"Chen!" Suddenly, a very tall foreign player waved to Chen Zuo from a distance and walked straight towards them. Although Li Tian and Chen Zuo were not shorter than 180 cm tall, they were still half a head lower than the other party.

Li Tian quickly reacted. This person was the South African star Roland Schumann whom Chen Zuo pointed out to him just now. Information about him flashed quickly in Li Tian's mind: Roland Schumann, 26 years old, 198cm tall, is currently one of the main members of the South African national swimming team. He is a double world champion in the 50-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly. He also maintains the world record of 50-meter butterfly. He is currently the only super expert in the world who can swim through the 23-second mark in the 50-meter butterfly event. He is also a champion of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics. That time, he cooperated with his teammates not only won the first Olympic gold medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay for South Africa, but also set a new world record for this event. In this World Championships, South Africa, like the United States, is considered the biggest favorite to win the event.

"Roland, every time I meet you, there will be no good things. I am afraid that my treasures will not be saved again!" Looking at Roland Schumann who walked up to him, Chen Zuo couldn't help but sigh.

"Hehe! Chen, we are friends. Haven't the Chinese always been the most hospitable? It's not your tradition to neglect guests coming from afar!" It seems that Roland and Chen Zuo have a very good relationship. As soon as they came up, they smiled and hugged Chen Zuo's shoulder, with a proud glory on their faces.

"I had long expected that you would definitely think about my bottles of treasures when you came to China this time. Don't you know about you? A real alcoholic must be bleeding again this time! But you are still very welcome to China." Chen Zuo hugged Roland enthusiastically.

"I knew you were a friend, haha..." Roland patted Chen Zuo's shoulder excitedly and smiled. The two had known each other a few years ago. At that time, both of them were still very young and were not the main players of their respective teams. Once, as a substitute member of the team, Roland came to China to participate in the competition with the South African national team, and Chen Zuo also happened to watch the scene. Two people who had no competition tasks met in the stands. Then the bottle of good wine brought by Chen Zuo made the two friends become confidants in the wine. Both of them had a common hobby - drinking. Chen Zuo's uncle is a famous wine brewing master in China. It can be said that he has been dealing with wine since he was a child, and his ordinary wine roots are

It was impossible for him to see his magic, and what he brought was naturally the best among the best. Since Roland drank his bottle of Chen's top Moutai for 30 years, he was shocked by the peerless wine, so Roland completely entangled Chen Zuo. After that game, the two bottles of treasures brought by Chen Zuo turned into empty bottles, making him shout that he was careless about making friends! And this was far from over. As the level of the two continued to improve, they quickly settled in the main position of their respective national teams. Naturally, there were more and more opportunities to participate in international competitions, and the contact between the two became closer and closer. However, every time they met his treasure, they would definitely be "scrapped" by Roland, which made him heartbroken.

"Come on, let me introduce you to me. This is my teammate Li Tian in the national team!" Chen Zuo pulled Li Tian over and introduced.

"Hello Mr. Shuman, I'm glad to meet you!" Li Tian took the initiative to move forward and shook hands with Roland.

"Just call me Roland. My friends call me that. And I have long admired your Li Tian's name. You can achieve such amazing achievements at a young age, but we couldn't compare to it at the beginning." Roland also smiled heartily.

"That's the result in track and field competitions, and it has nothing to do with swimming. I'm a real rookie in swimming. I also need you seniors to give me some advice."

"That's fine. My tuition fee is very cheap. Just prepare ten or eight bottles of Chen Zuo's Maotai for me, haha!"

"Damn, ten or eight bottles? You can say it out loud. You think my top Moutai is bulk beer that costs 2 yuan a bottle, so many are everywhere on the streets." Chen Zuo couldn't help but laugh and scold.

"By the way, how is your relay team going? Do you have the confidence to kill the US team again? They have been very arrogant recently!" After a while of laughter, Chen Zuo turned the topic to this World Championships.

"The guys on our team are in good condition, but it is not that easy to kill the Americans. Although those Americans are so crazy that they are annoying, their strength is very strong. Since they suffered a Waterloo at the Olympics last time, they have attached great importance to it. I heard that they are aiming at a new record this time. If we want to win, we only have five levels of confidence. The key is to look at their on-the-spot performance during the game." Speaking of the game, Roland suddenly became serious, which was completely different from the laughing Roland just now.

"Well, I heard that the US team has produced another powerful newcomer. Even a master like Gary Hall has been squeezed into the substitute position by him. In this way, the US team's strength in relay events has been strengthened again. Last time, you were humiliated by you in the Olympics. I believe they will never give up this World Championship. If you can't deal with them, Russia and the Netherlands will be even worse. Their level has dropped very quickly in the past two years. With the support of several veterans who have declined in form, there is nothing particularly outstanding.

The new players appear, this time is the best opportunity for us China to replace them." Chen Zuo is very clear that although the strength of the Chinese relay team has been greatly improved recently, compared with the American team, the South African team, which is composed of all world champions, and the Australian team with strong players, its strength is still not on the same level. If the Chinese team wants to complete the task of getting the ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics in this World Championships, the most realistic goal should be to defeat second-tier teams such as Russia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

"It's useless to think too much now. The final result will not be clear until you work hard on the court. Although the US team is strong, South Africa is not easy to mess with, and as the target of public criticism, they are under greater pressure." Roland's eyes flashed with extremely confident eyes.

The three of them chatted for a while, and Roland left first because they wanted to prepare for the 200-meter freestyle competition. However, before leaving, they made an appointment with Chen Zuo to drink together. Afterwards, several foreign players came over to say hello to Chen Zuo. They were all friends Chen Zuo met when he participated in the international competition, and they all introduced them to Li Tian one by one.

At 9:30, after a very brief ceremony, under the auspices of FINA President Mustafa Rafaoy, the Shanghai World Swimming Championships officially sounded the horn of the battle. In the first event, the men's 200m freestyle, the Chinese team will have young player Zhang Lin and veteran Huang Shaohua to play together. Among all the players who appear, the most eye-catching ones are Ian Thorpe from Australia, Michael Phelps from the United States and veteran Dutch Pete Hoganband. Even in China, where swimming is not high, they have a large number of supporters. Whenever they appear on the field, they always win a lot of cheers and applause.

Although Zhang Lin and Huang Shaohua are not yet on par with the three super heavyweight players before, the results of 1 minute, 48 seconds, 87 and 1 minute, 48 seconds, 79 in the preliminary round can allow them to enter the 200-meter freestyle semi-finals at night. In the following women's 50-meter breaststroke, Qi Hui and Luo Xuejuan, two "Chinese frog queens", joined forces to advance to the semi-finals with the first and third overall results of the preliminaries, showing their good competitive state; Ouyang Kunpeng also performed well in the men's 100-meter backstroke, with the total results of the total results.

Seven entered the next round; Wu Peng, the number one male player of the Chinese swimming team, did not disappoint his title as "No. 1" and successfully won the preliminary rounds of the men's 100-meter butterfly and 400-meter medley. The only regret is that the women's 100-meter backstroke, three Chinese players who participated in the event were wiped out and were eliminated in the first round. But overall, most of the players on the Chinese team played normally and performed at their own level, especially the several main players showed good condition, which made people look forward to their next game.

However, for the schedule this morning, what the audience was most looking forward to was the last event - the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. If the competition for the men's 100m freestyle is equivalent to the 100m "flying man" battle on the track and field, then the excitement and attention of the 4x100m freestyle relay competition is no less than the 4x100m relay competition in the track and field. What is more important is that Chinese young player Li Tian will appear on behalf of the Chinese swimming team for the first time and show everyone his swimming strength.

"I don't have any extra words now. Let's try our best to finish this game and enter the finals of the evening. Come on!" Captain Huang Shaohua was already filled with a strong sense of fighting spirit.

"Come on!" Zhang Lin, Chen Zuo, and Li Tian's hands were stacked with Huang Shaohua's, and shouted loudly.

There are only 16 teams participating in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay competition in this World Championships. The preliminary round is divided into two groups. The eight teams with the best results in the preliminary round will directly enter the finals at night, so the Chinese team led by Li Tian will do their best in the preliminary round and dare not take it lightly.

"It's our turn to play, let's go!" With the end of the first group of games, the Chinese team entered the arena with seven other teams in the same group.
Chapter completed!