Orc Undead Sports Warrior

In the days following the 100-meter duel between Lu Wei and Shen Liang, the track and field team's training seemed calm on the surface, but in reality, undercurrents were surging within.

The 100-meter duel between Lu Wei and Shen Liang, which was just a joke, took place in the restaurant. Many coaches and team members were in the cafeteria at the time, so the news spread like wildfire within hours after lunch.

Regarding this matter, deputy head coach Yu Wei specifically reported to head coach Feng Yong. It's important to understand that while the track and field team's overall strength in international competitions isn't particularly high, it still receives considerable attention. If the media learns of the duel between the two and adds fuel to the fire, the track and field team will be in a very difficult position.

Furthermore, the track and field world is already facing a shortage of grassroots athletes. If this causes a negative impact on society, the future development will likely encounter even more obstacles. No parent would be willing to send their child to participate in an industry with an uncertain and turbulent future.

Feng Yong had known about this for a long time. Given his personality, he would definitely nip such an undisciplined and disorganized matter in the bud. However, with the competition just around the corner, everyone hoped that the athletes would adjust their competitive state and increase their excitement.

The 100-meter race is always exhilarating.

Another consideration for him is that next year's Olympics will be held on home soil, and in terms of individual ability, China probably doesn't have any athletes who can reliably qualify for the semi-finals. If they hope to achieve good results, they can only work harder on the team performance.

So he was very interested to see how Lu Wei would perform in this event. Therefore, when Yu Wei came to discuss it with him, he offered a solution that surprised his longtime partner: "Old Yu, I really want to see the condition of these two kids before the competition. The competition is allowed to proceed tomorrow, and we also need to send a coach to act as the referee, so that others won't use it as a pretext for criticism. Let's..."

It was this 100-meter race that gave Feng Yong an idea: to have Lu Wei participate in the 4x100-meter relay.

After having this idea, Feng Yong summoned Yu Wei, the deputy head coach of the track and field team, Zou Zhen, the head coach of sprinting, and Coach Jiang, a veteran sprinting coach. In addition, he also wanted to hear the thoughts of Coach Sun, the coach of Liu Feiren.

After the five people arrived at Feng Yong's office one after another, Feng Yong spoke first: "I've invited everyone here today to discuss something that might affect the 4x100m Olympic relay next year. Here's the thing: you all probably know about Lu Wei and Shen Liang's 100m race the other day. Although I wasn't on the field, I watched their race from upstairs. Currently, the overall strength of the 4x1m relay team is decent, but we don't have a single outstanding individual. Such a team might barely make it to the finals, but achieving anything significant in major competitions will be extremely difficult. Especially considering the formidable strength of the Japanese team in this event, we are under a lot of pressure."

Although he had carefully considered what he was going to say beforehand, he still spoke his opening remarks very slowly, glancing at the expressions of the four people opposite him after each sentence.

At this moment, Yu Wei was staring intently at him, and every time their eyes met, Yu Wei nodded at him.

Sprint head coach Zou Zhen was deep in thought, his eyes glancing towards his shoes, but clearly not at them. He rested his chin on his right hand, as if a thousand thoughts were swirling in his mind.

Coach Jiang smiled slightly. Lu Wei was a teammate of his student Wang Qiao, and thus a teammate under him. He was more than happy to see Lu Wei gain the favor of the track and field team in such an important competition.

Coach Sun's eyes darted back and forth, presumably as he considered how to handle the upcoming situation.

"Coach Feng, I understand what you mean. You're planning to replace one of the relay team members with Lu Wei. I think this is a decision that needs careful consideration. First, relay races require years of practice. We've finally managed to get this lineup into shape, and changing players at the last minute will inevitably lead to insufficient preparation. If a mistake occurs, all the preparation we've put in for the past six months will be wasted."

After Zou Zhen finished speaking, he looked up into Feng Yong's eyes, trying to gauge the other man's expression. He felt that he had spoken a bit too harshly.

Feng Yong's expression was as calm as a still lake, undisturbed. His face showed no sign of emotional change.

"Secondly, I've heard of Lu Wei. Judging from his race results, he broke into the 400-meter dash from over 46 seconds to 45 seconds in less than four hours. I'm worried that his performance might fluctuate because his results improved too quickly in such a short time. Another point is that he participates in a wide variety of competitions, including both track and field events. Each event has its own training focus, which raises questions about his training. With so many competitions, does he have enough energy for each one?"

Coach Zou Zhen's concerns are indeed valid. If Lu Wei participates in these four events, he will need to run three races to reach the final in the 400-meter race. He will also need to participate in the qualifying rounds and finals in the shot put and javelin events. If he participates in the 4x100-meter relay, Lu Wei will have to compete nine times. For an athlete, the dispersed events and high intensity of the competitions are indeed a problem that cannot be ignored.

"Third, the relay team has 5 people. When someone comes, someone has to leave. Even the team members who can't play train just as hard as the other four, or even harder. Changing the team members like that is too sudden. I have no way to explain it to my team members."

These three questions hit the nail on the head, and the atmosphere became unusually quiet. Feng Yong's expression remained unchanged: "I've considered these questions as well, but has Coach Zou thought about what kind of results we can achieve with this lineup participating in the Olympics held on home soil next year? Although this competition is important, compared to the Beijing Olympics, which we may only experience once in our lives, I believe we can make some adjustments. The Japanese team is already world-class. We are both Asian athletes, and we can't do what they can do. We really can't escape blame."

At this moment, Zou Zhen finally understood the meaning behind Feng Yong's opening remarks. For the past two years, they had been consistently suppressed by the Japanese team in the 4x100m relay, and he had been harboring a burning desire to prove himself. As the head of Chinese sprinting, he felt a sense of historical responsibility for losing so easily on home soil.

"Lu Wei's ability in the other events is not a problem. As the saying goes, everything that exists has a reason. Since he has the ability and has qualified for the competition, he can participate in so many events. As for the issue of physical fitness, here is Lu Wei's training plan and 400-meter training results from the day before yesterday. I think this should be enough to explain the problem."

As he spoke, Feng Yong printed out a copy of the photocopied materials for everyone present. Zou Zhen saw Lu Wei's training plan, which showed that Lu Wei's daily training schedule was almost full, except for sleeping and eating.

What is this kid made of? With so many training sessions every day, doesn't he get physically fatigued?

Watching the 400-meter training session again, Zou Zhen's pupils suddenly dilated considerably. With 3-minute intervals between each of the 10 sets of the 400 meters, Lu Wei's times for all 10 sets were almost all around 45.10 seconds. Seeing this, Zou Zhen suddenly remembered watching Lu Wei's training the morning before yesterday; the coaches and athletes present were all amazed. He hadn't asked Lu Wei about his results then, but seeing them now, he realized just how phenomenal they were.

"Thirdly, in competitive sports, performance speaks for itself." Feng Yong said this in an unquestionable manner. Since there was already a sufficient reason for the substitution, competitive sports would not completely give way to results for the sake of feelings, especially since it was just a substitute player who was leaving.

Zou Zhen looked worried. He had already been convinced and had no reason to question his leader's decision. The leader's decision was certainly the result of careful consideration, but he still felt some sympathy for the team members who had fought alongside him through thick and thin for so long.

"But don't worry, substitute player Chen Shi will not leave the team. He will accompany the team as a staff member of the track and field team to participate in the competition, and the current training conditions will remain unchanged."

Perhaps no one expected that a match initiated on a whim between two players would have such a significant impact on the World Championship lineup.