With continuous shutter sounds and flashes in the studio, a ground crew was holding flash reflectors next to a big and strong black man, who was making all kinds of postures with a plastic bottle in his hand.
This black man was Justin Alexander, who was now advertising a poor popular sports drink.
“Good, this set is done. Next, we will shoot the picture of you drinking it,” the director said.
“No problem.” Alexander walked to the green cloth as asked and received a new drink from the staff.
“Wait!” Alexander stopped the worker. He shook the drink and said, “Would you please replace it with water?”
That man was surprised at first, but soon he understood that a professional sprinter dared not drink something he didn’t know, even the product he endorsed.
A few minutes later, the staff returned with two new bottles of the drink, both containing water.
“Okay, ready to shoot. Justin, you need to turn around your head, with the side of your face to me. Yes, that’s it. Lift your head, 45 degrees, a little higher. Well, that’s it…” The director started to direct.
Advertising actually was really tiring, especially for those who were not entertainers. As top professional player, Alexander often appeared in media interviews, but he didn’t need to perform at all, which was totally different from advertising. It was difficult for people who hadn’t received special performance training to be natural before cameras.
However, Alexander still performed with professionalism. Although he didn’t have a good feeling of being an actor, he earnestly followed the direction of the director just like a diligent bee.
Because this was his first advertisement after recovery.
Unlike professional players of ball sports, track and field athletes didn’t get fat salaries from their teams. Their competition prizes were also not too high. As for average international track and field events, such as the Grand Prix of IAAF, the prize of the division champion only was ten thousand dollars, and the final champion was also less than fifty thousand dollars.
The highest prize of the track and field events was from the Gold Grand Prix of the IAAF, which was one million dollars. However, the conditions were extremely strict. The winner must get every division championship in the Gold Grand Prix. The prize was gone if even one division championship was missing. Beyond that, if several athletes reached that condition, they needed to share the prize together.
In fact, those who won the prize were all dominating players. For them, the one million prize was not much at all. They could earn tens of millions quickly by advertising.
The main income of top track and field athletes was from advertising endorsements. Alexander also had received advertising endorsements with for more than one million dollars before he was suspended. However, his reputation had suffered as a result of the doping scandal. It was even great that these previous sponsors didn’t ask him for compensation. As for new advertising sponsors, many would pretend not to know Alexander when they met him.
After coming back to the public, Alexander had attended several competitions. His results were becoming better and better, and he also won several championships in a row. What’s more, he even got several times within 10 seconds, which drew the media’s attention.
It was common in sports. Although one or two inspirational stories would attract the public occasionally, that was transient. People soon would be attracted by other things. Only great results would be remembered for a long time. As an athlete, even though his behavior was very controversial, he could still gain a large number of fans if his performance was good enough.
Now Alexander was preferred once again by advertising sponsors, and he also cherished this chance. Just as the old saying goes, cherish what is lost.
…
Jimmy Aylwin had just visited Dai Li’s training center. As far as he was concerned, it was not special at all, with no difference from other fitness training centers.
Actually, Aylwin was a little depressed. When he visited Taylor before, Taylor seemed to view Dai Li as a god. That was why he had high expectations of Dai Li. But after visiting the training center, his expectation was fading away. Besides, he even started to doubt it and become nervous.
Then, Dai Li led Aylwin to a track and field training ground outside.
“I just bought a new electronic timing system. We adjusted it yesterday. In other words, this training ground totally simulates the electronic timing of formal competitions, so we have a more accurate understanding of athlete’s performance,” Dai Li explained to him.
At the starting point for the 200m run, a starter was placed and a wire was attached to it. A coach was playing with his starting gun.
A black man was standing before the starter. Aylwin thought he looked familiar, and after he watched him more carefully, he realized that black man was Shawn Ford.
Is that Shawn Ford? I nearly didn’t recognize him, because I haven’t seen him for five or six years. I heard that Justin Alexander was here for training, but I didn’t think there was anyone else, Aylwin thought in his mind.
Aylwin had also attended the World Championship and won two gold medals for the 400m and the 4x400m, and Shawn Ford had won the championship for the 200m. Therefore, they knew each other, but they were also very different in status. Aylwin was a great athlete, as famous as a legend, while Ford had been forgotten as quickly as he got his reputation.
At that moment, Ford stood on the starter and the coach beside him also lifted the starting gun.
“Well, let me check the effect of the electronic timing system. I didn’t see anyone use it after it was adjusted,” said Dai Li.
As Dai Li said this, the gun fired, and Shawn Ford started to accelerate.
Aylwin stood beside the track without any expression on his face. He didn’t expect anything at all. The 200m and the 400m were two totally different sprint events, and Aylwin and Ford were also so different in status. Just like a legendary player of the NBA seeing a match of the CBA, it couldn’t be duller.
On the track, Ford was serious. Soon he made his way from the bend into the straight and then crossed the finish line.
At the end of the track, a liquid crystal display was placed casually on the grass outside of the race track. Ford’s result flashed across it.
19.98 seconds, less than 20 seconds. Shawn Ford is so fast! Aylwin was so shocked that his face expressed it out uncontrollably.
In terms of difficulty, it was more difficult to get within 20 seconds for the 200m than within 10 seconds for the 100m, for the former also required skills for a curved track. Judging by the final result of the current Olympic Games, it was possible to gain a medal with a result within 20 seconds for the 200m. Compared to this, it was impossible to enter the final with a 10-second score for the 100m.
That result is the level of a world champion! Looking at Ford, Aylwin was full of doubt.
After that World Championship, Ford never got another good result. If he could run so fast, he could easily pass the qualification trials for the Olympic Games and the World Championship. But why did he become depressed for years and nearly disappear? Did he just outdo himself? Yes, it must be so, Aylwin thought in his mind.
However, at this moment, Dai Li shouted at Ford, “Shawn, you should have run faster. Just now at the bend, you made several detailed mistakes…”
Dai Li walked to Ford and talked to him for about three minutes. Ford nodded and walked slowly to the grass beside the track and sat down. Dai Li ran quickly back to Aylwin.
“Will he run again?” Aylwin asked.
Dai Li nodded. “He just made some detailed mistakes which affected his speed, so I asked him to run again. But he needs ten minutes to rest. Jimmy, wait a moment. I need to do a massage for him.”
Affected his speed and within 20 seconds? You just keep bragging! A big mouther! Could you be a little practical? Aylwin didn’t believe Dai Li at all.
At that point, Aylwin thought that Dai Li and Ford had just been putting on a performance to keep Aylwin himself there for training.
Dai Li’s massage was still very effective. Even though Ford just ran a 200m, after his massage, he soon recovered and got rid of his muscular soreness.
Ten minutes later, Shawn Ford stood on the starting line again. Dai Li stood beside him, repeatedly telling him to focus on some details.
After the gunshot, Ford rushed forward once again. Unlike the previous time, this time Aylwin made the count in his mind.
Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty… The moment when Aylwin reached twenty, Ford passed the finish line.
This time, the result on the scoreboard was 19.97 seconds.
0.01 seconds faster than the previous run! Aylwin looked at the electronic scoreboard in astonishment.
Aylwin would never believe that someone could run the 200m twice within a couple dozen minutes if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. Besides, the second run was even faster than the first, both of which were within 20 seconds.
It was also tiring for a professional athlete to run a 200m with all his strength. It was impossible to fully recover with a 10-minute rest, so the second time should’ve been slower than the previous one. Therefore, major matches would only schedule one 200m match on one morning or afternoon to let the athletes to restore their strength.
But today, Shawn Ford ran twice within twenty minutes, and he even ran faster in the second run than the first. To Aylwin, he only saw two possible explanations for this.
First, Ford didn’t try his best in his first run. He kept his strength so that he could have even more strength for his second run.
However, Aylwin denied that at once. If his first result was not good, that possibility might be reasonable. But his first result was within 20 seconds. It couldn’t be possible if he didn’t try his best.
Second, Ford indeed performed better than the previous run. Thus, even without the full strength of his previous run, he still could run faster because he adjusted his skills.
After carefully thinking, Aylwin suddenly realized the second option was the only possibility.
As a legendary athlete, Aylwin was experienced both in sprint knowledge and experience. He knew that strength sometimes was not the most crucial aspect of the 200m run. Even excellent bend skill could cause a few tenths of a second difference in speed, while an inadvertent mistake could also mean the end of the game.
The next second, Aylwin suddenly thought of the words that Dai Li said to Ford.
Coach Li just said Ford should have run faster because he made several detailed mistakes. Then he gave him some guidance for a couple minutes and Ford became faster. Therefore, Coach Li’s guidance made Ford faster? When Aylwin realized this, his attitude toward Dai Li was totally different.
…
Dai Li was typing before his computer. He was making a training plan for Jimmy Aylwin.
I have Justin Alexander for the 100m, Shawn Ford for the 200m, and Jimmy Aylwin for the 400m. I’m holding all three trump cards for the next sprint events of the Olympic Games!