King of Sports 176 Fueling The Flames 1

Tang Yan walked her out to the taxi.

As he headed back in, he suddenly realized that he should buy a car.

....

After a day of just laying about, his body and mind had mostly recovered. The next morning, he headed to the swimming pool to train.

Yesterday was the 6th match day of the World Championships. It was also the darkest day for the Chinese Swimming Team since the World Championships began.

In the first five days, Tang Yan personally won 3 gold medals and 1 silver, plus Sun Yang, Jiao Liuyang, Ye Shiwen and Liu Jing had each won a gold medal. The Chinese national anthem could be heard ringing through the swimming center every day.

However, on the sixth match day, the Chinese team only won a bronze medal in the men's 4x200 meters relay race.

Although it still added to the medal list, with the US team winning gold they took first on the medal table. 

The 7th day of the World Championships was the day with the most events since the start of the competition. There were a total of 6 events to be held: women's 50m butterfly, men's 50m freestyle, women's 200m backstroke, men's 100m butterfly, women's 800m freestyle and the 4x100m medley relay.

Among these 6 events, the 4x100m medley relay was the most promising event and with his previous outstanding performance in the individual freestyle events, Tang Yan was a clear competitor for the 50m freestyle. 

Although not as star-studded as the 200-meter freestyle, the 50-meter freestyle never lacked highlights.

Short distance events could always ignite the passion of the audience in an instant.

.....

The Brazilian star César Cielo, who had just won the 50-meter butterfly event, was his biggest competitor.

But in addition to him there was also (USA) Nathan Adrian, (AUS) Magnussen, Italy's Luca Dotto and French star Alain Bernard were all strong contenders for gold medal.

In fact, the predictions before the race took a shift as the Chinese Swimming Team announced Tang Yan would be back to compete after recovering. Whilst some seemed skeptical about how he would perform everyone understood he would have a strong impact on the race and the medal order. 

There were 8 groups in the 50m freestyle. Tang Yan was in group 1 and Australia's Magnussen was in group 4.

Tang Yan's performance was stable. He scored a time of 22 seconds 10 in the group stage and advanced to the semi-finals as the group leader.

In the group stage of the fourth group, Magnussen performed well and scored a time of 22 seconds 20. He won the group and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.

According to the schedule, the first two of the first four groups would form the first group of the semi-finals, which meant that after the 100m freestyle final, he would once again face head-on with Tang Yan.

Because of the previous interview incident, and after the fact that Tang Yan snatched the 100-meter freestyle gold medal from him, the two had a tense relationship.

When a reporter asked whether meeting Tang Yan again in the semi-finals would have psychological pressure on him, the Australian was clearly unhappy and displeased but having learnt his lesson and been warned. He avoided the question but towards the end of the interview, he seemingly couldn't help but shoot an indirect comment.

"It's a standard race for me. I'm focused as always and now it's just about going out there, performing like usual and reaching the finals. Unlike others nothing can distract me from the real goal, gold."

Although not precisely mentioning Tang Yan's name it was obvious what he meant.

The previous interview incident was full of controversy and with the silence from the Australian side, things still hadn't been resolved. Now Magnusson remarks undoubtedly fuelled the fire, blowing up the incident that had just calmed down.

Netizens who were originally targeting the Australian swimming team immediately pointed their finger at Magnussenand demanded him to make an open apology for the incident.

But the result was exactly the same as before. The Australian swimming team and Magnussen chose to respond with silence again.

Obviously, this method didn't satisfy Chinese netizens, so the originally ordinary freestyle semi-final, attracted a lot of attention.

Many indignant fans held up kt boards which said "Australia Must Apologize" and "Malicious Slander Should Be Punished".

However, Magnussen seemed prepared to turn a blind eye to all this. Ignoring the behavior of the audience. He deliberately glared at Tang Yan, seemingly looking for a reaction. 

Tang Yan ignored him, paying him no mind. For him, the antics of his opponents were meaningless to him, as long as he performed like normal, it would certainly not be a problem to make it to the finals.

After finishing the final warm-up, the swimmers all stepped onto the take-off platform.

The audience stared down at the pool.

The winner is king, the loser an outlaw. This was an eternal truth. As long as Tang Yan won this event, Magnussen would eventually become a laughing stock.

After the swimmers got ready, with the sound of the buzzer, the swimmers dove into the pool.

The race began.

Magnussen entered the water and grabbed first place. Although big mouthed, he still had ability.

Tang Yan ranked third in the group. Because of his height, he always lagged behind slightly in the beginning. 

The various lanes in the pool were splashing with water at this time, and everyone was accelerating forward.

Magnussen turned to see that Tang Yan still hadn't caught up, and his heart was rejoicing. He rushed forward speeding up.

At 20 meters, he was still in the lead.

At 30 meters, he was still in first place.

Just then, the audience burst into cheers. 

What attracted them to cheer was naturally Tang Yan.

After the 30 meter mark, Tang Yan kicked up his speed to eight draws and launched forward flying, Magnussen, who was ahead, was easily surpassed.

Chapter end