They promised to win the swimming championship, but what's with this "Grand Slam" thi

Chapter 51 World-Class!
Around 9 p.m., Wu Jin and her group finally arrived at the residence of the national team athletes—Tiantan Apartment.

As a residential area for competitive sports professionals, this place provides daily transportation for athletes to and from the training center, and houses more than a thousand athletes from 13 sports teams year-round.

They will report to the national team, which is the training bureau of the State General Administration of Sport, tomorrow morning.

"Wu Jin, Cai Li, you two come with me!"

"Since it's your first time registering, it just so happens that you two will be sharing a room!"

As soon as Xu Guoyi got off the bus, he spoke to Wu Jin and Cai Li, who were pushing their luggage.

It was the first time for both of them to come here.

On the way, Wu Jin also learned about some aspects of the national team.

For example, the Tiantan Apartment is the dormitory for national team athletes; every morning and evening, a special bus will shuttle the athletes to and from training, creating a unique commuting scenario.

As for accommodation, it is generally in pairs, which is much better than the eight-person rooms of the Zhejiang Provincial Team. It is equipped with air conditioning, TV and other facilities, and there is a public restaurant and leisure center.

But this is not actually the best.

Some of the best-performing athletes in the team can even enjoy single rooms!

The conditions are better, and the public facilities are even more complete, with private bathrooms, gyms, broadband, and so on.

Luo Xuejuan, Wu Peng, and a few others stayed in "single deluxe rooms".

Wu Jin had only heard Wu Peng bragging about it on the way, and she clearly longed for the "team treatment" immensely.

If there are single rooms available, who would want to stay in a double room?

Fortunately, Wu Jin's roommate Cai Li is ruthless and doesn't talk much. If it were someone like Yu Cheng, Wu Jin might not be used to it. Fortunately, they have been members of the national team for several years and have their own rooms here.

"Most of the members of our Zhejiang provincial team live together, but the men and women live on separate floors!"

Yu Cheng took Wu Jin and Cai Li to their dormitory, which was diagonally opposite his. It seemed that the Zhejiang Provincial Swimming Team used to live there, but after retiring or returning to the provincial team, the rooms were given up.

"Xiao Wu, Xiao Cai, call me or Brother Bo if you need anything!"

"it is good!"

Wu Jin responded, took the key and opened the door, where she saw a bunk bed with a television set placed against the wall opposite the bed.

But clearly neither of them had any interest in watching TV.

I'm going to tidy up, wash up, and go to bed. I have to go to the national team tomorrow.

I've already had dinner.

……

At this time, Xu Guoyi was not in the dormitory. A group of coaches came to the cafeteria as if they had made an appointment.

This has been a long-standing tradition.

Every time the national team holds a training camp, the coaches from various provinces and cities will have a meal together.

Let's brag a bit, chat, have a few drinks, and smoke a cigarette.

This is all permitted.

"What's wrong, Lao Xu? You look so gloomy, that's not like you."

He Xinzhong from the Guangdong team is closest to Xu Guoyi in private. The two were originally partners from the Zhejiang team, but after Zhao Ge from the Guangdong team became the head coach of the national team, the General Administration of Sport sent someone from the Zhejiang team to lead the Guangdong team.

He was sent there this year, but he only stayed for a few months.

"Wu Jin, you know her!"

"Nonsense, you found a treasure!"

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

He Xin carried two dishes to the table, and the other coaches also took their dishes and sat down. In no time, the round table was full of people, all of whom were coaches from various provinces and cities.

However, unlike Zhejiang Province, which selected ten athletes to join the national team, many other places basically only sent one or two athletes, and some provinces didn't send any at all; so the coaches who came were basically just one person, unlike Zhejiang Province which sent three.

Moreover, many people are privately speculating that Zhao is getting old and may not lead the team in Athens, at most for one term; and the most popular candidate for the next head coach is definitely Zhang Yadong from Zhejiang Province.

He has the qualifications and achievements, and is not too old. He is basically a shoo-in, given that Zhejiang Province's swimming achievements in recent years have been remarkable.

Right now, they're just trying to build good relationships so they can get preferential treatment during future selections.

This so-called care is very simple.

If two athletes have similar results, you and your student can get into the national team if you have a close relationship with the higher-ups; it will be more difficult for the other athlete unless they achieve a good ranking in the competition.

However, the training resources of the national team are obviously incomparable to those of the provincial team.

The national team may lack top-tier Olympic champions like Luo Xuejuan, but it is not lacking in talent, so interpersonal relationships are very common in the national team.

You can ignore the head coach's nonsense, but you can't afford to neglect your relationship with him.

"Wu Jin has entered puberty!"

Xu Guoyi couldn't say much in front of Wu Jin, but it was normal for the coaches to discuss things together. "What's going on?"

He Xin had just poured the wine when he glanced at Xu Guoyi.

"Hmm, it's been less than a month, and it's grown by 1 centimeter!"

"I've gained 5 pounds!"

Xu Guoyi picked up a piece of food and clinked glasses with He Xinzhong.

"That's troublesome!"

Chen Zuo's coach, Mo Zhengjie, was also listening. Xu Guoyi nodded: "Tomorrow, take this kid to have his longitudinal bone structure and transverse muscle structure measured to see if he needs to change his swimming style!"

"If any changes are to be made, they should be made after the World Championships; making them before the competition is a major taboo!"

He thought to himself, and Xu Guoyi, of course, knew this: "He must have changed his routine after the World Championships, but in the past two weeks he has obviously been swimming harder than before, and his speed has dropped significantly, almost 0.2 seconds faster!"

"How many?"

One of the coaches across from them looked up, while He Xin, who was next to him, had already picked up his glass: "You son of a bitch, I thought you'd gone how far? You only went 0.2 seconds, what are you yelling about!"

"You're punished with a drink!"

"Exactly, 0.2 seconds is still within 23 seconds!"

"Even Lao Zhan didn't panic for half a second!"

"Xiao He, are you asking for a beating?"

Two people away, an old man roared in Chao He's heart. This was a meritorious coach of the Liaoning Provincial Swimming Team, whose students had broken the world records for the 4x100 and 4x200 short course freestyle relays.

Now his daughter, Zhan Shu, has also been specially recruited by the national team to participate in relay events.

Although He Xinxin's words were meant as a joke, many of the coaches present were actually quite aware of them.

Zhan Shu's performance has indeed declined, and He Xin's disciple was not selected for the relay, so of course he had to say something sarcastic, since this team event is the easiest to squeeze people into.

Especially the group stage.

Six spots, two substitutes, they can even win by doing nothing, those who know, know.

"It's different!"

"Wu Jin made remarkable progress in the previous two months, but her grades have dropped just as quickly. It's so nerve-wracking!"

"We definitely need to take this seriously!"

Xu Guoyi continued talking to himself, and then toasted with his old friends present.

Zhu Zhigen suddenly said, "You guys, don't listen to Xiao Xu complaining. Wu Jin does have problems, but they're not that big. This kid tied the Asian record for the 50-meter freestyle just half a month ago!"

"Jiang Chengji's 22.33 seconds!"

"Depend on!"

"Old Xu, are you showing off?"

"That's what you call gliding for 0.2 seconds?"

"Isn't this the normal situation and the optimal state?"

"Scratch me off! Scratch me off!"

The coaches present were all a little overwhelmed. Xu Guoyi waved his hand and said, "That's what I swam out of half a month ago. Since then, I've been getting worse every day. It's making me anxious!"

"Old Zhu, don't you already know that?"

"You're just too concerned about him. He's just a kid; it's normal for his grades to fluctuate!"

"I don't think there's a big problem. This kid is a big-game player. I guess he'll be in form once he gets to the competition!"

Zhu Zhigen was laughing, but Xu Guoyi didn't seem to care.

This isn't a case of those involved being blinded by their own perspective while bystanders see things clearly. Although Xu Guoyi has only been leading Wu Jin's team for two months, and we can't see much difference in their swimming style yet, their speed is still affected.

He originally wanted to learn from these coaches, since they all had students who had gone through puberty, but after thinking about it... it seemed that not many of them had made it through, not even as well as when he coached Luo Xuejuan.

At that time, she was also 12 years old and going through puberty. Xu Guoyi accompanied her and helped her through it little by little by refining her movements.

"Looks like we'll have to really go all out!"

Xu Guoyi took a sip of wine, already having a plan in mind.

Let's get tested tomorrow to see if she's reached her growth spurt. If so, Wu Jin's troubles are about to begin!
The toughest period of an athlete's life is the next 2-4 years.

If he can pull through, he can definitely become a world-class player!
I can't hold on any longer—

There's nothing you can't overcome!!

Xu Guoyi refused to believe it!

(End of this chapter)