Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The height was 5.98 meters and three athletes remained, two of whom were world champions.
A competition between two world champions could draw in a very large audience by itself, but a third party took part in the competition. Franz Muller, a young man who was new to the Olympic Games, was about to challenge the record height along with the two world champions.
He was at least going to win a bronze medal. Getting a bronze medal was an impressive achievement in men’s pole vault when one was competing with two world champions.
The handsome young man drew more and more attention. The audience began to talk about his good looks and reporters began to search for his information. They found he had no achievements in international competitions and, looking into it further, didn’t have any in U.S. either.
“This Franz Muller was chosen by you, wasn’t he?” The team leader, Downey asked. “He never took part in any qualifying competition, right?”
“You are right. He missed the American tryouts due to some unfortunate circumstances. He has the talent, though. That’s why I chose him,” replied Dai Li.
“I really admire your judgment. Now we know you have made a right decision, but you took a huge risk. If Muller hadn’t done well you would’ve been blamed,” said Downey.
“That’s why I’m counting on him right now,” said Dai Li.
“Well you are already a success. Someone who didn’t even tryout for the Olympics getting a bronze medal is impressive,” Downey said joyfully.
Dai Li stared at Downey and said with an intentionally confused tone, “Why do you think getting bronze is impressive?”
Downey was totally surprised. “Do you want him to achieve more? That’s not possible! Don’t you know his rivals? They are the defending champion Pat Riley and the world champion Kurayev. How could Muller win a gold or silver in a competition with those two?”
“He has the talent,” Dai Li repeated. “So, nothing is impossible!”
…
“Now, the height is 5.98 meters. Clearing this height will break the Olympic record. The first to attempt is the American athlete, Franz Muller, who was born in German and moved to America with parents in his early years. He is now a student in University of Oregon. And his score in the qualifier was…”
The American T.V. commentator paused and found that he had no document with Muller’s statistics from the U.S. qualifiers.
“What’s up? Was he not in the qualifiers? Was this put together by an intern? He missed such an important score! He’s so fired,” said the commentator angrily.
An awkward pause followed, but the live stream on TV continued. The audience could see what was happening and they could also hear what was happening on site even though the commentator said nothing.
The commentator turned off the speaker and complained to his director. “Who collected the information for today? I don’t even have the athlete’s statistics from qualifiers!”
A moment later, he heard his director’s voice in his earphones. “I looked it up for you. Franz Muller didn’t take part in the U.S. qualifiers.”
The commentator suddenly remembered a report on an athlete that had gotten on to the U.S. national team without actually having participated in qualifiers. It was an indication of shady deals on the team.
This competition proved the conspiracy theory was groundless. Although he didn’t take part in the Olympic qualifiers in America, Franz Muller was already one of the top three male pole vaulters in this Olympics. He already had a bronze at least.
The commentator cleared his throat and opened the speaker to go on with his introduction, “Muller didn’t actually participate in any Olympic qualifier. He was directly picked by the coach of the U.S. National Track and Field Team. He is now among the first three in men’s pole vault. He sure didn’t let his coach down! Of course, applause must go to the head coach, too. Let’s thank him for picking Muller to the team, which paid off today.”
Muller started to move just after the commentator finished his introduction. His attempt to break the world record began.
…
Muller was a nobody, so his making it this far surprised the Russian head coach, Merkulov. He didn’t see Muller as a threat, though. From his perspective, a newbie like Muller didn’t deserve his attention even if he was impressive. The major rival of Russia was still the defending champion from France, Pat Riley.
When Muller started to jump, Merkulov simply tried to appreciate his jump.
Muller was like a big bird flying high. He got across the bar elegantly and then fell on the sponge mat.
Oh, beautiful posture! Merkulov thought.
The next moment he realized that this young athlete unknown to him jumped over the 5.98 meter mark and had broken the Olympic record in only one jump.
How could an Olympic record be broken so easily?
He is so powerful! It seems that he can clear 6 meters. Will he be stopped at the next height? Merkulov thought.
Merkulov wasn’t yet worried that Muller would win the gold because he was confident about his own athlete. 5.98 meters would stop Kurayev either.
Kurayev had won the pole vaulting world championship two years before. This height was a piece of cake for him. It also only took him one jump to succeed in clearing 5.98 meters and breaking the Olympic record.
It was easy for the first two athletes to clear 5.98 meters.
The last athlete to jump was Pat Riley from France, the defending champion of this program. He won the men’s pole vault four years ago and he then broke the Olympic record at that time with a height of 5.97 meters.
To everyone’s surprise, he didn’t come to the field. He chose to pass.
“Pat Riley chose to pass. Then he will skip the height of 5.98 meters and go directly to the next. He is so confident that he chooses to pass at this height,” spoke the commentator.
The Russian head coach Merkulov dismissed this.
Self-confidence? It’s just a tactical pass! He wants to put pressure on us. However, Kurayev has long been battle-hardened with rich competition experience. He will not be influenced by mind games. Merkulov curled his lip and thought.
The next height was 6.03 meters, 5 centimeters higher. Compared with the world record of 6.16 meters, it was not so high. It was already a height that that most athletes couldn’t dream of clearing.
Franz Muller got the pole and stared in front of him. Then, he started to move forward. For him, the height was also a great challenge. It was close to the highest height he had cleared in daily training.
On the side of the field, Dai Li used the state scale for Muller. He put all the weights on the side of the extreme stable state. He believed in Muller’s strength. He thought that Muller would clear the height if he performed stably.
Muller started to run and accelerate. With the help of the pole, he succeeded in making movements including his swing up, extension and turn. At the moment his S+ Level talent was on display. He flew across the bar with a series of smooth movements.
Success with only one jump, again!
The site was filled with joy and excitement. The whole audience greeted Muller with thunderous applause.
In the Athlete Waiting Area, Pat Riley and Kurayev looked serious. Even to them, the height of 6.03 meters was a tough challenge. They had the strength to clear it but they couldn’t guarantee success.
The two world champions saw Muller, the young unknown, as a foil for themselves. The final in their eyes was a competition between the two of them. Yet, Muller had successfully changed the situation of the final after he cleared the height of 6.03 meters. He had the highest score. Pat Riley and Kurayev were now finding that Muller had been a strong rival on the path to the gold medal.
Kurayev followed to jump. He was not as relaxed as he was before.
He put up the pole and accelerated with a rhythm. Then he jumped high with the end of the pole sticking into the ground. At the same time, he made movements in the air with the pole.
As a gold medalist of the track and field world championship, Kurayev was undoubtedly very skilled. He was not so lucky then. His shank knocked the bar down to the ground.
Kurayev’s first jump failed!
The audience around shouted out in disappointment. Kurayev shook his head, too. He walked down from the sponge mat, thinking about the adjustments he had to make.
Pat Riley was the next to complete his first jump.
Pat Riley had chosen to pass the height of 5.98 meters. Maybe he was confident in himself. Maybe he choice was about tactics, or maybe he was just bluffing. Regardless of the reasons he might have, after Muller cleared this height, Pat Riley had to jump as the defending champion.
He had chosen to pass the previous height and this action gave him a disadvantage at this height. As a pole vaulter, his every jump was a self-adjustment. In such a program requiring the repetition of movements, the more adjustments one made, the more possibilities he had to win.
Now, it was like a game where you had to guess the right number. You said a number and were told that your number was bigger than the right one. So, you could say a smaller number when you guessed again. When you were told your number was smaller than the right one, you could try a bigger number. Keep tryin and you could eventually say the right number.
Such a method of trial-and-error also worked for a pole vaulter. If you didn’t utilize the strength of your waist enough, then use your waist more the next time. If you didn’t raise your legs high enough, then raise them higher the next time. It’s impossible for a jumper to jump for endless times at one height, but such adjustments would help you gain a higher fault tolerance in competition.
From this perspective, Pat Riley’s pass at the former height had lost him an opportunity for the self-adjustment.
What’s more, both Muller and Kurayev had cleared 5.98 meters. For them, 6.03 meters was only 5 centimeters more than 5.98 meters. Pat Riley hadn’t cleared 5.98 meters. For him, the height of 6.03 meters was 10 meters more than the previous height he cleared.
In pole vaulting, the bigger the increase in height each time was, the more difficult the jump would be.
Pat Riley held fast to his pole and took a deep breath. Then, he started his first jump at the height of 6.03 meters.
“Alas!” sighed the whole audience disappointedly. Pat Riley failed, too. It was obvious that he didn’t manage to control the height of his jump. His take-off showed that he would never clear the height of 6.03 meters.
“Giving up the height of 5.98 meters seems to have been the end of Pat Riley!” Dai Li said.
Dai Li was watching this pivotal moment with a sense of security. Muller had already cleared the height of 6.03 meters. In fact, Dai Li hoped that both Pat Riley and Kurayev couldn’t clear the height and then America would get a gold medal easily.
This situation was complicated. The two world champions who were in favor to win didn’t clear 6.03 meters, but the young jumper from America with no fame, experience, or achievements had the best score.
Then, Kurayev started his second jump.
Kurayev already knew the reason for his first failure. After adjustments, he corrected the mistakes in his first jump and he jumped over 6.03 meters successfully.
Pat Riley was then burdened. As the defending champion of this program, he was before considered the one who was most likely to win, but he was at the moment the only one of the top three who didn’t clear 6.03 meters.
He stood on the field with a cloudy face. It was his second jump, but it was also a jump to determine his fate. Failing twice usually meant that the third jump wouldn’t succeed. He was at the moment the only one left who had yet to pass this height. He had to jump for the third time immediately if he failed in his second try.
Pat Riley hoped he could succeed, but he was unlucky. He failed again in his second jump.
The defending champion was in a hopeless situation!