Qualification and Elimination

In the country, the television stations did not broadcast the 100-meter sprint competition. This was because at the same time as this competition, the women's singles table tennis semifinals were taking place, with the national player Zhang Yining facing off against South Korea's 'World Number One Chopper' Kim Kyung-ah. The status and popularity of table tennis in the country go without saying. Compared to a preliminary round of athletics, the television stations naturally chose to broadcast the table tennis match.

However, Japanese television stations broadcasted the entire Olympic 100-meter sprint heats.

The atmosphere for athletics in Japan has always been strong, and this time, the three Japanese athletes all had high hopes of advancing to the next round, so the Japanese television stations chose to broadcast the heats of the 100-meter sprint.

At the end of the first heat, Masuo Shingo had successfully advanced, in the fifth heat, Hiroshi Doi was in a pending status, and in the sixth heat, Masahara Nobuharu, as a veteran, was also eagerly awaited by the Japanese audience.

On the television screen, Masahara Nobuharu and the Pole Lukasz Zyla were neck and neck, while the commentator was passionately describing the race.

"Masahara Nobuharu and Zyla are neck and neck, Masahara, come on! Come on! Push through! Almost crossing the line simultaneously, oh, no! It's Masahara leading. It must be Masahara in front!"

With the commentator's words, the footage of the finish line appeared again on the screen. Although the gap between Masahara Nobuharu and Zyla was not large, upon careful observation, it could be discerned that Masahara Nobuharu crossed the finish line first.

"Congratulations to Masahara, he has achieved second place and successfully entered the second round of the repechage, his time is 10.33 seconds! The Polish athlete Lukasz Zyla finished third with a gap of 0.02 seconds. And the first place in this heat is Chinese athlete Zhang Guan, his time is... 9.96 seconds! A new Asian record is born!"

The commentator's voice suddenly became excited: "9.96 seconds, this is the best time in the heats so far and also a new Asian record! The previous Asian record was 9.98 seconds, also set by Zhang Guan, and today, he has improved this time by 0.02 seconds! According to the information I have, this is the third time he has run under 10 seconds this year! He is truly the deserved fastest man in Asia!"

At this point, the camera of the Olympic broadcast also focused on Zhang Guan, and below the screen, it was noted that his time of 9.96 seconds was a new Asian record.

The news of breaking the Asian record flashed on the big screen in the stadium, followed by a brief round of applause. Although Europeans were not interested in Asian records, any new record was worthy of respect, so the audience still gave some encouraging applause.

"How come the Asian record is broken again!" Coach Yu's expression was somewhat trance-like, as if forgetting to celebrate.

Last year in the Philippines, when Zhang Guan broke the Asian record, Coach Yu was excited and didn't sleep for several days; half a month ago, at the National Athletics Grand Prix, Zhang Guan again broke the Asian record, and Coach Yu was equally happy and couldn't sleep all night; and today, Coach Yu suddenly realized that he wasn't as excited as before.

In the next moment, Coach Yu suddenly understood why he didn't feel that excitement anymore.

"9.96, a new Asian record, it's a pity, this is the Olympics, but with a time of 9.96 seconds, we can't even get a medal." Coach Yu smiled self-deprecatingly, secretly thinking: "I'm being too greedy. Being able to advance to the second round and break the Asian record is already good enough. Why do I dare to hope for a medal!"

...

Since the domestic television stations did not broadcast this competition, the journalists stationed in Athens from the television stations were still on-site. Zhang Guan had just entered the rest area, and the journalists ran over.

"Zhang Guan, first of all, congratulations on advancing to the second round and achieving a historic breakthrough. How do you feel now?"

"Feeling pretty good," Zhang Guan said with a smile.

"The time of 9.96 seconds once again broke your own Asian record. Are you satisfied with this result?"

"After all, the first-round opponent was not very strong. There was no need to run too fast."

"So you're holding back?" The journalist was somewhat surprised. He felt that with the level of Chinese athletes, the first round must have been a full effort, not to mention the 9.96-second Asian record, which couldn't possibly have been a result held back.

Zhang Guan nodded. "Of course, after all, there's another match coming up, so I had to save some energy for the first round."

The journalist was stunned for a moment, thinking that this kid was probably bragging, but still said, "Then I wish you success in the upcoming match!"

...

The competition continued, and the next group to appear, the seventh group, was considered the strongest and most anticipated in the heats. This group had two big-name athletes, Asafa Powell from Jamaica and British star Jason Gardener.

Zhang Guan continued to watch the upcoming matches on the TV in the rest area, and just for Powell's appearance, Zhang Guan would also choose to watch this match.

Powell at this time was not yet the strongest sprinter in the world, but in the future, he would dominate the entire 100-meter sprint event. From 2005 until the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Bolt emerged, Powell broke the world record twice, winning dozens of 100-meter titles, with countless honors. If it weren't for Bolt's sudden rise, Powell would probably have dominated the 100-meter scene for several years.

At this time, Powell was just a rising star, far from reaching his peak, nor showing absolute dominance, but even so, Powell was still one of the top five favorites for the championship.

This group did not produce any upsets. Powell easily took first place, and British athlete Jason Gardener took second. The times of the top four athletes were all under 10.30 seconds, and even the fifth-place runner ran 10.32 seconds, with a great chance of advancing to the next round.

In the next group, the reigning Olympic champion in the men's 100 meters, Maurice Greene, was about to appear.

Maurice Greene was the last American to appear in the heats.

Speaking of which, Maurice Greene was not the highest-performing American sprinter. The highest-performing American sprinter was the world record holder, Tim Montgomery. Since 2001, Montgomery has won multiple world championships, broke the world record with 9.78 seconds in 2002, and in recent years, has always been just above Maurice Greene, but recently, Montgomery's girlfriend was involved in a doping scandal, and he also did not pass the U.S. Olympic trials. Montgomery's girlfriend is the 'Athletics Queen' Marion Jones.

In the same group as Maurice Greene was Jamaican athlete Dwight Thomas, but in the Athens Olympics, Jamaicans were not as dominant as they were four years later, and their strength in the 100 meters was clearly not as strong as the Americans'.

This group's competition also did not produce any upsets. Defending champion Maurice Greene finished first in the group, with Jamaican Dwight Thomas in second place. It is worth mentioning that a sprinter from Hong Kong, China also appeared in this group, but unfortunately only achieved a time of 10.70 seconds.

In the ninth group of the preliminaries, there were no well-known athletes, and before the start of the race, it was considered the third weakest group in terms of strength, but the level of performance shown by the athletes in this group turned out to be the weakest. The first-place finisher in this group only ran a time of 10.39 seconds, a time that would not even get into the top five in other groups. And the third-place finisher from Kazakhstan luckily entered the second round with a time of 10.43 seconds.

In the last group of the competition, the 100-meter champion from last year's Paris World Championships, Kim Collins, appeared. Kim Collins was ranked third in the world last year, although his ranking has dropped this year, he is still considered a contender for the medals.

In the competition, Kim Collins indeed lived up to expectations and won first place in the group, and the strength of the athletes in this group was also strong, with five runners running under 10.30 seconds.

The first round of preliminaries for the men's 100-meter sprint at the Athens Olympics officially ended. Apart from the top three in each group, other athletes whose performance ranked in the top ten could also advance to the next round. The tenth-place finisher had a time of 10.34 seconds, which was similar to what everyone predicted before the race.

After the race, the athletes who did not advance to the second round could leave, while those who advanced to the second round had to continue waiting, because several hours later, the repechage for the second round of the 100-meter sprint would be held.

...

Chen Jian had already changed his clothes and put his competition uniform and spiked shoes in his bag. The white number was placed on top by him, and he looked at his number, hesitating to zip up the travel bag.

Chen Jian's Olympics had ended, and now he felt somewhat regretful. If he had just been a little faster, maybe he could have made it to the second round. At this moment, he suddenly had an urge to cry. For him, running under the Olympic A standard was already a very difficult task. In four years, he would be older, and it would be impossible for him to achieve the A standard again. So this would be the only Olympic Games in his career, and he didn't want his Olympics to end like this, he was unwilling.

Not far away, Zhang Guan looked at Chen Jian's back, wanting to go over and comfort him, but didn't know how to do it.

Zhang Guan looked at Coach Yu beside him, and Coach Yu shook his head at Zhang Guan, then pointed to a distance, indicating Zhang Guan to step aside and not disturb Chen Jian.

Indeed, in this situation, letting Chen Jian calm down on his own might be the best approach.

Looking at Chen Jian's back, Zhang Guan once again felt the cruelty of competitive sports. In the Olympics, every athlete came with dreams, but on the road to that dream, only a few could reach the finish line, while others were destined to be eliminated.

"Now that I've set foot on this road, let's become the one who reaches the final finish line!" Zhang Guan silently thought."