Beijing time, 2:30 AM, July 27th.
CCTV broadcast hall.
Because it was early morning and a preliminary round.
CCTV didn't have a famous commentator.
Instead, it was a new host named Niu Yin Hao.
But his partner was Zhao Jing, the 2-time world swimming champion in backstroke.
“Congratulations to the Chinese women’s swimming team!!”
“They qualified for the women’s 100m freestyle relay finals tomorrow with a third-place finish!”
“The final is at 8:30 PM Paris time!”
“That's 2:30 AM tomorrow in Beijing time!”
“Because there is a six-hour time difference between Paris and Beijing!”
Niu Yin Hao smiled slightly and watched the television broadcast.
At this time, the men’s 100m freestyle relay preliminaries were already on the big screen.
“Alright, let's calm down after the excitement and watch the upcoming men’s 100m freestyle relay preliminaries!”
“Team China is in the second group.”
“First, we'll watch the eight teams in the first group.”
“They are the United States, Australia…”
“The US and Australia have been the long-time rulers of this event!”
“They have rich competition experience and top international players.”
“The champion of this event at the last Tokyo Olympics was Australia.”
“The US took silver…...”
“And in the previous few Olympics, including Rio and Beijing, except for the 2012 London Games where they were overtaken by France at the last minute, the US has always been the champion team in this event!”
“In the 14 Olympic Games, Team USA has won 10 gold medals!”
“They are definitely the dominant force in this event!”
“……”
Zhao Jing, as if reciting a script, spoke about the history of the eight participating teams.
At this time, the starting gun fired.
The eight teams instantly darted forward like swordfish.
“The race begins!”
“Coach Zhao, I see that Australia and the US have not fielded their full strength lineups in these eight teams!”
“Yes…...”
“To ensure a final ranking, many strong swimming teams will use substitute players to secure the finals berth.”
“Looking at the entire world, only a handful of countries can be so confident!”
“Alright, the US and Australia have established an absolute advantage!”
“Even with their substitute lineup, their strength is still terrifying!”
Finally!!
Without any surprise, Australia finished first in the group with a time of 3:12.25.
The US team, only 0.36 seconds behind, came in second with a time of 3:12.61.
Canada placed third, 3:12.77.
The difference between them and the US was also very small.
But the fourth place and beyond had a significant gap, more than two seconds behind.
“The strongest in this group should be the US, Australia and Canada.”
“But Canada is fielding their full lineup!”
“Now let's see the second group, Team China is about to appear!”
“After this race, the final qualification list will be revealed - Huh?”
Zhao Jing looked at the starting lineup he received for Team China, surprised.
He looked up at the big screen, the eight teams in the second group were introduced.
They were all walking out from the player tunnel.
The four members of the Chinese team, wearing bright red down jackets and white swimming trunks, came out stretching their limbs and bodies.
There was indeed a figure in the group that was unfamiliar to Zhao Jing.
He didn't even have any information about this athlete named Chen Shu, so the broadcast booth quickly started searching for it and then sent it to Zhao Jing.
“Team China also sent out a substitute lineup this time!”
“The list I received shows that our starting swimmer for the first leg is named Chen Shu, a young swimmer who is only 13 years old, from Su City. He's 13 years old, very young!”
“Chen Shu just qualified for the Olympics two months ago.”
“He won the 50m freestyle championship with a time of 22.01 in the championship!”
“He is also the youngest swimmer participating in the Paris Olympics this time!”
“Let's cheer for him!!! ”
“Oh? A 13-year-old?!”
Niu Yin Hao was also taken aback. Team China was really taking a bold move this time.
Sending a 13-year-old child to compete?
He carefully checked the starting lineup and information given by the broadcast booth before he dared to confirm this fact.
“Yes, he's just 13 years old.”
“But our Chinese swimming team has always had a good tradition of veterans mentoring younger athletes.”
“It's not unprecedented for a 13-year-old to participate in the Olympics!”
“The second and third legs are still our familiar Wang Hao Yu and Chen Jun Er.”
“They were the starting players in this event at the last Tokyo Olympics.”
“Also, at last year's Zhejiang Provincial Games, the two of them, along with Pan Zhan Le and Zhejiang Provincial team's Hong Jin Quan, together set a new Asian record of 3:10.88 and won the Games championship!”
“So, in this event, we have the potential to challenge for a medal!”
“The anchor leg is – Pan! Zhan! Le! who just broke the world record in the 100m freestyle at the Doha World Championships in February of this year!”
The camera then gave Pan Zhan Le a close-up.
Zhao Jing, seeing him walking towards the starting blocks, hurriedly said.
“Of course, the starting lineup can be adjusted at any time.”
“We see that Pan Zhan Le seems to be swimming the first leg.”
“Is he aiming for another record attempt?”
“It seems so, Pan Zhan Le is the lead swimmer now.”
“The first leg of the 100m freestyle relay is like the individual event, it can be counted towards the freestyle 100m score!”
“Let's watch and see what kind of time Pan Zhan Le can achieve this time?”
Beep –
The signal for the start of the second group of the preliminaries sounded.
Pan Zhan Le stood on the starting block of the third lane, stretching his body. …
The second and fourth lanes were the two strongest competitors in this group – Italy and the UK.
“We're in the third lane!”
“The race is about to begin, let's cheer for Pan Zhan Le!”
Beep!
With a starting signal, the men's 4x100m freestyle relay preliminaries, second group, officially began.