King of Sports 226 Dirty News 3

The Zhejiang Province was a major swimming province, and Yanxing City was also passionate about swimming. The atmosphere was natural. Although it was only the first day of the championship, the venue was already full.

Tang Yan, as one of the most popular sports stars in China at the moment, naturally detonated the audience as soon as he stepped out.

But among the cheers were coaxing whistles and hints of jeers. It seemed the news reports were having an influence. 

Tang Yan moved towards the fifth lane to prepare for the race. 

The commentators on the sidelines followed up seeing Tang Yan walk out. 

"Because of Tang Yan's appearance, this preliminary match will be unprecedentedly hot!" The main commentator said with emotion. 

"Yeah, Tang Yan shined at the World Championships in Shanghai last year, but this time he has chosen to sign up for all four swimming styles. This decision alone has left everyone excited." The guest commentator added. 

"This is a bold attempt. If he succeeds, he will bring Chinese swimming to a new frontier, an absolutely epoch-making change! Abroad he's already being compared to the likes of Phelps and Lochte. He's carving out a lane for himself." The main commentator continued, his eyes full of expectation.

"Yeah it's just…." The guest commentator interjected hesitantly.

"Well there's no avoiding it….the rumors about Tang Yan have been overwhelming online. Some talk about drunk driving, some talk about prostitutes. There's a plethora of rumors floating about but that's always been the way of the media and tabloids. However there's no denying Tang Yan entered the police station without a doubt." The guest commentator said regretfully. 

"And Tang Yan and his team haven't expressed their position, so far they've been silent"

"Cough! Well all that can wait till the race is over. I just hope he won't lose his legs in this race." The main commentator interrupted diverting the conversation. 

As the commentators talked, Tang Yan and the other swimmers had already boarded the start platforms. 

Almost everyone at the scene looked to platform five.

In fact, at this time, not only the commentators, but most of the audience at the scene were curious, what was the reason Tang Yan had gone to the police station last night. 

There was doubt in the air, and a portion of this doubt was related to what Tang Yan's immediate performance would be like. If he was drunk last night, even if he had slept it off, it would still affect his performance. 

Tang Yan stretched his arm then bowed down. 

"On your marks!" 

"Get set!..."

Buzz!

With the sound of the electronic buzzer, all the swimmers dove into the water.

Lin Zhiyu was a newcomer to the Hu Jian Provincial Swimming Team. As one of the new generation of swimmers at Hu Jian, his goal was very simple, that is, to put on a blockbuster performance this championship.

Compared with the other three swimming strokes, the breaststroke was where the biggest difference lied between China and the top level countries. Which meant that breaststroke was his best chance at achieving results. 

In order to achieve his goal, the first step was to win his group.

Luckily for him the domestic breaststroke champion, Li Xiang, wasn't in the same group as him. But Tang Yan was and he knew he was gonna be a challenge.

But the difference between freestyle and breaststroke was quite substantial and now with the scandal and rumors of Tang Yan being debauch. He was beginning to feel confident of his chances, this could be his big break. 

Entering the water, he had standard movements and perfect rhythm. 

But after the first ten metres, he found himself in 2nd place.

And the man who led him was none other than Tang Yan, who was caught in a scandal!

Lin Zhiyu's surprise was to the crowd's exhilaration.

Although overnight, negative rumors about Tang Yan flooded their eyes, it was undeniable that most still held small glimmers of hope and expectations in their hearts, that just maybe Tang Yan could really create a miracle across all the swimming strokes. 

After all, if anyone could do it, it would be Tang Yan. He had created countless miracles for them! 

Now, seeing him doing the breaststroke, it was like watching a dream slowly transform into reality.

"Tang Yan's taxiing distance is further than everyone else, my God, his kick distance is ridiculous!" The main commentator could not help but exclaim.

In the stands the audience stood up and cheered.

Tang Yan not only had elegant movements, but also a long kick distance. What was even more frightening was his kick frequency.

Only the Gods knew how he did it!

In the time it took for others to go through one breaststroke cycle, he had almost completed it 1.5 times! 

"China's breaststroke has been saved!" The main commentator said emotional.

China had come out with a new batch of talents for freestyle and backstroke and even the butterfly stroke was on the rise, only the breaststroke was at a backward level.

Now Tang Yan had filled that gap!

The race in the pool continued, the distance between Tang Yan and the other swimmers kept increasing, by the 50-meter turn, he led second place Lin Zhiyu by close to a full metre!

"Under 29 seconds! Tang Yan's completion of 50 meters is top level!"

"He's going into the 50 meter turn right now, he just needs to pull off a clean turn!" The commentary guest said excited and nervous.

Breaststroke required that you had to touch the wall with both hands when making a turn.

But it seemed that his worry was superfluous.

In the past six months of training, Tang Yan had fully integrated the powers of Zhang Shun into the four swimming strokes.

"Perfect! Tang Yan is still Tang Yan!" 

"It's really hard to imagine, this is the first time Tang Yan is competing using the breaststroke!"

"Actually, this isn't his first time. I remember last year Tang Yan participated in a 4X100m medley relay race on behalf of the Zhejiang Province replacing an injured teammate."

"No wonder! No wonder Tang Yan would have such confidence, even going out the night before..." The guest commentator began.

"Cough." The main commentator gave off a timely cough and diverted the conversation.

Tang Yan's lead was closing in on two metres. 

According to his usual habit, he would normally slow down at this point, to reserve his energy for his other races to come but maybe it was because he was uncomfortable seeing those reports before the game but he didn't slow down. He continued to push ahead for a 2 metre lead. 

The moment he touched the wall, the whole scene boiled.

The swimmers times were quickly shown on the jumbo screen.

The first lane, 1 minute 05 seconds 21.

The second lane, 1 minute 03 seconds 56.

The third lane, 1 minute 04 seconds 99.

The fourth lane, 1 minute 02 seconds 78.

Fifth lane, 59 seconds 03!

The moment they saw the results, the scene was again in an uproar.

Under a minute! 

Tang Yan's time broke the national record of 1 minute, 0 seconds 73 held by Xie Zhi, and it had been improved on by more than a second!

Tang Yan's excellent performance, outshone the rest of his group making them look weak but in truth Lin Zhiyu in the 4th lane, with a time of 1 minute 02 seconds 78 was already among the top level in China. 

Many senior audience members were in tears with excitement at this time. The last time they had seen such a performance was in Mu Xiangxiong's era. Even Zeng Qiliang winning silver at the World Championships had been 13 years ago.

"We're back!" a middle-aged uncle in the crowd shouted excitedly.

Seeing the results, Tang Yan's mood improved considerably. Although it wasn't his best, it was enough to make a statement.

"Tang Yan! Tang Yan!" The familiar chants came again from the scene.

After Tang Yan went ashore, he waved to the audience and began heading for the passageway, trying to head out before reporters could get to him.

Chapter end