Born to Run

On the afternoon of September 9, 2007, the Raul Guidobadi Stadium, which had been deserted for a period of time, was full of people, but the more than 5,000 auditoriums were almost full after noon.

Today is the day of the Rieti Grand Prix. As Italy, which has two IAAF World Tour events, the Golden League and the Grand Prix, the people's love and attention to track and field competitions have been far more than other ordinary countries.

The race at the IAAF Grand Prix Rieti Station, originally called the Rieti Games, was proposed by Sandro Giovannelli, a member of the IAAF Competition Committee in 1971. Six world records have appeared in this stadium.

Although the World Athletics Championships have just ended less than a week ago, the number of participants in the Rieti Grand Prix this year is very large. The total number of men and women events exceeds ten events. The competition has attracted many world-renowned athletes to participate. .

Among them, the number of people in the men's 100 meters event is much more than that of the general grand prix. There are 15 people, and they are divided into two parts, the preliminaries and the finals.

And the men's 100m is the only event in this Grand Prix that has preliminaries and finals. At the beginning of the Rieti Grand Prix this afternoon, the first one to appear was the 100m preliminaries.

In the waiting area of ​​Raul Guidobadi Stadium, Asafaville stared blankly at the athletes who walked not far in front of him to participate in the men's 100 meters.

"Michael Flatt, Wallace Spielmont, Marvin Anderson, Brandon Christie..."

Some of these people are familiar with him, Michael Flatt and Marvin Anderson, both of whom are athletes on the Jamaican track and field team, and he cooperates with many partners.

Wallace Spielmont is no stranger to him. As one of the world’s top men’s 200m special athletes, although I don’t know why he wants to participate in the men’s 100m of the Rieti Grand Prix, he just wants to be like Jie. Sen Gaby, like Yeqin, try the men's 100 meters.

"As for the others..."

Asafaville couldn't help but shook his head. If it were before the change, except for a few athletes, he wouldn't care who his opponents were at all.

Especially these people are not in the same group with him in the preliminaries. The few people he noticed just now are all players in the first group of the preliminaries. He is in the second group of the preliminaries.

Even if he really had to be vigilant and pay attention to his opponents, he would have reached the finals before.

But in this game, he didn't know why he inadvertently started to pay attention to these people, noticed their names, and remembered their best results, whether it would be a threat to him.

"Don't think so much, Asafaville, you need to strengthen your beliefs."

After adjusting his breathing lightly, Asafaville was back on the warm-up track and did another starting exercise.

His warm-up was not so serious before, but after the Osaka World Championships, he always felt an unprecedented pressure.

It seems that he can feel that the players around him who are waiting for the second preliminaries are all focused on him.

Not only the players, but media reporters should also be around him after the meeting.

Especially, if he performs poorly in the next game...

Just like in Osaka before, he got off the men's 100-meter race. The media reporters interviewed him no less than he had won the championship before, but these people did not come to congratulate him, but made a bit of ridicule.

"Yechin and Jason Gaby both gave me tremendous pressure after they came on the court. When I saw Yechin catching up when I was almost 80 meters in the final, I noticed that his feet were already standing with me in the corner of my perspective. In the same position, I was a little panicked. I didn't join the final gold medal fight. I gave up in the game. I stopped at that moment and continued to run."

——On August 27, 2007, in an interview with British BBC television, the Jamaican star and world record holder admitted that he lost in the 100-meter final because of his mentality, not his personal strength.

Former American sprinter Michael Johnson was critical of Asafaville’s performance, and said: “In the men’s 100-meter World Championships, every athlete should be able to get rid of distractions and go all out, but we can clearly Seeing Asafaville, he was thinking, I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose, and then he gave up the game at that time. Winning or losing is not the most important thing. What's really disappointing is that he faced him. The opponent lowered his head!"

Asafaville stood silently on the warm-up track, thinking about the many reports of criticism he had seen during the week.

He admitted that he was inadequate and his mentality was not well adjusted.

But even so, no reporter would let him go, letting go of the news that a world record holder was defeated by other players in the men's 100-meter final track of the World Championships.

He understood that what Michael Johnson was saying was the truth, and the other party saw it thoroughly, and completely analyzed all his short thoughts on the 100-meter track in the World Championship finals.

But in his heart, he still felt pain and anger!

"I will break the world record I set before in 2007. Yes, I assure everyone that I am in good condition and I have this strength!"

When interviewing reporters at the beginning of the year, it seemed to be vivid, but after the fiasco of the World Championships, some people took out what he said to mock him.

Facing the head-on challenge from Yechin and Jason Gaby, he lost, and the loser is naturally not worthy of sympathy, even if he holds a world record.

The men's 100-meter world record of 9.77 seconds, he ran this for the first time in the 2005 Athens Grand Prix, breaking the former world record of Morris Green and reaching the throne of the 100-meter trapeze.

Later, in 2006, he ran twice in Gateshead and Zurich in the United Kingdom to tie his own world record of 9 seconds and 77. However, after the World Championships, it seems that this honor has lost its former glory.

"I don't want to be a laughing stock..."

Asafaville clearly felt that his blood was surging rapidly, his whole body was hot and hot, and he was frustrated and lost a week after the end of the World Championships. Before the Rieti Grand Prix, he could no longer continue to suppress it.

At the World Championships, he performed very well in the fourth baton. After he got the baton, he was in fourth place and chased up to second place. He brought a silver medal to the Jamaican 4×100m relay team and broke. Jamaican men's national record of 4×100 meters.

I lost to Yeqin and Jason Gaby in the men's 100m head-to-head duel, but I still ran within 10 seconds, and the score of 9 seconds and 9 seconds was not bad.

I just didn't play well!

"Asafa, Asafa..."

A low cry interrupted his reverie.

Asafaville turned around and saw his teammate Dwight Thomas, who was in Jamaica 4×100 meters, calling himself.

"It's time to play!"

Dwight Thomas beckoned to Asafaville, indicating that the game time has come. The first group of players in the men's 100m preliminaries ended, and the second group of players had time to play.

"Hi, Asafa, are you okay?"

Dwight Thomas looked at Asafaville's silent and solemn appearance, and asked with some concern.

He is two years older than Asafaville. He is an athlete in the Jamaican track and field team's men's 100m and men's 110m hurdles. Before Asafawell's rise in the men's 100m event, he helped the Jamaican track and field team win He has won many championships in various events in Central America and the Caribbean. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he even won the fifth place in the 200m event at that time.

However, although the Jamaican track and field strength was not weak at that time, the overall level was not particularly outstanding compared to other Caribbean countries, and it was far behind the US team.

In the true sense, the Jamaican sprint project can have the qualifications to challenge the US team, or from the rise of Asafaville. In 2005, Asafaville broke Morris Green's world record for six years, bringing unprecedented confidence to Jamaican track and field.

Although many outsiders have questioned Asafaville's ability in the competition during this period, and the poor mentality of the competition, as the same track team teammates, Dwight Thomas and Youssé Bot and some other Jamaicans Like athletes, they are willing to stand behind him and support him.

Sprinting is never an easy task.

Especially for world-class competitions, outsiders can't imagine the pressure to bear. Asafaville could not bear the burden of the competition. Although they all felt it was a pity, they all understood it deeply.

It is not easy to sit on the throne of the world's number one man in the men's 100 meters. A little carelessness or improper performance will become the target of criticism.

"It's okay, Dwight!"

Asafaville shook his head slowly, his expression still a little cold.

Dwight Thomas has a good relationship with him. The two were teammates of the Jamaican relay team in 2002, but there are some things that can only be tasted alone and cannot be shared with outsiders.

"Take it easy, Asafa!" Dwight Thomas patted Asafaville on the shoulder and smiled with white teeth. "Although the World Championships are a big event, man, it's just one thing after all. A game. Winning and losing are very common, but if you look at you now standing on the track, you still have a lot of games to participate in next, if you are always immersed in the past, then your entire sports career is over. "

Asafaville was silent slightly, looking at Dwight Thomas, suddenly a smile flashed across his mouth, stretched out his fist and touched the opponent lightly, "Brother, you are right!"

The World Championships game is over. Whether I scold or ridicule me, the game is over.

From the moment I saw Yechin catching up with me on the track, the game was over.

What I need to face now is not what has passed, what I need to face is what is about to happen.

I came to Rieti, Italy to take part in the men's 100m race. Isn't that the same?

No matter how important a game is, as a professional athlete, if you lose, you will lose, but I still have the following games, and many other games.

It seems that a lot of things have been thought of in my heart. After Dwight Thomas said clearly, everything became clear.

No need to blame yourself, the game continues!

"Go, Dwight, come on!" After re-adjusting his mentality, the dignified color on Asafaville's face gradually faded, and there was no more hesitation in his eyes, replaced by the high-spirited fighting spirit of the world's number one .

...

"Onyourmarks!"

In the Raul Guidobadi Stadium, the second group of the men's 100-meter preliminaries began.

Asafaville stood on the sixth track and turned a deaf ear to the sounds of the stands on the sidelines. The various cameras raised by the reporter on the right side of the runway were completely ignored.

The opponents standing next to him are those he is familiar with, Mark Burns of Trinidad and Tobago, Golden Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis, his teammate Dwight Thomas, and unfamiliar ones. The two Italian home players are from Canada Hank Palmer and others.

But now, it doesn't matter.

In this game, this track, unless Jason Gaby and Yeqin are there, no one else will be regarded by him.

Breathing out gently, slowly stepped onto the running aid, leaned down and waited.

"SET!"

Snapped!

The gunfire of the game sounded.

Asafaville rushed out of the track almost as soon as the gunfire sounded, pedaling forcefully, and instant muscle bursts, just a starting point, Asafaville showed his top starting explosive strength.

The height of nearly 1.9 meters, the body shape of nearly two hundred pounds, and the powerful muscle strength are displayed vividly and vividly through a short start and acceleration at this moment.

Mark Burns of Trinidad and Tobago on the seventh track also started very quickly, but after only two steps from the start, he was overtaken by Asafaville.

On the fifth track, the Italian athlete Alessandro Guazi, he is on the track to the left of Asafaville, and he feels that he has just raised his head to accelerate, and Asafaville next to him is already "buzzing" like a sports car. Flew forward with a sound.

Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters...

After rushing out of the starting line, Asafaville ran to the first position among the eight players in just a few short steps, and continued to improve his speed.

In a short acceleration stage, other runners have already opened a distance of one or two positions.

Forty meters, fifty meters, sixty meters...

Asafaville ran faster and faster, his mind almost emptied everything. All he could see was the finish line in front, the opponents around him, the reporters and spectators on the sidelines, or all kinds of things during this period of time. Media reports and criticisms, at this time, these things were left behind by him.

He just wants to run!

Go all out!

Seventy meters, eighty meters, ninety meters...

Asafaville was like a bolt of lightning, and Kim Collins, Dwight Thomas, and Mark Burns behind him, these world-class fearsome athletes, almost felt a little weird at this moment.

Asafavir is too fast!

From the start, it was like a flash of lightning, and it rushed out all at once!

This is the preliminaries!

And it's just a preliminary for a grand prix. Shouldn't a top player like Asafaville save his energy and run a good result while waiting for the final?

Asafaville, who was running at high speed, seemed to have heard the voices of the opponents behind him. At the 90-meter position, about to approach the finish line, it seemed that he had just come back to his senses. He was running a game. Men's 100 meters preliminaries.

The thoughts in Asafaville's mind flashed, maintaining a high-speed running state while also slowing down, and his body crossed the finish line with inertia.

Crossing the finish line and slowly trotting to slow down, Asafaville subconsciously raised his eyes and glanced at the timing card on the sidelines. For a moment, his whole person was a little stunned.

9 seconds 74!

9 seconds 74!

"I broke the world record I held again?!"

Asafaville looked at the results on the time card almost incredulously. He did not expect that he actually ran a time of 9.74 seconds in this set of preliminaries, and this was his last few steps. God, put a little water on the results.

"what!!"

Before the finish line, Asafaville roared to the sky!

He did it!

Realized what he said at the beginning of the year that he would break the direct world record this year!

One week after the Osaka World Championships~www.wuxiaspot.com~, he once again used a new world record as a direct rectification!

At Raul Guidobadi Stadium, more than 5,000 Italian spectators on the scene saw the results on the time cards, and listened to the broadcast of the men’s 100-meter race. When Asafaville broke the world record again, all People hardly reacted.

Because it is the first race of the Rieti Grand Prix today, many people seem to have just sat down and have not yet fully entered the state of watching the race, but in the blink of an eye, a new 100-meter world record has been born before their eyes. .

...

Two and a half hours later, when the Italian audience watched the men's 100-meter final intently, waiting for Asafaville to perform a miracle again, breaking his world record of 9.74 seconds set in the preliminaries.

But this time the miracle could not be staged again. Asafaville failed to break the new world record he created in the preliminaries again. He just won the men's 100m championship in the Rieti Grand Prix with an amazing time of 9.78.