Orc Undead Sports Warrior

Chapter 179 National Track and Field Grand Prix

By the end of March, outdoor track and field events both domestically and internationally were in full swing.

From now on, the outdoor season truly begins. In years without major international competitions, starting the competition at this time seems very early, and many athletes are still lazily nitpicking about the competition.

Unless it's a competition with exceptionally high prize money, high-level athletes generally decide whether to participate based on their individual circumstances.

Aside from major tournaments, most competitions last one day, and at most two days. Many competitions are decided in one session, while two-day competitions may include preliminary rounds and finals.

For high-level athletes, several months of preparation followed by four months of competition to adjust their form is sufficient. Most athletes will use this time to make final adjustments to their weaknesses, find their rhythm in competitions, and reach peak performance in the period leading up to the Olympics.

Only a few athletes will use these last three months to try and qualify for the Olympics. For example, the Chinese track and field team has no athletes in many events. Now, not only are the athletes anxious, but the country is even more anxious.

The Olympics held in Beijing is probably a once-in-a-century event. Some people want to showcase the national strength of the Chinese nation in this event, while others want to use this event to achieve political success. The management centers of various sports are racking their brains to enhance the influence of their respective sports so that resources will be tilted towards them in the future development of sports.

For the leaders of the Track and Field Management Center, there seems to be no need to strive for any preferential treatment in resources. Developing track and field is an important project for Chinese sports in the foreseeable future.

To understand the development of Chinese athletics in recent years, the increase in gold medal-winning events is undoubtedly a key indicator of a country's sporting level.

Liu Xiang's performance in the 110-meter hurdles is becoming increasingly convincing, and he is definitely a top favorite to win the gold medal in this event at this year's Olympics.

Besides this event, Lu Wei's emergence has undoubtedly boosted the confidence of the track and field management center. Now, apart from the men's hurdles and race walking, the men's shot put and javelin events seem to have a strong chance of bringing at least one gold medal to the Chinese delegation.

Besides these events, Lu Wei also has a chance to win medals in the 400-meter and women's middle-distance running events.

Judging from previous Olympic Games, winning 3 gold medals would be considered a good result for the Chinese delegation. Therefore, it seems that the Chinese track and field team has a very good chance of winning this year's Olympic Games.

In terms of the depth and breadth of track and field development, the level of track and field development varies greatly across regions. This is something that requires long-term development and cannot be achieved overnight.

However, the number of athletes participating in each event can now largely reflect the level of Chinese track and field. Therefore, the biggest goal of the Track and Field Management Center in the past few months has been to help as many athletes as possible qualify for the Olympics and to get more athletes on the Olympic stage.

Even if the competition is not strong in a less popular sport, we must at least ensure that some of our team members qualify to participate and appear in the Chinese Olympic delegation.

At this time, the National Track and Field Grand Prix became a lifeline for athletes who had not qualified for the Olympics.

In recent years, the Track and Field Management Center has been striving to make the National Track and Field Grand Prix the second largest track and field event in China, after the National Games.

Athletes can accumulate enough points in the regional competitions to participate in the national finals and win prize money. This project seems to be similar to China's Golden League.

In non-major years, athletes participate in such events usually to gain exposure to the national team coaches. If they perform well in the competition, they may be able to enter the national team through this event.

Being selected for the national team is definitely something to celebrate in one's career. After all, the national team receives far better training and competition resources than the provincial team.

In the year of the National Games, this competition will be linked to the eligibility of all athletes, so many athletes attach great importance to this competition.

In Olympic years, this event serves as a warm-up for athletes who have already qualified for the Olympics, and a lifeline for those who haven't yet secured their spots.

Although the prize money for the competition is not very high, if you can't achieve a record-breaking result in the competition, the final reward is even less than that of a regional competition, and it is incomparable to the National Games or the Olympics.

However, the strategic significance of this competition far outweighs the potential profits, which is why it always attracts many outstanding domestic players to participate.

This National Track and Field Grand Prix held in Chongqing is the first competition of the year, and it can be said to be the competition with the most complete lineup of top domestic athletes.

On the flight from Haigeng Airport to Chongqing, Wang Qiao patiently explained the format and significance of the track and field grand prix to Lu Wei. However, after listening for only a few sentences, Lu Wei felt that the event was somewhat pointless and the format was not simple and straightforward enough.

This competition appears to be of a high level domestically, but in reality, it's rather lackluster in terms of popularity and the quantity and quality of participating athletes. The points awarded when converted to international rankings are very low, and the prize money is pitifully small, making it difficult to attract top athletes.

It's estimated that there will be a slightly larger number of events in this leg of the competition. After mid-April, there will be a slightly larger number of events to choose from, and the top athletes probably won't participate in the later competitions.

The complex competition system is sometimes so complicated that even the athletes themselves can't understand it. The audience just wants to watch the excitement. If there are many celebrities, they will go to watch the show. If there is no star or high-level performance to attract them, no one will go even if there are free tickets.

"We're here to participate in this competition mainly for results. To be on the safe side, we've only registered you for the 100-meter event, so you can focus on that event and perform at your best."

After trying to explain it to Lu Wei for a while, Wang Qiao himself gave up and stopped trying to explain the domestic grand prix to him. The points were few and the prize money was minimal; even Wang Qiao himself started to lose interest.

"Simply put, the goal is to qualify for the Olympics with this competition. We won't do anything else. As long as you can run the 100 meters in under 10.21 seconds, you've achieved your objective for this competition."

Wang Qiao was also thinking that Yu Wei had already revealed during the World Indoor Championships that he would not add any more events for Lu Wei to participate in, so that Lu Wei could concentrate on the few events he was participating in and defeat them one by one.

Shot put competitions take place on the first two days of track and field events, 400-meter races on the middle days, and javelin throws usually on the last day or two. It seems the competition Lu Wei is participating in will only be on the same day as the 4x100-meter relay.

Two days ago, Yu Wei suddenly contacted him and said that he had registered Lu Wei to participate in the competition, so the two of them went to Yuzhou with everyone to participate in the competition.

"Coach Wang, let's not talk so much nonsense. Just tell me whether the IAAF recognizes this result or not. If they don't, I'll just treat it as a game. If they do, I won't take it too seriously either. This result is very easy for me."

Finally, Lu Wei got a little angry. He hated studying these kinds of details, especially the format of this kind of meaningless competition.

"...Do you seem to have misunderstood my description of the National Athletics Grand Prix? This competition is a national event recognized by the IAAF, so the results will naturally be recognized by the IAAF..."

After saying this, Wang Qiao felt a little helpless. He regretted wasting his breath on the plane. In the end, even he felt that coming here was a waste of time.