“Sorry, Huang, this is a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulation!”
“All swimmers must undergo urine testing immediately after getting off the plane!”
“Please cooperate!”
The WADA official said.
Many athletes were helpless, but they had no choice. WADA was the Achilles' heel of athletes, so everyone followed the official to the designated place for urine testing.
Chen Shu had to do it as well.
He quickly peed and then rejoined the swimming team.
“This is the first time we have to do a urine test right after getting off the plane. Usually, it’s a month before the competition, and then 72 hours before, right?”
“Who knows? They probably have their eye on us.”
“Damn it! I knew these white guys had something up their sleeves. They forced us to pee right after we arrived!”
“I have a feeling this Olympics won’t be as smooth sailing as we thought!”
“……….”
The swimming team’s world champions, Zhang Yu Fei, Qin Hai Yang, and Pan Zhan Le, were chatting.
Chen Shu followed behind them, silent.
Although he had qualified for the Olympics, he was just a small fish in the swimming team.
No one expected him to make it to the finals, let alone stand on the podium and win a gold medal.
They just wanted him to experience the games. After all, he was only 13 years old.
“Alright, keep your voices down!”
“I told you about this possibility before we came. Don’t do anything unnecessary, just hold it in!”
“Also, don’t eat anything randomly, especially mineral water. Don’t drink anything that’s out of your sight, got it?”
“Once we’re at the Olympics, grab some purified water and drink some whenever you can. It’ll be easier to pee for the urine tests!”
The team leader, Huang Wei, said.
He was the Deputy Director of the Swimming Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.
He was previously in charge of tennis. This time, he was leading the entire swimming team.
“Got it, Coach Huang!”
Qin Hai Yang and the others couldn’t help but roll their eyes. They were not happy about it.
They also received some bad news a month before the Olympics.
The swimming pool for this Paris Olympics was 0.7 meters shallower than a standard pool.
The standard competition pool used worldwide is typically around 3 meters deep.
But the Paris Olympics competition pool was only 2.3 meters deep.
The World Aquatics started enforcing new standards in January 2023, requiring Olympic competition pools to be at least 2.5 meters deep.
If multiple events were to be held, the pool depth must be 3 meters.
However, before the new regulations were implemented, the pool depth requirements were more flexible.
The minimum depth was 2 meters, and the recommended depth was 3 meters.
This was also bad news for athletes around the world.
But it was a clear advantage for the host country.
They might have been training in this shallow pool for a year.
While the Chinese team only had less than a month to adapt.
The depth of the pool actually has a significant impact on athletes.
If the pool is shallow, the waves will be bigger, and the rhythm will be completely different from what they are used to.
This is a strategy that completely disrupts the swimming athletes' rhythm.
They got on the bus to the Paris Olympic Village, feeling helpless.
Many Olympic events were still under construction on the way there.
The Olympics were just a few days away!
Chen Shu couldn’t help but complain about how disorganized the Paris Olympics were.
“Ugh, I drank too much water before getting off the plane. What do I do now? I need to pee!”
Zhang Yu Fei, the double champion from the Tokyo Olympics and China’s butterfly queen, joked.
Li Bing Jie, another world champion sitting beside her, laughed. “Hold it in. If you can’t hold it anymore, pee a little. Just enough to last until the next urine test!”
“Haha, our pee is worth a lot now. So many agencies want it!”
“Haha!”
Everyone laughed. The atmosphere in the swimming team was still very good, very united. Chen Shu had gotten to know them over the past half-month, and they got along well.
But right now, they were just making light of a difficult situation.
“I just saw a news article, it’s hilarious. It said that many athletes from other countries brought air conditioners to the competition!”
“America, right? I saw it too. I think our dorm has air conditioning?”
“Yeah, we had them installed a month ago. That building is mainly rented by China. It’s sponsored by our sponsors.”
“Paris is really messed up. A developed country like this can’t even afford to install air conditioning in the competition dorms?”
“They’re talking about environmental protection and saving money. They said the Paris climate isn’t hot and doesn’t need air conditioning.”
“I feel pretty hot. I’m sweating.”
“Yeah, if you don’t have money, you don’t have money. No need to make excuses.”
“……….”
Everyone in the car talked about the air conditioning and quickly moved on to the Olympics’ losses.
It seemed like only China and the US made money from hosting the Olympics.
Other Olympics lost a lot of money, especially Rio and Tokyo.
And the athletes who participated in the Tokyo Olympics were still complaining about it three years later.
“Don’t even get me started. They used the beds left over from Tokyo for Paris, saying it’s about energy conservation and emission reduction!”
“Cardboard beds, haha. We’ll see them soon!”
“It’s so basic. It’s just a bunch of cardboard pieces glued together!”
Sure enough, they soon arrived at the Chinese athletes’ dormitory in the Olympic Village.
The whole building was occupied by Chinese athletes. The central air conditioning was blasting, and five-star red flags were everywhere.
Chen Shu and another young athlete, Zhang Zhan Shuo, shared a room.
He was also 16 years old, the freestyle national champion for 800 meters and 1500 meters this year, and was dubbed the successor to Sun Yang. They trained in the same discipline.
He was also the youngest world champion in China. He was fortunate enough to win a World Championships gold medal as part of a relay team.
“Damn, it really is cardboard!”
Zhang Zhan Shuo lifted the sheet. Sure enough, there was a piece of pretty hard cardboard underneath. He jumped on the bed, and surprisingly, it didn’t collapse.
“The sturdiness is okay. But weightlifters definitely can’t sleep on this!”
“They said this cardboard bed costs 700 euros, that’s more than 6,000 yuan. Would I buy this thing for that price?”
“Haha, you’re so cheap. Just sleep. You need to adjust to the time difference!”
Chen Shu shook his head and picked up the “welcome gift pack” given to each athlete.
Of course, it wasn’t provided by the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, but by various sponsors.
The bag was full of stuff, including Olympic rings towels, Coca-Cola cups with the logo, Samsung phones, Swatch watches, JBL speakers…. Chen Shu had just finished putting away his things when he heard a knock on the door.
Lai Si Min, the assistant coach for the swimming team, stood there with a gloomy face. “Hurry up, pack your stuff. We’re going for a urine test!”
“What???”
“Another urine test???”
Didn’t they just have one after getting off the plane?
Chen Shu had just posted his welcome gift pack on his WeChat Moments!
Were they never going to stop with these tests?!