Chapter 204: The Reason I Can’t Lose
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The result of Haiquan Fang's first trial jump had ranked 1st; he had gotten injured in his second trial jump, and forfeited his next three trial jumps. In the end, however, he had still managed to win the championship with a "buzzer beater" on his last trial jump. It had been quite phenomenal for Haiquan Fang to win the gold medal.
After the award ceremony, Haiquan Fang was sent to hospital for a diagnosis immediately. The final examination result reassured the national team. Haiquan Fang only had a muscle strain; after 3 -4 days of rest, he would be fully recovered.
The matches of the Asian Games were still ongoing. The next big event in the track and field category would be the men's 100m sprint.
As the last match the next day, the final competition, the 100m sprint, was also the highest-profile match. Two players from the national team, Jun Xie and Sijie Yang, had entered the final match.
"Zitao Wei was not lucky. He was knocked out in the 'group of death' during the semi-final; otherwise he definitely would have been good enough to get into the final match," Li Xue exclaimed indignantly.
The national team was not strong enough to dominate Asia in the 100m sprinting event. In East Asia, Sunshine Oda, the sprinting star of the Japanese team, was quite strong. His performance in the second-round match and semi-final had been very impressive.
Of the west Asian "immigrant legion," besides Clark, who held the Asian record, Oneida, another immigrant athlete of Qatar, also competed well and entered the final match successfully. As an immigrant athlete from Africa, the UAE athlete Sarafa had also qualified for the final match.
Thus, among the eight athletes in the final match, three of them were black immigrant athletes from Africa.
"Sijie Yang, you are in lane 2. On your left will be Xianlong Chen from Singapore, and on your right will be Sunshine Oda, the star from Japan!" Dai Li looked at the list of athletes and said, "Lane 2 is not the best, but it's still a good one.
"Xianlong Chen is a veteran; he once reached the standard B-level of the Olympic Games, and attended the last Olympic Games. As for Sunshine Oda, he is regarded as a once-every-century sprinting talent by the Japanese. He is close in age to you. He is currently a student at Tokyo University, which is very much like you, for you are also a brilliant student from Tsinghua University!" Dai Li continued.
Sijie Yang suddenly frowned, and a flash of disgust could be seen in his eyes.
Dai Li noticed Sijie Yang's mood change. He smiled and said, "Why? You don't like Japan? You are a man of national integrity."
"My father's laboratory was almost ruined by the Japanese!" Sijie Yang explained, "For the research project my father was awarded a Nobel Prize for, when the first stage research results came out, Tokyo University said they would provide research funding of three million USD, but they wanted to share the final research results.
"That was more than twenty years ago, yet they wanted to trade Nobel Prize-level research results for only three million USD. Tokyo University was so cheap!" Dai Li couldn't help complaining.
"But back then a lot of people wanted that three million USD; I'm talking about some administration departments. They asked my father to accept Tokyo University's request so that they could get a share from the fund. Moreover, the foreign exchange earnings of three million USD could also be considered an administrative achievement by some officials."
Sijie Yang paused, then continued, "However, my father refused, which also offended those people. After that, my father's laboratory entered a period of hard times. Their research funding was deducted, their application to hire more research staff was rejected, and the experimental materials they used were embezzled. Even the payment of the laboratory's utility expenses was delayed for several months."
Dai Li sighed slightly. Many people only focused on the immediate interests, ignoring the greater benefits in the future.
Dai Li had also used to curse their short-sighted behavior, but later realized the main reason had not been because of their nearsightedness. Most of the time, for decision makers, the immediate interests were their own; they wouldn't be able to enjoy the greater benefit in the future.
This was similar to the research funding of three million USD, which was a substantial achievement for some officials. As for the Nobel Prize, it was something that would not be realized until over ten years later; by that time, those same officials may have been promoted or retired. In addition, no one would take on the responsibility of selling the Nobel Prize research results to Tokyo University at a very low price over ten years ago.
Lin Yang's refusal had apparently hurt the interests of these people, so their revenge was inevitable. Therefore, the fund deduction, the rejection of staff recruitment application and experiment material embezzlement were quite normal.
Sijie Yang continued, "Fortunately, my father didn't burn all his bridges. He hid some critical research results. After the deduction of their research funding, he publicized these critical results, which made a splash in the industry and also drew the attention of high level management. It was because of this that my father managed to continue his research."
This was the first time Dai Li had heard about these issues. The history of Lin Yang winning the Nobel Prize had already been documented in literature, and had been published in installments in the newspapers during that time. It had even been compiled in the textbooks. It was a household name at the time.
However, the fund deduction, rejection of staff recruitment applications, and experiment material embezzlement Sijie Yang had just told him had never been mentioned in the news reports. Such things would be buried in the ashes of history if they were not mentioned by the concerned parties personally.
Sijie Yang continued, "In fact, this was just the beginning. Along with the implementation of my father's research, he needed to purchase some more advanced research equipment, some of which could only be manufactured in Japan. Therefore, Tokyo University asked the manufacturer to reject the purchase application of my father's laboratory with their influence. They wanted to postpone the progress of my father's laboratory.
"Meanwhile, Tokyo University also spent a lot of money hiring research staff from my father's laboratory, and even bought off some of his research staff to disclose the progress and data of the research in my father's laboratory."
Dai Li could understand the refusal to sell experiment equipment. All transactions should be based on the consensus of the buyer and seller; a mandatory purchase or sale wouldn't work. The seller had been willing to lose money in the business, so the buyer could not say anything else. Moreover, the technology blockade of the western world against China hadn't been stopped for over fifty years, which Dai Li has already gotten used to.
Hiring research staff by providing a high salary was also acceptable. As the old saying goes, man struggles upwards. Everybody wants a better working environment, a higher salary, and a more promising future. Everybody wants to have a better life and more disposable money. It is impossible to ask everybody to make unselfish contributions without a reward.
However, buying off research personnel to steal experiment data had gone beyond the moral line. Sometimes people resorted to every conceivable means to win, but the behavior of Tokyo University should have been considered a crime.
"After that, my father's laboratory got the results of the research first. They also registered the patent for their results. However, Tokyo University was unwilling to accept their failure, and filed for patent litigation in the European and American countries by accusing my father of plagiarizing their research results. Even though Tokyo University lost the case in the end, the litigation really hurt my father's reputation, and even influenced the selection for the Nobel Prize. If the Japanese hadn't filed the litigation, my father would have won the Nobel Prize five years earlier!" Sijie Yang said resentfully.
For people who engaged in scientific research, five years were nothing; however, for the Nobel Prize winners, five years were of great significance. If Lin Yang had won the Nobel Prize five years earlier, he would have established his position in the academic circle earlier; he could have grasped the discourse power in Chinese research earlier; he could have struggled for a better research program for China. The economic benefit of winning the Nobel Prize earlier also had to be taken into consideration.
Dai Li asked with emotion, "So this Sunshine Oda should be a deadly foe of your family. Do you want to avenge your father in the match?"
Sijie Yang nodded, his eyes full of resolution. "Even if only for my father, I will never lose to this Sunshine Oda! I will get revenge for my father."