Before starting, Chen Qiang felt nervous, irritable and uneasy, but when he started running, all these negative emotions disappeared. Instead, he was a focused heart and devoted himself to the competition.
After starting the curve, Chen Qiang was still the same. He did not sprint quickly, but instead allowed himself to enter the rhythm as soon as possible, and was also preparing for the next stage of straight sprint.
Soon, Chen Qiang found a familiar sense of rhythm. Running at his own pace is definitely the most physically efficient one.
At the same time, Chen Qiang also divided some energy to observe other athletes, especially Lidir. He wanted to know what kind of running method Western athletes in this era used to run 400 meters.
At the previous North China Games, Chinese athletes used their personal instinct to run 400 meters. This has no technical content and there is no way to run.
Lidir can run a world record of 47.6 seconds, and it is absolutely impossible for him to run by instinct alone. Even if this result is in later generations, he is a national athlete. When athletes reach this level, they must master some sprinting skills.
Chen Qiang had never seen a first-class Western athlete running 400 meters before, so he wanted to understand Western athletes through Lidir and how far the Western world has developed in the 400-meter sprint event.
After the start, Lidir ran very fast, even faster than Chen Qiang, but this speed is definitely not the kind of brainless acceleration and sprint forward, but a planned speedup.
When Lidir's speed increased to a certain level, he did not continue to accelerate, but maintained that speed and continued to run forward in a constant speed.
"Lidir chose to run at a high speed at a constant speed! Is this the 400-meter running method of Western athletes in this era? But with his current speed, he will definitely not be able to support the finish line." Chen Qiang thought to himself.
Although the competition has just begun, Chen Qiang has tried to analyze Lidir's running method.
"If I'm not mistaken, Lidill plans to run at a faster uniform speed and run as much as possible. When he loses his energy later, he already has a certain lead. At that time, he should forcefully squeeze his physical strength and then maintain his lead to the finish line. This is a bit like a tactical strategy for mid-range running."
Although Chen Qiang's skills in 400-meter sprint are not superb, his analytical and judgment skills are first-class. After all, Chen Qiang is a professor at the University of Sports. After so many years of theoretical research, he has been knowledgeable. Since Lidir chose to run at a high speed at a constant speed, he has already guessed the roughly.
At the same time, Lidir was also paying attention to Chen Qiang's movements.
"Chen Qiang ran a little slow!" Lidir could feel that Chen Qiang was not as fast as himself just by just scanning his eyes.
Lidir understood that Chen Qiang ran on purpose. Chen Qiang is the fastest athlete in Asia. Chen Qiang can run for 10 seconds, 5 seconds, 200 meters, and 21 seconds, 7 seconds. If Chen Qiang is willing to run faster, it will definitely not be just this speed.
"Is this deliberately saving energy and waiting for the sprint? This is a 400-meter running method that is behind. Unfortunately, although Chen Qiang is very good, he is an Asian athlete after all. Asian sprinting is still much behind Europe. Even the 400-meter skill has stayed more than ten years ago!" Lidir said in his heart.
Lidir believes that Chen Qiang uses the running method of charging force in the first half and exerting force in the second half. This running method was once popular in Europe, but it is outdated. Now Western athletes prefer to exert force at the beginning of the competition, first gain the lead, and then squeeze themselves as much as possible in the second half to maintain the leading advantage.
...
In the first 100 meters, Lidir's speed was faster than Chen Qiang, so when he entered the straight, he had already gained a leading advantage.
Seeing Lidill leading the way, the British audience in the main stands suddenly felt proud. The depression that had lost to Chen Qiang before was wiped out, and even the cheers became more and more imposing.
British Consul Edward looked at French Consul Batner with the corner of his eyes, and a proud expression appeared on his face. Batner stared at the track with his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
On the track, Chen Qiang also ran the first 100 meters and entered the straight. He immediately started to accelerate, almost running forward with a sprint speed. At this time, as long as he was not blind, he could tell with his naked eyes that Chen Qiang's speed was faster than Lidir.
"Chen Qiang, come on! Chen Qiang, come on!"
Chen Qiang's acceleration also ignited the Chinese audience around him, and they began to cheer for Chen Qiang in unison.
But for the British audience in the main stands, Chen Qiang's speedup made them a little unexpected.
Not only the audience, Lidir didn't expect that Chen Qiang would speed up after entering the straight.
"Did he start sprinting after running 100 meters? Why so early? The speed is so fast, does he think he can sprint to the finish line? It's impossible. No one has such a great physical fitness. He will slow down at this speed." Lidir said in his heart.
Through this fast sprint, Chen Qiang quickly narrowed the gap with Lidir. When they entered the corner, they were basically on the same starting line again.
Of course, since the curve starts not on the same horizontal line, unless the gap is too large, it is difficult to judge with the naked eye who is leading and who is lagging behind before entering the last 100 meters straight.
Entering the curve again, Chen Qiang's speed slowed down again. He had to start accumulating strength and adjusting to prepare for the last hundred meters of sprint.
Lidir also noticed that Chen Qiang slowed down.
"Is it because I rushed too hard just now, and I don't have the energy now? It's impossible. Chen Qiang's physical condition shouldn't be worse than that!" Liddill said in his heart.
Lidir is completely unaware of Chen Qiang's running method now. In fact, Chen Qiang's running method is not difficult to understand, which is accumulating strength, sprinting, and sprinting again. However, in this era, the 400-meter physical energy distribution technology is still in the primitive stage, so Lidir cannot understand Chen Qiang's running method.
In the 1930s, the 400-meter sprinting technique was still too behind, and the gap with later generations was too big.
In the 100-meter sprint event, the world record in 1930 was 10 seconds 3, and the world record in 2000 was 9 seconds 79, and the gap was about 0.5 seconds. According to this data, the gap of 400 meters should be 2 seconds.
But in fact, the 400m project, the 1930 world record was 47 seconds 6, and the 2000 world record was 43 seconds 18, a difference of 4.4 seconds.
Behind this gap is the technical gap.
Physical fitness allocation is the core technology of 400 meters. Many coaches and athletes in later generations will study it specifically. Every Olympic final, many professionals will specifically analyze the running methods used by the eight finalists, and even many doctoral or master's graduation thesis, which will be used as the topic.
In the 1930s, athletes were not profitable professions, and many people worked part-time as athletes. 400 meters was not as popular as 100-meter sprint, so how could anyone specialize in studying 400 meters technology?
...
Back to the topic, the contestants on the track ran to a distance of 250 meters.
Lidir also began to slow down. Although running at a constant speed would save energy, Lidir ran at a relatively fast speed, so at the 250-meter position, his physical strength could not be supported.
400-meter sprint is a mixed-oxygen type sprint event with anaerobic proportions and aerobic proportions. The so-called anaerobic exercise refers to the stage from the start to 200 meters and the last 100 meters to the sprint, while aerobic exercise is mainly between 200 meters and 300 meters.
For normal people, anaerobic exercise can last more than 100 meters. This is still the kind of good person who exercises regularly. If you are an otaku who does not exercise regularly, you may not even be able to support anaerobic exercise of 100 meters.
The athlete's condition is better. Anaerobic exercise can last until 200 meters. After 200 meters, athletes will have very low oxygen intake, which will cause lactic acid to accumulate if the sugar in the body does not have time to decompose through oxygen, and muscles will become tired and sore. At this time, they need to inhale oxygen in physiology and excrete metabolites through breathing.
Therefore, the stage between 200 meters and 300 meters will be a process of changing from anaerobic exercise to aerobic exercise.
Lidir's previous high-speed and uniform running was anaerobic exercise. After running to 250 meters, he began to move into aerobic exercise, and his speed naturally slowed down a lot.
On the contrary, at this time, Chen Qiang began to gradually increase his rhythm. He did not dare to speed up too quickly, so as not to bear it. This rhythmic speedup will save more physical strength.
As the last straight road gets closer and closer, Chen Qiang's speed is getting faster and faster. You can feel with the naked eye that Chen Qiang's pace frequency is gradually increasing.
Finally, an athlete rushed into the straight.
That was Lidir, who took the lead and rushed out of the corner and then started the last hundred-meter sprint.
Chen Qiang followed closely and entered the straight. Although he was slower than Lidill, he was faster than the other two contestants.
After entering the last straight track, the order of the front and back between the players was instantly clear.
Lidill was in the lead, which inspired the emotions of the British audience in the main stand, and the final straight track was just below the main stand. At this time, the British audience in the main stand stood up, waved and shouted at their heroes! For a moment, the cheers of the British even surpassed the Chinese audience all over the audience.
When they found that Chen Qiang was behind, many Chinese audiences did stop their voices. There was a sense of disappointment in their eyes, and more were unwillingness and expectation.
On the track, Chen Qiang was also a little uncomfortable with this situation. This was the first time he had lagged behind other athletes since he came to this era and became an athlete.
In the 100-meter sprint, Chen Qiang has the starting skills that surpass this era, so he can always be one step ahead, build an advantage at the starting stage, and then lead the way to the finish line.
In the 200-meter sprint, Chen Qiang not only started, but also had curve skills that surpassed this era. Through the curve ahead, Chen Qiang will definitely accumulate advantages. When he rushed out of the curve and entered the straight, he will definitely be in the leading position.
In the 400-meter sprint, Chen Qiang still has curve skills and physical fitness distribution skills. If he faces an opponent of the same level, Chen Qiang should also be the leader.
But Chen Qiang’s opponent today is Eric Lidir, the holder of the 400-meter world record!
At this time, Chen Qiang had only one belief left in his heart, and that was: "I want to catch up with him!"
Chen Qiang unconsciously accelerated the pace frequency under his feet, which was faster than his normal acceleration. This might disrupt Chen Qiang's sense of rhythm, but at this time, Chen Qiang obviously couldn't control so much!
Accelerate and sprint, Chen Qiang began to release his physical strength without any scruples. What he needs now is speed.
After the three hundred meters ahead, Chen Qiang's speed was of course much worse than the sprint of the 100-meter sprint, but it was three points faster than Lidill.
Because before this, Chen Qiang had a brief adjustment and accumulation of energy, which allowed Chen Qiang to recover some physical fitness and ensured that he could still make a short sprint.
Lidir was running at a high speed at a constant speed. His physical fitness was already bottoming out. At this time, he was relying solely on pressing to keep running.
In this way, the two of them were slowing down one by one, and with fifty meters left from the finish line, Chen Qiang finally approached Lidir.
Seeing Chen Qiang chasing him, the Chinese audience burst into thunderous momentum again.
However, this momentum did not overwhelm the British audience in the main stands. The British audience had already realized that the time for decisive victory was coming, and it was time to see the two athletes, who could hold on to this breath.
...
"Chen Qiang is catching up!" Lidir was also shocked.
Lidil originally thought that other athletes' physical fitness had been exhausted, so he could run to the finish line with the lead, but unexpectedly, Chen Qiang had physical fitness to sprint in the last straight track.
Lidir could feel that Chen Qiang's speed seemed to be a little faster than himself, so he exerted force and increased his speed to about the same as Chen Qiang.
With only forty meters left from the finish line, Chen Qiang began to slow down. The physical energy he had accumulated before had been consumed from the sprint just now, and his body also began to change from anaerobic exercise state to aerobic exercise state.
"Is the physical fitness that has ended?" Chen Qiang was unwilling to accept that he didn't want to lose to Lidir.
But just as Chen Qiang slowed down, Lidir also slowed down.
Lidir was already squeezing physical strength. In order to keep up with Chen Qiang's speed just now, he had exhausted all his strength. At this time, Lidir was supporting him with his willpower.
"Lidir has no physical fitness anymore. I still have a chance. I can win, I can't give up!" Chen Qiang focused his attention ahead, and at this time he was still thirty meters away from the finish line.
Chen Qiang's physical strength has also been exhausted, and he will also rely on his willpower to force his way through the end!
...
In the stands, British Consul Edward had lost his gentlemanly demeanor, and now he couldn't sit still. He stood up, clenched his fists, and couldn't help but shout with the audience around him.
French Consul Batner and Italian Consul Elio were both shocked. In their impression, Edward always seemed so calm, and calmness was accompanied by a sense of arrogance unique to the British. That kind of arrogance gave people the feeling that I had seen so many markets, and nothing could touch my heart.
However, Edward was like an ordinary audience, excited and shouting. In the face of this game, Edward lost his arrogance. He was infected by the athletes on the field, just like a lofty god who fell to the mortal world and integrated into the mortals.
In the stands where Chinese people gathered on the other side, Guan Wu's voice was almost hoarse, but he was still roaring at the track.
"Roll! Man, go ahead! Come on!"
Mr. Guan Wu in the stands had a distorted expression, looking like a madman, and there was a person who was as crazy as him in front, back and forth!
Whether they know sports or whether they know the 400m sport, they are already attracted by the track at this time. They dare not blink at the players near the finish line, hoping that Chen Qiang can win.
...
The last twenty meters are left from the finish line.
Lidir could clearly feel that his physical energy had been completely exhausted because he was almost unable to feel the existence of his legs, and he could fall down at any time when he was exhausted. At this time, Lidir was like a piece of sugar cane waste that had just rolled out of the juicer, and he could no longer squeeze out any juice.
But Lidir did not give up, he still insisted that he was not the winner, not the champion, but the faith!
Lidir was originally a person who could give up everything for his faith. At the Olympics that year, he gave up the 100-meter race for his faith. Now, the faith in his heart is also bringing him endless power, allowing him to run on.
Now Lidir is actually relying on the faith in his heart to persevere. He firmly believes that God will not give up on himself, and he firmly believes that God will give him strength to persevere to the end.
In today's game, this power of faith turned into an obsession and began to control his body, control him to take the next step, control him to rush to the finish line!
At the same time, Chen Qiang's physical strength was also completely exhausted, and his body reached its limit, but he was still rushing forward desperately.
Chen Qiang also has his own beliefs, but it is not God, but his desire for champions and his persistence in victory.
His source of power is not the obsession formed by faith, but the cheering voices of the Tianjin elders around him!
At this time, Chen Qiang could no longer tell what the Chinese audience in the audience were shouting. Because of the lack of oxygen, his consciousness gradually became blurred, and he could not even see the finish line ahead.
But Chen Qiang felt that he could see clearly the compatriots in the audience in the distance cheering for him.
In other words, their images have long been imprinted into Chen Qiang's mind. When Chen Qiang was about to be unable to hold on, those faces of compatriots and those expressions that expected him to win unconsciously appeared in front of him.
At this moment, Chen Qiang suddenly realized that what he was pursuing was not just personal victory, but a sense of national honor. He wanted to dedicate the glory of victory to every compatriot.
Perhaps even Chen Qiang did not realize that he had been assimilated by this era without realizing it. He was like the Chinese in this era, eager to prove himself and be recognized by the world.
What Chen Qiang is looking forward to is not his identification with individuals, but his identification with the entire country and the entire nation!
Chen Qiang also entered that state, his body gradually began to be uncontrolled by consciousness, and what he was moving forward was the belief in self-improvement in his heart!
After entering the last ten meters, it is no longer just a contest between the two athletes, but also a contest on the spiritual level and a contest of beliefs.
Lidir relies on faith to support himself, while Chen Qiang relies on his sense of national honor to move forward!
...
A suffocation spread throughout Chen Qiang's body, and he even felt that he was about to faint in the next second.
But Chen Qiang also saw the familiar finish line, and the finish line was all in front of him. He only needed to hold on for another second before he could rush through there.
"Crush!" Chen Qiang only had this word in his mind.
At this moment, Chen Qiang squeezed out a trace of strength from somewhere, and then poured it all into his legs.
He kicked the ground violently, and he stepped forward, and he even felt the muscles in his legs twitching!
It was at this moment that Chen Qiang suddenly led by Lidir by half a position.
Just half of the body is a gap that can be seen by the naked eye!
Immediately afterwards, Chen Qiang led the lead with half of his body and rushed to the finish line.
Chen Qiang's chest touched the end point and pulled a rope. The resistance brought by the rope immediately made Chen Qiang feel real!
"I finally won!" Chen Qiang stopped slowly, and then sat on the ground in a state of exhaustion. He gasped, but a sunny smile appeared on his face.
Chapter completed!