After changing his way of running, Ford improved greatly. It was easy now for him to get within 20 seconds. In terms of results, he seemed to become the 200m champion of World Championship that he had once been.
Of course, training and competition were two different things. In official competitions, especially international games, it was regarded as a stable performance if an athlete could perform at 80% of his training level.
It also verified Dai Li's speculation that the reason Shawn Ford couldn't run fast wasn't because he didn't have talent or he didn't work hard enough, but because he had problems with his way of running.
All of Ford's previous coaches tried to make up for his defect of leg length discrepancy with skills, but the result was totally opposite. Ford didn't become faster for this. On the contrary, he became slower.
However, Dai Li believed that there should be a different way of running for a player with leg length discrepancy. It would be better to develop the strength brought by its advantages rather than to attempt to offset the defect's disadvantages. From this point of view, Ford's overall speed would be improved if the strength brought by his advantages was enough.
Ford was faster in the bend than normal runners because of his leg length discrepancy, but his performance was also affected in straight. If the leg length discrepancy made Ford 0.1 seconds slower, but he could be 0.2 seconds faster in bend, Ford would actually be 0.1 seconds faster than before.
Thanks to Ford's left leg being shorter than his right one, he could gain more power in the bend for any race that was anticlockwise. If the races had been clockwise, even God couldn't save him.
Yet Ford's progress had not been tested. It was not because he didn't want to attend competitions, but because he didn't have any chances.
The 200m sprint was really rare. Generally, only large games could have the 200m event. Compared to this, the 100m dash was much better, because any all-around game would contain a 100m dash.
They had too much in common, and many athletes could attend them both. Some athletes for the 100m dash would not run the 200m for they might not have good skills in the bend, while some athletes for the 200m could also run the 100m dash because they had no problem in the straightway.
Therefore, the organizers of the games would consider athletes' physical strength when they set events. Thus, in large games, these two events would not be held on the same day and athletes couldn't support the consumption for the two events.
That was why in the Olympic Games or the World Championship, the 200m match was usually held after the end of the 100m dash. In those one day invitational tournaments or the Grand Prix, they only had the 100m and didn't arrange a 200m event at all.
With fewer games, more athletes only focused on the 100m dash, while athletes who only ran the 200m became fewer and fewer. As athletes for the 100m dash became more plentiful, organizers would pay more attention to the 100m dash and less to the 200m.
That was a vicious circle actually. If one event was good, more athletes would work on it, and vice versa.
The United States held the most track and field games in the world, including hundreds of games at the state-level and above. Among all those games, however, not many were 200m events. These games usually lasted one day, so they only had the 100m sprint.
Fortunately, the Olympic Games were this year, so there were many more games in the first half of this year. Especially close to the qualification trials for the Olympic Games, USATF would hold some big games to let athletes gain more points and experience for the qualification trials.
...
The Miami Open Tournament in Florida.
The Miami Open Tournament was a four-day event, well-known in track and field. With plenty of time, this event included a 200m, as well as other running events like the medium-sized 800m and 1500m, and the long-sized 5000m and 10000m.
At the final of the 200m, Shawn Ford walked to his starter and bent to adjust his starter.
No one around paid any attention to him. Even when the commentator introduced him, there was only a cursory round of applause.
That World Championship had been so long ago that the public had already forgotten him. There were several young athletes today, and Ford was an old athlete who couldn't attract any attention at all.
Ford kept calm as if he had gotten used to it.
When he won the championship that year, he was really noticed. When he appeared on the track, the public would give him cheers and applause and some even loudly shouted his name.
But soon, expectation turned into doubts, for he never performed well anymore. As the public got disappointed with him, the applause and cheers vanished.
The World Championship was gone, and Ford was soon forgotten by the public. Although he attended competitions continuously, the applause for him became less and less. Young audience members even couldn't remember his name, and he became an average athlete among others. But he himself just got used to it.
It was normal in sports. People would remember the first prize, the second, and sometimes even the third, but those beneath them would never be remembered at all.
The referee's voice stopped Ford's thoughts. Ford was ready and calm now, focusing on his track only.
After the gunshot, Ford rushed out. He started, accelerated, and turned. When he reached the straight, he was in first, and the other seven were far behind him.
At that moment, the crowd focused on him because he was the fastest today!
"Shawn Ford is ahead!" the commentator called out this strange name, which was vaguely familiar to him.
...
As a famous coach, several athletes of Sebastian also attended the Miami Open Tournament, but he himself didn't make it there. At this time, he was attending an interview in Polis, Indiana. The interview was held by the USA Track and Field in order to select the chief and deputy chief coaches of the national track and field team to lead the team to attend the next Olympic Games in August.
There were fifteen voting chairmen on the board of the USA Track and Field, and they were the interviewers today. There were nine coaches attending it, all famous coaches in the United States. But Sebastian was the most popular candidate because he had won the National Coach of the Year before. Compared to the others, Sebastian had much better achievements, experience, and personal qualities. What's more, he had strong personal connections in sports circles.
Although he could win the interview, he still prepared a lot for it. The process was very smooth. At the end of the interview when he walked out of the room, Sebastian felt that he had definitely become the chief coach of the national team.
Sebastian walked to the parking lot with an uncontrollable smile on his face. When he reached for his car keys, he accidentally touched his phone. He remembered that he had muted it before the interview.
Don't know if anyone called me. He took out his phone and saw two missed calls, both from his assistant, who should have been at Miami leading his athletes to attend the Miami Open Tournament.
"Is it the result?" Sebastian called his assistant back.
Soon, the voice of his assistant came from the phone, "Coach, Warton got fifth place."
"Quite good. Warton didn't train long enough and he mainly focused on the 100m dash. This result is good for him," said Sebastian.
Warton was defeated by Alexander not long before, but he was still one of Sebastian's trump cards. At the beginning of his training, Sebastian also let him practice the 200m. This young athlete had earned his reputation and achieved great progress. Now he got the fifth place in Miami, which reached Sebastian's expectation.
Sebastian felt good about his athletes, and he continued to ask, "Who is the champion?"
"Shawn Ford," the assistant said on the phone.
Sebastian thought this name seemed familiar, but it took him a long time to recall the name.
"Is Shawn Ford the one who won the 200m championship in the World Championship?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes, that was him," the assistant answered.
"I know him. I haven't heard about him for a long time, and I nearly couldn't recall it. He hasn't retired yet. He came back for the Olympic Games!" Sebastian said in a tone of derision. To Sebastian, Shawn Ford won that championship by luck. Such an athlete wasn't worth cultivating.
However, the assistant on the phone continued, "His result was 19.93 seconds, and he just broke the best result of the US this year."
"What? So fast!" Sebastian was shocked. As a top coach, he knew what the result meant. It was close to a world championship.
"Is it a result of wind-assistance more than 2m/s?" Sebastian asked at once.
"No, the wind speed was 1.2m/s. It wasn't," the assistant answered.
"Then why? After that World Championship, he has never run so fast. How could it be today? Did he change his coach?" The experienced Sebastian soon found the key.
"I just checked. His coach and Justin Alexander's are the same person, the Chinese coach in Los Angeles. As for how long he trained, I don't know yet," the assistant answered.
"Why him again? That Dai Li again!" Sebastian had been in a good mood, but now he seemed to fall to the bottom.