Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 430 Unexpected results and qualification for the finals (4K)

Unlike other sports, tennis is very tight due to the tight time between major tours. The tennis competition time in the Olympic Games is very tight.

Judging from the schedule, when a tennis event reaches the final singles final, there are usually five to six days before the Olympic closing ceremony.

Then, without attending the closing ceremony, the tennis players hurriedly boarded a plane to the next stop, the U.S. Open.

So, when Chen Ran had just reached the semi-finals, the basketball game had just ended in the group stage.

However, he was shocked to find that the development of some things had deviated from the original historical trajectory.

The Chinese men's basketball team, which was supposed to beat Serbia and Montenegro by one point, actually lost to the Serbian and Montenegro men's basketball team by one point in the last group match.

The same difference is one point, but the result is completely different.

What the hell?

Is this also because of me?
Chen Ran was immediately speechless.

Yao Ming still played the entire game and still scored more than 30 points, but it was still difficult to conceal the defeat.

Chen Ran carefully looked back at the video of the entire game, and secretly compared it with the memory of his previous life. After all, he had a very deep memory of this game.

Chen Ran discovered that Yao Ming's century block was missing from the highlights of this game.

It was during one of the Serbian and Montenegrin players' attacks that the basketball flew to the highest point and was blocked by Yao Ming.

Because this key block was missing, winning one point turned into losing one point.

This result left Chen Ran in a daze for a long time.

Could it be that it was because of his own relationship that it affected Dayao's performance.

Frankly, that block was an injury risk.

Because in front of Yao Ming, his national teammate had already fallen to the ground.

His huge body jumped up to block the shot regardless of his own safety, and jumped over the body of his teammates lying on the ground. It can be said to be very thrilling.

This scene did not happen in this game. Instead, a similar scene was that when Dayao was about to attack and block the shot, he hesitated for a moment, and then was tripped by his fallen teammate and did not jump out.

Then, the Serbian and Montenegrin players scored the ball.

Except for Chen Ran, no one expected that this ball would become the key point in determining victory or defeat.

After the game, all Chinese media and fans were very satisfied with the result.

The result of losing only one point was completely beyond their expectations. After all, Serbia and Montenegro were the World Championship champions two years ago.

Before the game, no one thought they could win this game. Even after losing only one point, they thought it would be another disastrous defeat.

Although defeated, it is still glorious!

This was the headline of many media outlets after the game.

The Chinese men's basketball team finally got rid of the embarrassment of losing by 20 or 30 points in the previous games and ended the Olympic trip with a one-point defeat.

For hundreds of millions of Chinese fans, the process was dissatisfying, but the ending was not satisfactory.

Then the topic of "Yao Ming not shaving for a year" entered the heated discussion among netizens.

Everyone is looking forward to what kind of honor this NBA champion and Chinese men's basketball superstar will look like in a year's time.

Immediately afterwards, the pressure was put on Chen Ran's side.

If he fails to win the gold medal, he will follow in the footsteps of Yao Ming.

"To be honest, I want to support Safin."

Some black people said this as if Safin would definitely make it to the finals.

"Yes, good brothers should share weal and woe."

"That is, there is still a chance for the Golden Slam in four years. Even in 2012, Chen Ran was only 26 years old, very young!"

A group of people are just watching the fun and don't mind the trouble.

"Brother Yao, I'm sorry!"

"Maybe it's really because of me."

"Anyway, in my opinion, there is not much difference between being eliminated in the group and eighth place."

"Even for me, there's no difference between the top four and the top eight."

Among everyone, only Chen Ran knew the truth, so he could only comfort himself silently in his heart.

From Chen Ran's perspective, the finals are the bottom line.

Of course, he must keep one of his records no matter what, and he will win the championship if he reaches the finals.

Maybe in the future, he knows he will lose a certain final, but definitely not now.

……

With the deepening of the Olympic Games, major gold medal players in track and field and swimming have appeared one after another, and the gold medal gap between China and the United States has continued to widen.

Some netizens previously expected that the Chinese team could overtake the United States in the gold medal again, but as time went by, this idea was given up.

In terms of strength, there is indeed a gap.

However, they were pleasantly surprised to find that after a few days, the gold medal gap between Russia and China showed no signs of narrowing, and still maintained a gap of three gold medals.

It is very possible to end this Olympics in second place.

This can also be regarded as a good sign for the Yanjing Olympics four years later.

But for Chinese fans and media who have become increasingly picky, winning in traditional advantageous events is obviously no longer enough to satisfy them.

They need new stimulation, that is, breakthroughs in new projects.

Therefore, after the China Men's Basketball Team was eliminated, the only athletes who received the most attention were Liu Xiang and Chen Ran.

Because both of them have a great chance of winning gold.

In addition, Zheng Jie in women's singles tennis and Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in women's doubles also have great chances to win.

At this moment, with Zhang Depei's excellent tactical layout, Zheng Jie also entered the women's singles final like Chen Ran, but she did not go as smoothly as the latter, and there were many thrills in the process.

Li Ting and Sun Tiantian of the women's doubles also qualified for the finals, guaranteeing at least a silver medal.

The overall rise of Chinese tennis at the Athens Olympics has made everyone from the leaders of the Sports Bureau to the media and fans extremely happy.

In sports with global influence, China has finally become competitive.

Everyone firmly believes that this is just the beginning and far from the peak.

"Have you noticed that American tennis has begun to decline?"

"Once the world's dominant player, now only one male player has reached the semi-finals."

The only American player to reach the semi-finals of a tennis tournament is Mardy Fish.

He is currently considered the third best player in the United States, behind Roddick and Agassi, and has been ranked between 10-15 in the world for a long time.

In the eyes of Chinese fans, even Roddick and Agassi were beaten into servants by Chen Ran. Who do they think the third American brother is? Not even qualified to be a valet.

Reaching the finals is a sure bet!

"We in China will definitely take over the dominance of tennis."

"We Chinese people are talented in small ball games that require our hands, which is different from kicking with our feet."

Because the men's volleyball team's results were unsatisfactory, this netizen also specifically emphasized the small ball movement with his hands.

"That's right, after table tennis and badminton, there's tennis."

However, some people expressed different opinions.

"Don't be too optimistic. You said that we Chinese people are very good at playing small ball games with our hands, but I haven't seen that baseball is very good."

"Hehe, then you don't understand. The main reason is that baseball is not popular in China, otherwise it would be easy to defeat Japan and South Korea." "Just brag! Table tennis, badminton, and tennis are great, that's Because baseball is an individual sport and it is a team sport, the more people there are, the more likely it is that problems will arise.”

So, everyone got into a quarrel.

At this moment, Chen Ran, who was in Athens, was paying attention to the disturbances from the outside world with a surfing mentality.

This is also the best way for him to adjust his mentality.

"I hope Liu Xiang can get what he wants."

He thought silently in his heart.

Since the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team was eliminated beyond his personal "unexpectedness", Chen Ran did not hope that Liu Xiang's performance would be affected by him.

Since Liu Xiang already won the 110-meter hurdles championship at the World Championships in Paris last year, his popularity in the country is second only to Chen Ran and Yao Ming, and he can be regarded as an athlete who is very out of the circle.

This is the biggest difference from his previous life, and it will also affect Liu Xiang's mentality and state.

To give the simplest example, if Liu Xiang had won the silver medal in the Athens Olympics in his previous life, although it would not be as sensational as the gold medal, he would still have become an instant success.

But in this time and space, with the world championship champion Zhu Yu in front, the silver medal can no longer satisfy the appetite of the Chinese audience and does not have much of a bonus. Only the gold medal can be considered a breakthrough.

When he was in the Olympic Village, Chen Ran also saw Liu Xiang and stepped forward to say hello.

"Brother Xiang, I see you are quite nervous, please relax."

He smiled and patted the other person's shoulder.

Liu Xiang is currently going smoothly and easily advanced to the semi-finals of the 110-meter hurdles.

Track and field competitions, including the 100-meter, 200-meter and 110-meter hurdles sprint events, are divided into three rounds, namely the preliminaries, semi-finals and finals.

With Liu Xiang's current competitive state, as long as he doesn't jump ahead, entering the finals is a sure thing.

The key is still the finals.

The difference in details may determine success or failure.

Of course, sometimes luck is indispensable.

Chen Ran remembered that Alan Johnson, the world's number one at the time, fell in the semi-finals, and in the finals another black uncle fell down next to Liu Xiang.

Sometimes, when luck comes, it is really unstoppable.

But from another perspective, the Athens Olympics may have exhausted Liu Xiang's greatest luck.

It cannot be said that Liu Xiang's condition declined after Athens, because he has won many world championships one after another.

I just didn't expect that the final of the Athens Olympics would be the last time that 21-year-old Liu Xiang completely ran the 110-meter hurdles at the Olympics.

Chen Ran felt that he could not change Liu Xiang's career, because athletes' injuries are very mysterious, and sometimes you cannot completely avoid them even if you are fully prepared.

The injuries that should come will still come.

Therefore, there are too many variables in the Yanjing Olympics four years later. Chen Ran still hopes that Liu Xiang can realize his dream in Athens.

"You have experienced so many competitions, the Olympics is no different." Chen Ran continued to joke.

"really?"

Liu Xiang shook his head, not believing what Chen Ran said at all.

How could the Olympics be no different?

That's completely different, isn't it?
If the World Athletics Championships were placed in front of the Olympic Games, it would feel completely different, completely different.

This feeling alone is enough to make people suffocate.

In fact, the difficulty of the 110-meter hurdles is much more difficult than that of the 100-meter hurdles.

You must have the step of hurdling. If you accidentally fail to cross the hurdle well, you may lose your footing and regret it for eternity. It is not like sprinting forward with all your strength in running 100 meters.

Before every athlete starts running, he prays that he will not make mistakes when hurdling, not that he can run faster.

"Chen Ran, you have such a good attitude, you are not nervous at all."

Liu Xiang looked at the careless and casual Chen Ran with a look of great envy.

It was obviously the first time for everyone to participate in the Olympics, why was he so relaxed, not to mention that the other party was three years younger than himself.

"What's there to be nervous about?"

"Isn't it just 800 points? There are 1000 points in the Masters!"

"Look at how many good tennis players have run away."

Chen Ran unceremoniously mocked the Swiss: "Look at Federer, he was eliminated from the US Open early. As long as he wins the US Open, he can surpass me in points."

Although he also knew that Federer did not deliberately lose the Olympic Games, he still criticized him.

Although Liu Xiang usually watched some tennis matches because of Chen Ran, he did not expect that the tennis points in the Olympics would be so low.

"Well, tennis is a really special sport."

Liu Xiang was speechless and couldn't refute Chen Ran, so he could only reply like this.

He finally believed Chen Ran, who really treated the Olympics as an ordinary competition.

"Is participating in a Grand Slam more exciting than the Olympics?" Liu Xiang asked curiously.

"It feels different." Chen Ran thought for a while and said slowly, "After all, when you participate in the Olympics, your team uniform has the national flag on it, but this will only make me more excited and not nervous."

He said carelessly.

"I have confidence in my own ability."

Liu Xiang said very confidently, "As long as I don't make any mistakes in the hurdles, I can beat anyone."

"You have the best hurdling skills in the world."

Chen Ran also replied with a rainbow fart.

The latter smiled shyly on his pimple-covered face.

"Let's cheer for the afternoon game together!"

Chen Ran gave a thumbs up.

……

Fortunately, everything followed the trajectory of the previous life.

Liu Xiang successfully passed the semi-finals and got a ticket to the finals, and it was a good track.

The surprise was far more than that. His number one opponent, the world No. 1 American Alan Johnson, fell down and was eliminated from the semi-finals. Liu Xiang went to his rival.

At the same time, Chen Ran also easily defeated the third brother of the United States, Mardy Fish, with a disparity of 6-1, 6-2 in the subsequent semi-finals.

As netizens said, Maddie Fish is not even qualified to be a valet.

Throughout the whole game, he didn't even have any room for resistance.

After being broken by Chen Ran for the first time, Mardy Fish gave up his struggle and surrendered.

Chen Ran successfully made it to the finals without losing a set along the way.

In another game, Russian star Safin lived up to expectations, defeating a player from Argentina 2-0 and locking in another finals spot.

After winning the game, Safin covered his face and cried with excitement.

This is the first time he has reached the final of such a major event since his comeback.

The men's singles final between Chen Ran and Safin also arrived with great anticipation.

……

(End of this chapter)