In Asian countries, if one were to reach the B standard of the Olympic Games in track and field, it meant that the person would be able to represent the country in participating in the Olympic Games. In European, African, or South American countries that weren't great in sports, reaching the A standard would make one eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.
Only in the US, as the world's number one nation in track and field, reaching the A standard of the Olympics was the lowest standard. In any track and field event, the number of athletes who could reach the A standard of the Olympics was numerous.
In the Olympic Qualifier not so long ago, Dai Li was at the stadium. He personally witnessed many excellent athletes getting eliminated because they didn't make it into the top three. Among them, there was no lack of incredibly talented athletes or athletes with a high ability value that were eliminated because of a bad performance. Upon using his detector, Dai Li even discovered athletes with A+ grade talent potential getting knocked out in the first round. It must be said that athletes with A+ grade talent potential were people who could become world champions without much problem; however, these athletes had faced elimination in the first round of the qualifiers.
That was the athlete selection system in the U.S. Everything was decided in one round. It didn't matter if the athlete was extremely talented, extremely capable, very famous, or if the athlete had multiple past achievements and glories. It didn't even matter if the athlete was a world record holder, as long as he failed to qualify, he could not participate in the Olympics.
Although a selection system like this was very fair and just, it resulted in many excellent athletes missing out on taking part in the Olympic Games.
During the qualifiers, Dai Li used his detector on every single athlete when he had nothing to do. He discovered many "lost pearls" during that time. Some failed to qualify because they didn't perform at their best, and some could not display their full strength due to training issues. Some were simply faced with far better opponents, so they were eliminated.
For Dai Li, this was a waste of these athletes. If they were not in the U.S., they would have definitely had the chance to appear in the Olympic Games. However, Dai Li did not plan on helping them either. After all, they weren't his athletes.
However, things were different now. Dai Li was going to become the head coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team. The "lost pearls" Dai Li discovered back then had suddenly become important. For example, the athlete with an A+ grade talent potential who was eliminated in the first round could definitely become a champion in the Olympics, if Dai Li had some time to train him properly.
As such, Dai Li requested that he select the participating athletes. His objective was to recruit and gather all the athletes who had a chance of achieving great results in the Olympic Games. It was also the reason for Dai Li's confidence in taking over that pile of mess.
Any other coach would be bound to fail at taking over the current U.S. track and field team. As the saying goes, "Even a chef wouldn't be able to cook a good meal without rice." No matter how good or amazing the coach is, when the athletes suck, nothing works.
However, Dai Li was able to find hidden but excellent athletes. If these athletes were to succeed in joining the US national team, the overall strength of the U.S. national team wouldn't drop too much.
Dai Li was actually well-prepared.
...
After listening to Dai Li's request, Williams did not agree to it immediately. Instead, he started thinking.
In other countries, there was nothing more ordinary than the head coach selecting the participating athletes. However, the US was different. The right to participate in every individual event for the US national team was fundamentally due to qualifiers. This rule had been in place for over a decade.
Now, Dai Li had requested to select the participating athletes. It not only undoubtedly broke with the traditions of the US national team, but it also violated this rule that the US national team had maintained for over a decade. Of course, Williams could not simply make a promise. Deep down in his heart, he was even against Dai Li's demand.
Breaking with tradition was not an easy feat. Moreover, Williams had more to consider. Williams was worried that, if he agreed to Dai Li's demand, future head coaches of the US national team would make the same request.
After much deliberation, Williams finally said, "Coach Li, the US national team has always been selecting athletes through the qualifiers; it has been like this for over a decade. Your request, it does not comply with our rules."
What Williams actually meant was that he had no intention of accepting Dai Li's demands.
Dai Li then advised him. "Mr. Williams, I don't plan to disobey your rules, and I have no intention of challenging your tradition; however, the current issue at hand is that we don't even have enough athletes to participate in the competition. This issue should be solved first. Isn't the reason you asked me to become the head coach so that I could solve problems?
"As the saying goes, when times are abnormal, the methods should be abnormal too. The time between now and the deadline for submitting the participating athletes' name list is only slightly more than a week away. If we follow the standard selection procedure and go about things step by step, we won't make it. Besides, I will also need time to train and integrate the team. If we can't do even that, then I can't guarantee good results for the athletes."
Williams furrowed his brow and pondered over the issue for a while before finally nodding. "Alright, Coach Li, you've persuaded me. However, I hope that you can submit the participants' name list three days before the deadline of the International Olympic Committee."
"No problem," Dai Li promised with a nod.
...
As Dai Li's silhouette gradually disappeared from afar, Frey asked in a whisper, "Mr. Williams, do you really plan on letting Dai Li choose the athletes himself?"
"I've already promised him, do you expect me to go back on my word?" Williams answered.
"But we've never done something like this before, we've always selected athletes through qualifiers," Frey said.
"We're already at this stage. Unless you want us to organize another qualifier?" Williams smiled slyly. He then said, "I know what you want to say. You think I've given Dai Li too much authority, right?"
"That is a concern of mine, yes," Frey admitted without hesitation.
"Don't forget the reason we deliberately found a Chinese man to become the head coach. We just need him to be a suitable scapegoat. So what if we gave him a little authority? Besides, something like selecting athletes, do you really think that it is some kind of power?"
Before Frey could answer, Williams said, as if responding to himself, "In my opinion, that isn't any form of authority or power, only a troublesome task. There's only slightly more than a week left but he needs to add at least six or seven athletes. That is an arduous task in and of itself. At first, my head hurt trying to solve this problem, but now it's all better. Someone is here to solve our problems.
"During the Olympic Games, if the track and field results of the US national team are subpar, we have all the more reason to push all the responsibility onto Dai Li. He is the head coach. Moreover, the athletes were handpicked by him, but the results were terrible. So, all responsibility for failure will be borne by him!"