After Leaving the Sports Circle, I Became a Cooking God (Completed BL)

Chapter 111-112

Translator: dapotaturs

Release Date: 09/18/2023

Chapter 111: Strictest Qualifying Standards in History

Before the announcement of the qualifying standards for the Tokyo Olympics, discussions were held in various sports regarding the expected qualifying times.

Among them, the Athletics Center had made multiple plans for the Olympic qualifying standards. However, discussions, both domestically and internationally, generally assumed that the Tokyo Olympic qualifying standards would not be low, but they were expected to be similar to those of the 2020 Athletics World Championships.

For example, during the 2016 Rio Olympics, the qualifying time for the men's 100 meters was only 10.16 seconds. According to this standard, China's Fang Yu would easily qualify. Besides Fang Yu, the current second-ranked Chinese sprinter, Zhao Shu, also had a chance if he gave it his all.

Of course, now that four years had passed, the pursuit of competitive sports was centered around the Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger," and an improvement in qualifying standards was inevitable. However, most people believed that the extent of improvement would be from the 10.16 seconds at the 2016 Rio Olympics to around 10.12 seconds at the 2017 Athletics World Championships or 10.10 seconds at the current year's World Championships.

But the Tokyo Organizing Committee clearly had a different perspective.

Take the men's 100 meters as an example. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in order for male sprinters in the 100 meters to qualify for the event, the qualifying standard was set at 10.05 seconds.

With this standard, only Fang Yu in the entire country could qualify.

Even if given the utmost courage, Pei Jin'an wouldn't dare to claim that he had the ability to lower Zhao Shu's current 10.17-second personal best to 10.05 seconds before next year.

The 100-meter sprint is the discipline that most heavily relies on an athlete's individual physical talents. When it comes to breaking the ten-second barrier, it may sound cruel, but an athlete's personal talent plays a disproportionately significant role in the final performance.

Zhao Shu was undoubtedly a talented athlete, and he could be considered the most talented sprinter in terms of physical gifts within China, aside from Fang Yu.

However, comparing him to Fang Yu, the gap between the two was difficult to quantify.

In short, while Zhao Shu had hope of running below 10.05 seconds, the difference between his current personal best of 10.17 seconds and the 10.05-second standard was not something that could be bridged in just one year.

The qualifying standard for the men's 100 meters was so strict, and the standards for other events were equally astonishing!

In the 400 meters, the requirement for men was 44.90 seconds, while the qualifying standard for women in the 400 meters was 51.35 seconds.

For Chinese track and field enthusiasts, as well as the Athletics Center and the national team, this qualifying standard felt like a bucket of cold water being poured over their heads.

They had originally thought that there had been significant progress in the 400 meters event for the Chinese team.

After all, Zhang Ziyi had continuously broken the national records in the 400 meters, both indoors and outdoors, over the past few months. Behind him, young athletes like Qiu Wen and Li Junhao were also making strides.

Looking at their indoor results, the upcoming outdoor season was highly anticipated!

On the women's team, Chen Yadan's time of 51.61 seconds had exceeded this year's Athletics World Championships qualifying standard for the women's 400 meters by 0.19 seconds. However, the qualifying standard for the women's 400 meters at the Tokyo Olympics next year had unexpectedly been raised to 51.35 seconds!?