Chapter 631 Shot Put Finals

After his opponent Khailov got up, he used evasion tactics to survive the first game.

After the start of the second round, Link took advantage of the victory and continued to use fast punches and heavy punches, leaving his opponent unable to fight back.

At 36 and 84 seconds of the second round, Link knocked down his opponent twice in succession, and the second time caused his opponent to fall to the ground for 10 seconds.

Link successfully won this qualifying match and entered the top 8 in the 69kg category.

"Bob, how's it going?"

In the stands of the stadium, agent Sean Gibbons turned to look at Top Promotions owner Bob Arum and asked.

After the World Championships, he recommended Link to the company many times, believing that Link had great potential and was worth spending a lot of money to sign him.

It’s just that Link has rarely participated in amateur competitions in the past year. The company cannot fully understand him only through video tapes, and cannot make up its mind to sign him for US$5 million.

To this end, after the Olympic Games began, he invited Bob Arum to watch Link's game live.

Link also lived up to his expectations, successfully KOing his opponent at 84 seconds of the second round.

Among all amateur boxing competitions, the Olympic boxing competition is considered to be the highest level amateur event. Many boxers who came out from here eventually became world boxing champions, including Ali, George Foreman, and Lennox Lewis. , De La Hoya et al.

In such a high-profile match, Link successfully KOed his opponent in just two rounds, which showed his strength.

"This Link is really good. He has superb skills and powerful fists. He is very aggressive in the game and the game is also very enjoyable to watch."

Bob Arum looked at the audience in the auditorium who applauded and cheered for Link's victory, and nodded in recognition.

"Haha, yes, Link is very strong. I have said before that signing him is definitely a good deal, so Bob, you want to sign him, right? I am happy to be his agent. "

Sean Gibbons asked eagerly.

"Yes, Sean, Link is a young man worth cultivating, but you don't have to worry. Let's look at the subsequent games. I hope he can continue to maintain his current status."

Bob Arum said.

Sean Gibbons frowned and turned his gaze to the auditorium not far away.

Their top promotion company was not the only one who came to watch Link play today.

Dmitry Salita, the agent of the old rival Arena Promotions Company, also came, and sitting next to him was Eddie Hearn, the eldest son of Barry Hearn, the owner of Arena Promotions Company, and the company's vice president.

Salita brought Eddie Hearn here to watch the game, and he must also want to sign Link.

There is also Nora Dewar, the current vice president of the old rival Main Events Corporation.

Nora Duva is the daughter-in-law of the main event owner Lou Duva. She is in her early thirties. She joined the main event more than ten years ago and became the old Duva's assistant. She is smart, capable, and has a keen eye. She is considered to be the leader of the main event. One of the successors.

Frank Warren, a boxing scout from Queensbury Boxing Promotions, is also here. He became the vice president of Queensbury at the beginning of the year. He must be fully prepared to come here to watch Link's match today.

Thinking of this, Sean Gibbons was secretly anxious. If he had known it, he should have signed Link earlier.

Now that Link is performing so well and so many people are staring at him, he may not be able to sign for $5 million.

"Bob, I think we should be more proactive. If we act too late, Link may be signed by someone else."

Sean Gibbons couldn't help but say.

"Haha, Sean, you don't have to worry about this at all. Our top promotions have the most promotion resources and the most world boxing champions. If you cooperate with us, you can become famous and make money the fastest. Link must also know this, so We don’t need to be too aggressive, as long as we are here, Link will not cooperate with others easily.”

Bob Arum patted him on the shoulder and said.

Sean Gibbons opened his mouth and swallowed the words that came to his lips.

Bob Arum has been in the boxing world for more than 30 years and is a giant in the boxing world besides Don King and Lou Duva. Since the opponent is so confident, he can't say anything else.

——

After the game, Link answered a few questions from reporters from CCTV5 and local Athens TV stations, and then left the game with the coaching team. The next round of quarter-finals will be tomorrow.

There will be a shot put competition tomorrow morning and two javelin throw competitions the day after tomorrow.

The competition schedule was quite tight and he didn't even have half a day to rest.

On the first day of the Olympic Games, Du Li of the Chinese team's shooting team won the women's 10-meter air rifle gold medal, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese team in the Athens Olympics.

At nine o'clock the next morning, Link followed the coaching team to the Ancient Olympia Stadium to participate in the shot put competition.

The Ancient Olympia Stadium was built in the sixth century BC and was once the main venue for the Olympic Games. It has hosted shot put, javelin, marathon and other competitions many times.

It was later destroyed by war. After the 11th Olympic Games in 1936, the Olympic Organizing Committee used part of the funds to repair the stadium, and the Ancient Olympia Stadium was able to regain its past glory.

Because the competition site is relatively old and very memorable, after the shot put competition started, more than 30,000 spectators and more than 600 media reporters and writers came to the site. The scene was more spectacular and lively than yesterday's boxing competition. .

There are 20 athletes participating in the shot put competition here today, 3 athletes from each continent, 18 athletes from six continents, plus 2 athletes from Greece, the host country.

In the first round, each athlete threw three times, and the top eight athletes threw three more times.

Unlike the Universiade, the results of the first and second rounds are counted, that is, the best throw is selected from the six throws.

In the first round, Link was the 12th player.

Among the athletes who appeared before him, American player Adam Nelson won the first place with 21.16 meters, Ukrainian player Bilonog won the second place with 21.08 meters, and the third place was Denmark's Olsen, 20.98 meters.

The preliminary results of these three players all exceeded the Asian record of 20.81 meters created by Link in the Philippines in September last year, and their performance was very strong.

Before Link came on stage, half of the leaders of the Chinese delegation came.

There were also people with higher positions than the head of the delegation watching in the audience, so Coach Li Yabing was very anxious and told Link to relax. Standing here is victory, and there is no need to be too nervous and worry about gains and losses.

Link glanced at him, grabbed a handful of anti-slip powder and walked into the throwing area.

"Hey~, isn't this Link? Why is he throwing the shot put?"

In the audience, Sean Gibbons, Dmitri Salita and others were stunned when they saw Link appear on the field.

I saw this guy fighting in the boxing ring yesterday, and today he threw the shot put again.

This cross-industry praise is too great.

"Are they twin brothers?"

Not only them, but many media reporters who had not done a detailed investigation beforehand also showed surprised expressions.

Fortunately, communication is convenient now, and they took out their mobile phones to ask about the situation of the Chinese shot put athlete No. 302.

The result is that this athlete is also called Link, and he is the same person as Link in the boxing competition.

In addition, this person not only participated in the boxing competition and shot put competition, but also qualified for the javelin event and the 5000-meter long-distance running event.

So this person named Link is the only athlete in this Olympics who participated in four different events, and the first athlete in the history of the Olympics to qualify for four events at the same time.

After seeing this news, many media reporters showed a look of seeing a ghost.

In the Olympic Games, there are also people who apply for multiple events at the same time, such as Phelps of the US swimming team, who applied for freestyle, butterfly stroke, breaststroke, relay and other events at the same time.

There are also track and field athletes who have obtained the qualifications for the 10,000m, 5,000m, 3,000m and relay events at the same time.

But these events are all in the same category, swimming or running.

In the four events that Link participated in, although the 5,000m, shot put and javelin are all track and field events, they are too different and require different abilities of athletes, not to mention that there is also an unrelated boxing match.

Reporters don’t understand how Link can obtain so many qualifications at the same time, but this curiosity and fun also make them hold their cameras and video cameras and point the lens at Link.

No matter how Link’s shot put results are, in the future, his story will become an Olympic anecdote.

If he performs better and wins a medal unexpectedly, he will receive more attention at that time.

Reporters don’t want to miss this good material.

On the field, Link stood in the throwing area, holding a round shot put in his hand, and did a few turns.

When the referee on the scene signaled to prepare for throwing, Link took a deep breath, turned his body, pressed down hard, and twisted his body muscles tightly into a rope.

This is exactly the back-sliding shot put technique that Link has practiced for a year in the national team, using the body's side arch anti-vibration function to increase the athlete's explosive power.

When the power reached the extreme, Link roared, rushed forward, and pushed the shot put out violently.

Bang!

The 7.26-kilogram shot put drew a parabola from the air and hit the ground heavily.

"18.77 meters!"

The surveyor shouted while standing at the position of the shot put with a flag.

"18.77 meters?"

The reporters shook their heads. This result is still good in the Asian competition area, but this is the Olympics. The best shot put athletes in the world are here. Athletes who can participate in the qualifying competition can basically throw the shot put more than 20 meters.

Link only threw 18.77 meters, which is currently ranked second to last except for the Zambian player who performed poorly in the first round.

The players who had completed the first round saw Link's results and shook their heads in disdain, thinking that he might have obtained the qualification to participate in the Olympic Games by cheating.

"Come on, Link! Just play normally, just play normally, don't do it badly."

Coach Li Yabing wiped the sweat off his face and muttered.

In the second throw, Link stood in the throwing area, holding the shot put and looking calmly at the triangle area in front.

When the referee signaled that he could throw, he took a deep breath, twisted his body in the same way as the first throw, twisted all the muscles in his body into a rope, and finally used the power of his waist and the body's side arch anti-reflection ability to launch the shot put.

"Go!"

When Link squeezed his body strength to the extreme, he shouted angrily, raised his hand high, and gathered the power in his palm through a series of movements of his legs, waist and shoulders, and finally used the explosive power to throw the shot put out.

Bang!

The shot put drew a fuller curve in the air and hit the 21-meter area heavily.

"How much is it this time?"

The audience and reporters stared closely at the triangle area, and the cameras of several major TV stations also focused on the gray shot put.

The measurer and referee walked into the triangle area to place flags for measurement.

"21.05 meters!!"

"Yes!!"

"here you go!"

"Link, what a good guy."

Coach Li Yabing and the coaches of the track and field team shouted excitedly on the sidelines.

Although this shot only ranked third, it was a result that Chinese and even Asians had never achieved in the history of track and field, directly raising the Asian record in shot put to 21 meters.

The reporters at the scene saw Link's second throw with a score of 21 meters and rushed directly from second to last to third. They all focused their cameras on Link.

"Come on Link!"

The Chinese audience in front of the TV saw Link breaking into the top three and having great hopes of winning a medal. They shouted excitedly and cheered him on.

"It's amazing. A 7.26 kilogram object was thrown 21 meters. I can only say it was too powerful."

In the bar, Xia Yu looked at her palms and admired Link with admiration.

"I suddenly realized that our jobs as singers and actors were meaningless compared to what Olympic athletes were doing."

Pu Shu sighed negatively when he heard loud cheers coming from the bar.

"Don't think blindly. What athletes pursue is to be higher, faster and stronger. What we pursue is art and creating human spiritual civilization. Our work is equally important."

Gao Xiaosong said.

"Then how do you know that what we create is spiritual civilization, not spiritual garbage and artistic fast food?"

Pushu asked rhetorically.

"Stop talking, let's watch the game. Link's second throw in the first round was 21.05 meters. He is temporarily ranked third and is firmly in the second round. According to me, he won't throw the third throw for now and conserves his strength. Try it again in the second round and see if you can create better results.”

Gao Xiaosong said while looking at Link on the TV.

At the game site, coach Li Yabing also suggested that Link give up the third shot and save his energy to enter the second round.

Link did not agree. There were six shots in the two rounds of the Olympic shot put event. Every time was an opportunity. He did not think that the power that was not exploded in the first three rounds would be better if he left it to the last three shots.

Link chose to continue throwing the third shot.

He stood in the throwing area, shook his arm, grabbed the shot put and put it on his shoulder, staring straight at the triangle area in front of him, from 20 meters, to 21 meters, to 22 meters, and then to 23 meters.

The current world record for men's shot put is 23.12 meters.

The record was set by American athlete Randy Barnes at the 1990 World Athletics Championships and has yet to be broken.

The Olympic record for men's shot put is 22.47 meters.

Created by East German athlete Ulf Timmermann at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, no one has broken it so far.

In this Olympics, the best result in the first round is currently 21.16 meters, which is still far from the two records.

Link's goal is to break the shot put record.

So before he succeeds, he still needs to work hard.

After the referee signaled that he could throw, Link gritted his teeth, pressed down hard, and once again mobilized his whole body's strength.

When the tension in his whole body reached its peak, he shouted loudly, raised his arms and pushed the shot put out again.

This time, the arc of the shot was higher, and the shot put drew a rounded parabola in the air and hit the grass hard.

Bang!

"How many?"

The on-site referee and the media reporters stared closely at the grass.

"21.11 meters!"

the surveyor announced.

"21.11 meters?!!"

"It's great. It surpassed the Ukrainian athlete's 21.08 meters in one fell swoop. This result will definitely win a medal, maybe a silver medal."

"It's an unprecedented silver medal."

The coaches shouted excitedly, and the leaders of the Chinese sports delegation in the audience also clapped their hands, smiled and whispered to the people around them.

Link heard that it was 21.11 meters, and was a little disappointed. The last two shots almost reached the limit of his body and strength, but he still failed to break through 22 meters.

It also shows that it is indeed difficult to achieve results in the shot put event. If he wants to break the record, he still needs to practice for a few more years.

Fortunately, there are still three chances to take action. I hope I can go further and strive to win the gold medal.

"Bah bang bang!"

After Link left the field, there was a burst of warm applause and cheers from the audience, and the Chinese audience waved red flags high and cheered for Link.

Players from other countries also cast admiring glances, and some took the initiative to say hello to him in broken Chinese.

Link replied a few words and sat in the waiting area, watching other people's games.

At the end of the first round, Adam Nelson of the American team still ranked first with a score of 21.16 meters.

Link ranked second with 21.11 meters, Ukrainian player Bilonog ranked third with 21.08 meters, Danish player Olsen, Australian player Krause and others entered the top eight.

After a short rest, continue with the second round.

According to the order of the first round, Ukrainian player Bilonog appeared first.

The first throw was 20.48 meters, and the second throw exploded, with a good score of 21.16 meters, tying Adam Nelson for first place, pushing Link's score to third. If someone else catches up, Maybe miss out on a medal.

"Oh, Link is so unlucky!"

Coach Li Yabing covered his forehead and sighed.

"Come on Link!!"

When the CCTV5 camera focused on Link, the audience in front of the TV shouted loudly, hoping to support him in achieving good results in this way.

Ukrainian player Bilonog's third throw was 21.02 meters, which was also good.

His best score in the shot put event at this Olympics is 21.16 meters. Whether he can win the gold medal depends on the performance of Adam Nelson and Link.

Adam Nelson came on fourth, and neither of the two players before him could throw more than 21 meters.

Adam Nelson is a stocky redneck who wears a Texas cowboy hat before playing and should be from the Texas area.

Nelson's first throw was 20.16 meters, which was an average performance.

The second throw was 21.06 meters, still unable to surpass the first round result.

The third throw was 19.68 meters.

So his best score in this Olympics was 21.16 meters, and his second-highest score was 21.06 meters, which was slightly inferior to the Ukrainian athlete. On the electronic display, his ranking dropped to second.

Danish player Olsen took the field sixth, with a best score of 21.03 meters in three throws. He failed to surpass Link's score and was temporarily ranked fourth.

"Link's medal is safe."

Coach Li Yabing breathed a sigh of relief.

Link is only 19 years old this year. It is his first time to participate in the Olympic shot put event. Winning a bronze medal is still a breakthrough achievement.

The coaching team also has an explanation for the National Sports Bureau.

Link enters seventh.

When he came on the field, many people in the audience shouted cheers, including many athletes from the national team, including Dayao, Yi Jianlian, Tian Liang and others.

Link took a deep breath, walked into the throwing area, picked up the shot put from the ground, and transferred it from his left hand to his right hand to release the pressure.

The referee signals that throwing can begin.

Link took several deep breaths, picked up the shot put and pressed it on his shoulders. He twisted his body backwards and slowly pressed down. He imagined that he was a tough spring. He seemed to be able to hear the sound of muscles rubbing and the muscles stretching. Sound, banging sound.

As he pressed down, he gradually felt the limit of his body. At this moment, he roared angrily, and his body suddenly twisted around, from pressing back to pounce forward.

In the process, the shot put also came out of the hand, drew a curve in the air, and hit the ground heavily.

Bang!

"It's over 21 meters!"

"Buddha bless you, it must be more than 21.16 meters."

The coaches and the Chinese audience are praying.

"21.14 meters!"

shouted the surveyor.

"What a pity, it's only two centimeters missing."

"Link is so unlucky, but it doesn't matter that he is only 19 years old. He will definitely have a chance to win the gold medal at the next Kyoto Olympics."

"Don't worry, there are still two chances, maybe he can create a miracle."

The audience was talking a lot, some were disappointed, and some were still looking forward to it.

Link is also a little disappointed with this result, but he will not be discouraged. He cannot be discouraged until he has completed all the throwing tasks.

He took a deep breath, picked up the shot put on the ground again, held it on his shoulder and stared into the distance.