Almighty Coach

When Dai Li said, "strive for a gold medal," everyone in the meeting room was silent, including Weidong Chu. Everybody looked at Dai Li with amazed expressions.

What Dai Li had mentioned, a higher rank, a medal, or even a gold medal, was a distant dream for sprinters of the Hanbei Province Track and Field Team.

After all, these athletes weren’t strong enough. They could hardly be promoted from the qualification round. A gold medal was just a myth to them.

What did Dai Li say just now? He wants a gold medal? Did I hear that right?

It’s not easy for our athletes to enter official competitions, let alone at a higher rank. Is he still going to try for a gold medal?

Dai Li must be joking. So many national and Asian Games champions participate in the National Games. The distance between the gold medal and our athletes is a million miles.

Heh, this young guy is always aiming too high. An Asian Game champion has made him think too highly of himself. He thinks he’s invincible in China, right? How dare he brag about striving for a gold medal!

Even Weidong Chu was doubtful in his mind. He thought Dai Li wanted to achieve a higher rank, so he praised Dai Li’s boldness and resolution as a young man. However, when he heard Dai Li’s goal, he felt that what Dai Li had said was quite unreliable.

Just like grabbing a lifesaver, Guodong Li thought he had finally found the loophole in Dai Li’s words, so he looked up joyfully. "Coach Li, did you say ’strive for a gold medal’ just now? I remember several minutes ago you mentioned our athletes could hardly enter official competitions. Those were the very words you said. How could you change to ’striving for a gold medal’ in such a short time?"

"Yes, Coach Li, I know you’re the coach of an Asian Games champion, but your goal is absolutely impossible!" Baojun Sha said. His words were fanning the flames.

Weidong Chu started to mediate the dispute. He said, "Li, we still have three months before the qualification round. After the qualification round, the National Games will start in August, which means we have an additional month. Our primary tasks now should be to promote our athletes from the qualification round. As for our achievements in the National Games, we still have a lot of time to set a goal."

Dai Li nodded and continued, "Coach Chu, colleagues, what I said just now may sound a little bit impractical. I did say our athletes aren’t competitive in the National Games!

"Asian Games champions, like Sijie Yang and Yue Zhao, as well as national champions, like Jun Xie and Zitao Wei, will participate in the National Games together with numerous athletes who have won medals at state-level matches. Our athletes are far weaker than even the mediocre sprinters on the national team.

"This is a gap of strength that can’t be filled through three months of training. No one is able to cultivate an athlete who has just reached the level of the qualification round into a champion at the National Games, let alone bridge the gap between our athletes and theirs. Therefore, it’s impossible for me to strive for a gold medal in the 100m and 200m sprints."

Guodong Li snorted immediately, "Then how dare you to say you want to strive for a gold medal? I thought you really had the capability to realize it. You just said it casually, right? Everybody could say that. I could even say I want to strive for a gold medal at the Olympic Games!"

"Coach Guodong Li, mind your words, we’re in a meeting right now." Weidong Chu stared at Guodong Li.

Guodong Li also felt he had gone too far just now. He straightened up a bit, and said, "Don’t get me wrong, I just meant what Coach Dai Li said was paradoxical and meaningless, that’s all."

"You’re Coach Guodong Li, right?" Dai Li had clearly sensed the hostility from this local villain, so he continued, "You thought my words were paradoxical, but I haven’t finished. I didn’t plan to strive for a gold medal in the 100m sprint or the 200m sprint"

"Then which ones? We’re the sprint group, so we’re talking about the 100m sprint and the 200m sprint, or are you going to other groups? Or are you going to change our athletes’ events? You only have three months, definitely not enough, right?" Guodong Li said acidly, so Dai Li couldn’t save face.

Restraining the fury in his heart, Dai Li ignored Guodong Li’s sarcasm and continued to say, "We can’t compete with the athletes on other teams in the 100m sprint and the 200m sprint, so we have to go off the beaten track if we want to achieve a good result."

"Li, don’t keep us guessing, just say it," Weidong Chu encouraged.

"To go off the beaten track means the relay!" Dai Li said.

In the meeting room, a lot of coaches had a thoughtful look. Actually, they had already realized what Dai Li meant was to focus on the relay. In fact, the sprint events only included the 100m sprint, the 200m sprint, and the relays.

Dai Li continued, "We won the gold medal in the relay at the Asian Games. I guess you’ve watched that race. I was in the arena, so my perception of the race was more informed. No matter the aspects of the process or the result of the event, you should’ve been able to see that the strongest opponent of the national team was not the Japanese Team, not the Saudi Arabian Team, but the Thai Team.

"The level of the Thai sprinters isn’t high. Among the four runners, only one could reach the B standard of the Olympic Games. In personal ability, the Thai athletes would definitely be knocked out in the first round of the individual races; however, these players managed to win the silver medal in the relay race, which is a team event. In the previous two Asian Games, the Thai Team won a gold medal and a silver medal. We can say without a doubt that Thailand’s performance was better than that of the Japan in the relay race at the Asian Games.

"I’m inspired by the Thailand Team. The personal abilities of our athletes are not good enough to achieve favorable results in the 100m sprint and the 200m sprint. We might as well give up on individual events and focus on the relay race, which we could win eventually."

Beside him, Baojun Sha’s expression became grave.

"I thought he wanted to choose one athlete among Kun Shen, Yueyang Zhu and Tingshan Chen, but I didn’t expect he was planning a relay and wanted all three of them. This Dai Li indeed has a big appetite!"