In the stadium, only Holly hadn't fired his rifle. The reflection in everyone's eyes showed him lifting up and lowering his gun. Everyone felt Holly's uncertainty.
The audience looked at Holly with eager eyes, including the referee of the match, but the referee didn't press Holly. It was the last shot in the competition, and it was the shot that would decide the final winner. Holly should spend extra time on preparing for this shot. They had already waited for hours for the competition, so they didn't mind waiting a few extra seconds.
Holly felt everyone's expectant gazes, and their expectation put more pressure on him.
9.5 points. I only need to get 9.5 points with this shot to win. This isn't hard for me, I only need to shoot normally! Even if I perform slightly worse than usual, I will still be able to get 9.5 points!
Holly encouraged himself continuously, but he didn't realize that this exposed his desperation and lack of confidence.
Holly lifted his rifle again; however, the competitions he had participated in over the past few years kept emerging in his mind.
He remembered the second time he entered the Olympics. During the last shot, he only needed six points to win, but he only managed 4.4 points, giving the Olympic gold medal to someone else again.
All his experience of past failures ran like a movie on fast forward. They were rushing in Holly's mind, and the more Holly didn't want to remember these past tragedies, the more these memories of past failures kept appearing in his mind.
These few years, he had experienced too many failures. He always dropped the ball during the last shot. It stood to reason that he should have been numb by then, or he should've gradually forgotten, but every time the memories appeared, they were crystal clear, as if he was actually there.
Don't overthink, just aim the rifle and pull the trigger! Holly forced himself to focus.
He lifted the rifle, looked down the sights, and aimed at the target in front of him. All his movements were steady.
Finally, Holly pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A crisp gunshot sounded out.
At that same moment, Holly felt that his shot was stable.
Is it my imagination? The shot just now didn't feel too bad, it felt very stable.
In the next second, Holly immediately looked at the small screen beside him.
On the small screen, it showed where Holly's shot landed, the circle that was created by the shot was between the ninth and tenth circle.
"It is above nine points! The last shot, I was able to go above nine points again!" In a heartbeat, Holly immediately looked at the score below.
"9.5 points, exactly 9.5 points, I won!"
In that second, Holly didn't think about celebrating, but to check whether or not he was dreaming.
...
"9.5 points, exactly 9.5 points! How is this possible, how can Holly do so well in his last shot!" Prince's jaw dropped. He had a hard time accepting this outcome.
Actually, within the last 10 shots, Prince had been lagging behind, and the gap kept growing. Under normal circumstances, Prince should've already mentally prepared himself to lose the competition.
However, Prince kept believing that the final winner would be him, because the opponent he was facing was Adam Holly. The man always dropped the ball with his last shot. Prince thought that the competition would be the same as the last two American National Shooting Championships, where Holly did terribly with his last shot and handed first place to him.
But today's competition didn't go as Prince had planned.
Prince lost, and he lost by 0.1 points. Losing with that kind of result was really embarrassing.
And this was a 50-meter rifle three-position competition. Within a few hours, Prince had shot 1,210 shots. He initially thought that he would definitely win, but he lost the competition because of a difference of 0.1 points. The experience of losing this sort of competition was truly horrible!
...
The applause and cheers resounded instantly. These types of matches where victory or defeat was decided by the last shot would, of course, have higher entertainment value, and Holly's 9.5 points allowed him to win by as little as possible. This type of dramatic ending made the audience feel like their money was well spent. Not to mention, Holly finally didn't drop the ball in his last shot. This was the first time in a very long time that Holly had a last minute win.
The cheers from the audience reached Holly's ears. The sound was slightly different from what he normally heard, because it was rare to hear such enthusiastic cheers in shooting competitions. This made Holly felt surreal.
Am I dreaming? Holly looked around him in confusion.
And just then, all the contestants around him walked over, all of them, including Prince, to congratulate Holly.
Someone shook hands with him, and Holly could clearly feel the warmth transmitted from his hand.
Someone patted him on his shoulder, and Holly could clearly feel the weight of his arm.
Someone even gave Holly a hug, and when Holly took a slight whiff, he could clearly smell the cologne on his body.
All of these informed Holly that everything he had just experienced was real.
This time, I've really won! I've finally won, with my last shot! Holly finally started to thank the audience by waving at them, and at the same time, tears streamed down his face.
Finally, while he was waving towards the stand, he saw Dai Li and Blake.
It's Coach Li! Holly went blank for a brief moment, and he remembered the weird ten days of training he had received.
The 9.5 points from my last shot, was it because of the results of the training? Dancing, yoga, and letting out my emotions, was this weird training program really effective? Holly suddenly thought of this point.
Dropping the ball during the last shot was something that had troubled Holly for over a decade, and he received all kinds of training and a lot of psychotherapy trying to solve this problem. They were all ineffective. However, during today's game, the problem that had troubled him for over a decade was finally solved!
Problems don't go away by themselves, and every time there is a change, there is a reason for it.
Holly felt that he was the same man who had missed in the Olympics. The only difference was that he received Dai Li's training.
Maybe it was Coach Li's training that brought about the change! Holly secretly thought. He had already decided that he would continue to receive Coach Li's training, even if the training methods were really weird.
...
Looking at the stage, Dai Li let out a sigh.
"Exactly 9.5 points, so close. If it were 0.2 less, he would've lost. How risky!"
This result had never occurred to Dai Li. Dai Li originally thought that with the State Scale stabilizing Holly's state, Holly would be able to score 10 points; after all, he was a person whose ability was over 900 points.
But in the end, Holly only managed 9.5 points, which really gave Dai Li a cold sweat.
According to Holly's true strength, 9.5 points is definitely not a good score, and it can even be considered as being below his normal level. It seems like Holly's problem of missing his lost shot is a severe problem. Even when I stabilized him, he could only get a score of 9.5 points. He really needs treatment for this psychological issue. Holly's problem is caused by his mental state, and he should solve it psychologically. Depending on the State Scale is simply treating the symptoms and not the cause.
After he had thought about it that far, Dai Li's expression was a bit blue. He was a sports coach, not a psychologist, and the system did not possess anything that could help to solve this type of psychological issue.
Dai Li turned his head to look at Blake, but found Blake in deep contemplation.
"Randy, what are you thinking about?" Dai Li asked.
"I was thinking about how to promote the training center. Holly won, which is a really good advertisement for us." Blake made an expression of resignation. "Truth be told, I originally thought that Holly would miss his last shot. I did not at all think that he would win this competition, so I did not think about the issue of promoting after this. But now that he has won, it really caught me off guard."
"As I said before, ten days, I will help Holly be reborn." Dai Li patted Blake on his shoulder while standing up. "Let's go back to Los Angeles. When it comes to the promotions, think about it while you are on the plane!"