Arrival in Athens

In the large conference room of the Athletics Management Center, fifty-three track and field athletes heading to the Athens Olympics gathered here. Director Luo, the leader of the national team's Olympic track and field delegation, was introducing some on-site arrangements for the Olympics to the athletes from the podium.

"Due to the large number of participants, our country's athletes will mainly arrive in Greece in three batches. Currently, the first batch consists of the sailing team, rowing team, canoeing team, women's football team, and gymnastics team. Among them, the sailing team, rowing team, and canoeing team athletes have already arrived in Athens. After all, water sports are greatly affected by waves, so they need to arrive early to adapt to training."

"The second batch is the main force and will arrive in Athens by charter plane on August 8th. Table tennis, badminton, weightlifting, diving, swimming, archery, boxing, and so on are all in this batch. As basketball players are relatively tall, they will take another flight to Athens. Athletes from the first two batches will arrive in Athens before the opening ceremony on August 13th."

"As for our track and field delegation, we are arranged to be in the last batch to go to Athens. We don't have a charter plane and need to travel by ourselves. Specifically, based on the principle of proximity, we will depart in three teams. The team departing from Beijing will be led by me, with a layover in Frankfurt before arriving in Athens. The team departing from Huangpu will be led by Coach Sun, with a layover in the Netherlands before arriving in Athens. The team departing from Huacheng will be led by Coach Sha, with a layover in Hong Kong before arriving in Athens. Depending on the flights, we will arrive in Athens between August 17th and August 19th."

"Another thing I want to mention is participating in the opening ceremony of the Olympics. In the opening ceremony, our delegation will form a square array. Some athletes are recommended by the organization to participate, and other athletes who want to participate can also sign up voluntarily. So, does anyone here want to sign up?"

Participating in the opening ceremony of the Olympics is a very honorable thing, but at the same time, it is also very exhausting. The opening ceremony requires multiple rehearsals in advance, which consumes a lot of time. Moreover, the opening ceremony is scheduled from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. Athens time, and considering the return journey, it is estimated to last until three or four in the morning.

The opening ceremony consumes a lot of energy for athletes, so many athletes choose not to participate to avoid affecting their competition state. Furthermore, Director Luo has just explained the transportation plan for the track and field delegation. If athletes sign up to participate in the opening ceremony, it means they have to go to Athens several days in advance, which means they will be separated from the track and field delegation. In traditional concepts, acting alone apart from the collective is evidently not a good display.

When Director Luo asked if anyone wanted to sign up for the opening ceremony, none of the athletes raised their hands. Even if someone wanted to participate, seeing no one stepping forward, they restrained themselves.

Seeing no one raising their hand, Director Luo nodded with satisfaction. He didn't want an exception in his team.

At this moment, a athlete sitting in the back suddenly raised his right hand and shouted loudly, "I want to sign up for the opening ceremony!"

Everyone in the conference room was stunned, then collectively turned to look, only to find that the one raising his hand was Zhang Guan.

"Huh..." Director Luo was speechless for a moment. He didn't expect such an inconsiderate athlete, and this inconsiderate athlete was one of the leading figures in the track and field delegation.

However, after a moment of thought, Director Luo realized that Zhang Guan was only eighteen years old this year and was still just a big kid. Moreover, he had only participated in one international competition. At this age, being curious about things was quite normal.

"Zhang Guan, perhaps you don't know yet. Participating in the opening ceremony takes a lot of time. You have to get up early and stay up late, rehearsing in advance, walking around the stadium several times." A coach in the front row reminded.

"Yeah, our track and field delegation will arrive in Athens several days after the opening ceremony. During this period, you have to stay in the Olympic Village by yourself..." Another coach chimed in.

"It's okay. It's just a chance to get familiar with the competition venue and the local environment in advance. And I think participating in the opening ceremony of the Olympics is a very honorable thing, especially marching in the athlete's parade, representing the country in front of the world, it's a great honor for me." Zhang Guan replied.

Originally, some people wanted to dissuade Zhang Guan, thinking he was just young and curious, which is why some of the more experienced coaches in the front row advised him. But hearing Zhang Guan's words, it was evident that he had planned to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympics for a long time.

Director Luo sighed helplessly. With his identity, he couldn't take back what he had said. Since Zhang Guan volunteered in public, Director Luo could only agree and let Zhang Guan fill out an application form and report to the Olympic delegation headquarters.

The officials responsible for publicity in the delegation quickly approved it, agreeing to Zhang Guan's participation in the athlete parade of the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony athlete parade prioritized well-known and reputable athletes. With the title of Asia's fastest man, Zhang Guan's application would not be rejected. Moreover, Zhang Guan himself was over 1.9 meters tall, giving him an advantage in the queue.

The next day, Zhang Guan went to the bank to exchange some more euros and withdrew all the euros from his bank card. Now Zhang Guan had more than 160,000 euros on him.

The largest denomination of euros is 500 euros, so 160,000 euros is just over three stacks, which can easily fit into a larger envelope and be placed in the compartment of a carry-on bag.

According to customs regulations, there is a limit on the amount of foreign currency that can be carried out of the country. However, the Olympic delegation was flying on a chartered Boeing 747 operated by Air China, so customs clearance was straightforward all the way. This allowed Zhang Guan to successfully bring so much cash onto the plane.

At that time, the handling fees for cross-border withdrawals were much higher than ten years later, and international credit card giants were trying various methods to block UnionPay, resulting in UnionPay international credit cards being unusable in many places. Additionally, the foreign exchange administration imposed a daily limit of 5,000 yuan for cross-border withdrawals, not in U.S. dollars but in Chinese yuan, which was quite meager. It wasn't until 2008 that it was increased to 10,000 yuan per day. As China's tourists gradually went global and the country's foreign exchange reserves became more abundant, the daily withdrawal limit for cross-border withdrawals gradually increased to 100,000 yuan.

Because of various restrictions, Zhang Guan chose to directly carry euros in cash. In fact, at that time, most people traveling abroad also carried foreign currency in cash. Except for those well-known athletes who often traveled abroad and had foreign bank cards, most of the Olympic delegation carried cash.

There were no direct flights from the capital to Athens. If traveling by commercial airline, a layover would be required. However, the Olympic delegation had a chartered flight that went directly, so it only took about six hours to arrive in Athens.

Athens is five hours ahead of the capital. The flight departed at 2 p.m. local time and arrived in Greece at 3 p.m. Athens time. The Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games provided a special "Olympic Family" channel for participating countries in the Olympics, which allowed them to go through customs directly. The delegation's bus had already been waiting in the closed parking lot of the airport, and after the athletes disembarked, they boarded the bus and headed straight to the Olympic Village.

There were no ceremonies or media interactions at the airport, which undoubtedly disappointed the waiting journalists. There were over two hundred journalists at the airport that day, only able to take photos of athletes pulling their suitcases across the road.

The Olympic Village for the Athens Olympics was located at the foot of a mountain and was divided into accommodation and international areas, both with restricted access. The accommodation area only allowed athletes, officials, and Olympic Village staff to enter. Most of the buildings in the accommodation area were three-story buildings with an apartment-style layout. Each apartment had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a balcony, essentially a layout of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one living room. Each bedroom had two beds, so one apartment could accommodate eight athletes. The Olympic Village also had facilities such as hospitals, religious service centers, and libraries, all of which were free.

Next, Zhang Guan would participate in the rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Before the athletes arrived, the Athens Organizing Committee had already held multiple rehearsals for the opening ceremony, including rehearsals for the opening performance, lighting and sound, torch relay, and ignition. The committee required that only some athletes participate in the rehearsal for the entry ceremony, but the flag bearer of the parade team must participate.

The flag bearer for the Chinese delegation was the basketball team's captain. Since the captain of the basketball team was participating in the rehearsal, naturally all the basketball players would participate in the rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Zhang Guan had long wanted to leave the Olympic Village, so under the pretext of participating in the rehearsal, he also followed along.

On rehearsal day, at the Athens Olympic Complex.

As soon as he got off the bus, Zhang Guan grabbed the team's translator and said, "I have a stomach ache. I need to go to the bathroom for a while. Help me ask for leave!"

"Is everything okay? Should I have the team doctor take a look at you when we get back?" The translator asked.

"It's okay, just a little indigestion." Zhang Guan replied.

The translator nodded and pointed to a sign in the distance, saying, "Don't get lost. We'll meet there after the rehearsal. That's the sign. If you can't find us, just wait there. Don't wander off."

"No problem, you can rest assured. I won't get lost." Zhang Guan said as he clutched his stomach and rushed into the nearby bathroom.

A few minutes later, seeing that the team participating in the rehearsal had all entered the stadium, Zhang Guan quietly slipped out. He took out a map of Athens and studied it carefully, then quickly disappeared into the crowd.