clock now.

"It's almost done. Now the women's 800m preliminaries are in the middle of the men's 1500m preliminaries are about to start."

"By the way, how was your 800m race just now?" Of course, Li Tian had to pay appropriate attention to his roommate.

"Hehe! With me, Chen Qinan, who was in person, wouldn't it be easy to win. Of course, the first place in the group passed successfully and easily advanced to the next round!" Chen Qinan was very proud after running first in the group, and immediately said unfairly.

"Don't be so proud, that's just the preliminaries. Maybe many players have chosen to preserve their strength. Don't take them lightly just because they win the preliminaries. Never underestimate the opponents who stand on the same field as you." It seems that this kind of proud mentality is common among young players. Li Tian couldn't help but remind Chen Qinandao.

"I understand!" Chen Qinan didn't care too much about Li Tian's reminder, and he said nothing. Li Tian didn't say anything else. Sometimes some things will not be taken seriously without personal experience. Wasn't it the same before?

There are not many contestants participating in the men's 1500m competition of this World Youth Championship, with only 68 people in total. Except for three Chinese players, including Li Tian and more than 20 European and American athletes, more than half of the other contestants are from Africa, which has the strongest strength in medium and long-distance running.

The 1500-meter race is different from the sprint event. There are only three rounds in total, which are divided into the first round of preliminaries, semi-finals and finals. In the preliminary stage, sixty-eight contestants are divided into three groups. The top 8 players with the best results in each group are eligible to advance to the semi-finals. The 24 players who enter the semi-finals are divided into two groups to compete separately. The top twelve players with the best results in the 24 players can enter the final gold medal battle.

The result of Li Tian's draw was that he got the last group of opportunities to play. It happened that his teammate Hans, who was at the Cologne Sports Institute in Germany, was separated from him in the same group.

"Hans, it seems that we are really destined to be together. This time we are divided into the same group again!" This was the second time after returning to China, Li Tian stepped forward and greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey! If I could choose myself, I wouldn't be willing to be in this group! The third group is a death group. I won't talk about you, the 'super monster', but Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, the contestants of medium and long-distance running powers, don't know what happened, almost all of them were squeezed into this group. They only ranked the top eight in the group in the preliminary round. My future is bleak!" Hans couldn't help but say with a frown.

"Why are you so negative? Don't I know your level yet? Even compared with these middle- and long-distance running players, you are not weak at all. How could you be so unconfident in yourself?" Li Tian asked in surprise. After training with Hans in Germany for so long, he knew very well that this German teammate's strength is also considered to be a middle-level and upper-level among world youth middle- and long-distance running players. Although it is a bit difficult to enter the final, it should be no problem to enter the semi-finals.

"This is not a negative, but the fact I am facing now. If it is just about personal strength, I have full confidence to enter the semi-finals, but look at the list of personnel in the third group." Hans pointed to the men's 1500m preliminaries displayed on one of the electronic screens in the rest area and continued: "In this group, South Africa and Ethiopia each have three players, while Kenya is even more exaggerated. The four players who signed up for the competition are all in this group. In terms of strength, they are not much worse than me, but they have a terrible group advantage! During the competition, a group composed of several people firmly occupies the inner lane, or an effective double-team block to block people in the crowd who can rush out? And they can also make various flexible and changeable tactical arrangements, and even sacrifice a small number of people to exchange for the victory of most people. How can you let us players of similar level to them live!"

"What is the advantage of the group?" Li Tian couldn't help but silently said. According to Hans, this situation is very likely to happen. In recent years, the world's mid- and long-distance running has been dominated by players from African countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, mainly because they have a large number of high-level athletes with considerable strength in the country, and can cooperate in various competitions, and the effect is amazing. Just like China now has some world-class top players in women's mid- and long-distance running events, but when facing these "African Legions", it is because of its single power and lacks support from its teammates, and its strength cannot be fully utilized and has repeatedly missed the medal. On the other hand, China's advantageous events such as table tennis and diving have ensured its leading position in the world because of its group advantages.
Chapter completed!
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