Chapter 400: Ticket to the Olympics

Chapter 400: Olympic Tickets

Meng Fan had naturally seen the online praise for the Mandarin dubbed version of "The Croods II" and his own performance in it, and he was thoroughly delighted.

Dubbing was his dream, and having his dream recognized by everyone was inherently a joyful thing.

If they weren't already on the precipice of the Olympic cycle, Meng Fan would have genuinely loved to take on more dubbing work, using his voice to forge more characters.

However, there was another matter that caused Meng Fan some melancholy.

Ever since his appearance on "The Master of Voices," there had been no shortage of people looking to hire him for dubbing, and his performance in "The Croods II" would undoubtedly capture the attention of even more voice directors and production companies; yet, Meng Fan knew all too well that very few would actually approach him, for a simple reason—as his popularity grew day by day, his appearance fees would inevitably skyrocket. Even for a voice acting gig, many clients would likely worry that he was too expensive to approach, or simply assume he had no time to spare.

Meanwhile, it was impossible for Meng Fan to proactively suggest that his salary could be lower, or that he had plenty of time.

This was precisely the primary reason why, the more famous Meng Fan became, the fewer people approached him for dubbing.

It was indeed a rather helpless and ironic situation.

Of course, this was merely Meng Fan's own assumption. In reality, clients wanting to hire him had never stopped coming, and the greater his fame, the more inquiries flooded in. These clients didn't care about money; as long as Meng Fan could draw traffic and popularity, what was money? They were fully prepared to offer fees far exceeding those of current front-line voice actors. Unfortunately, everything had been intercepted directly by the Chocolate Factory.

The Chocolate Factory naturally wished Meng Fan would do more dubbing, but because Meng Fan had been very busy during a certain period and had mentioned he was temporarily not taking on dubbing gigs, the Chocolate Factory had assumed he wouldn't accept any subsequent offers. It wasn't that the Chocolate Factory was just making assumptions, but rather that as time went on, Meng Fan seemed increasingly busy, involving himself in both wrestling and judo. The Chocolate Factory knew what took priority; how could they dare assign him voice work? They didn't even dare mention it!

Following the release of "The Croods II," the Chocolate Factory was about to welcome a massive wave of high-profile clients. As for whether a peerless, legendary patron would appear later on, leaving the Chocolate Factory completely unable to resist the temptation and forcing them to ask Meng Fan against their better judgment, that was a matter for another day.

Over the next few days, Meng Fan trained during the day, drew at night, and occasionally found time to attend a university class. His days remained fulfilling.

In the blink of an eye, March 8th arrived, International Women's Day.

Hu Yijing had only received the official approval from the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Administrative Center the day before. Even after drafting the press release, she hadn't rushed to publish it, waiting instead until March 8th to release the first batch of photos—snapshots of Meng Fan's daily training, a collection brimming with masculine hormones, which served as a holiday gift for the female fans who adored him.

The photos were first posted by the photographers Naxi and Feng Ge, accompanied by a very simple caption: "The daily training of the Iron God!"

The media outlets that received the press release followed suit immediately. Their captions were filled with positive, uplifting words about understanding the hardships of an athlete's daily training and the sweat poured out behind the scenes, while some media targeting a female audience directly used captions like "holiday gift."

Both photographers were top-tier professionals in the industry, so even their candid shots were of exceptionally high quality. Coupled with Meng Fan's charisma, as well as the aura, muscle definition, and sheer condition under specific environments, every single selected photo was incredibly striking. Many people who saw them felt as though a terrifying strength and a fatally seductive aura were bursting forth from the images, and the photos were widely sought after.

Furthermore, the dumbbells Meng Fan wielded and the movements he executed while training in the photos were deeply shocking to many.

If it were anyone else, people would definitely suspect that the dumbbells inside were fake, or perhaps not as heavy as imagined. But when it came to Meng Fan, everyone basically bypassed that question, simply thinking he was incredibly badass. Especially for gym enthusiasts, they practically fell to their knees.

The photos were saved by many, and some even used them as lock screens—mostly women, though no shortage of men did the same.

Seeing a new trending topic emerge and looking at the comments, Hu Yijing knew this first wave of photos was highly successful. However, she was in no rush to release the second wave, remaining perfectly calm.

As March arrived, sports across various countries had officially entered the true Olympic cycle. With less than five months until the start of the Olympic Games, many events requiring accumulated points to secure Olympic qualification began their final sprint phase. For China, this atmosphere had abruptly grown tense right after the New Year.

Starting from March 10th, the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center successively received information regarding the continental qualifiers issued by the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee. Once the exact dates for all three events were confirmed, the leaders of the center found themselves in a dilemma. Normally, no matter the scheduling, it wouldn't affect them much; after all, by this point, whatever could be pushed in the point-qualifying tournaments had already been pushed, and the final one or two stops wouldn't make much difference. But the crucial issue was that the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center had an extra person—a man spanning all three major sports: Meng Fan!

Generally speaking, the dates for continental qualifiers were staggered, and it was rare for event schedules to overlap entirely. Of course, occurrences on consecutive days were common, given the numerous qualifying events and the fact that they all began after the point tournaments concluded, leaving little time for the qualifiers to be held.

Naturally, no matter how much they overlapped, it usually mattered little, as individuals competing across two major sports were rare, practically non-existent. After all, the Olympics was the pinnacle of human sporting events; it was already impressive for a person to master one discipline, so who would have the energy to cross over?

Yet this time, the schedule was truly a bit awkward for Meng Fan—no, strictly speaking, it was a bit awkward for the judo team.

For the three sports, the qualifying tournament dates were actually staggered, but by a stroke of misfortune, this Olympics had added a new sub-event to judo: the judo mixed team event.

The addition of this event was, of course, the idea of Japan, the host nation. The host organizing committee possessed the authority to add or remove events, and any addition would naturally favor their own country's dominant disciplines. This mixed team event was, for all intents and purposes, a gold medal already in Japan's pocket.

The continental qualifiers for the mixed team event were scheduled after the regular judo qualifiers, colliding directly with the wrestling qualifiers.

There would be absolutely no problem for Meng Fan to participate in the wrestling qualifiers after finishing the judo qualifiers; he could even rest for a day or two in between.

However, the judo team was definitely going to arrange for Meng Fan to participate in the mixed team event. With Meng Fan present, that single point in any match would be set in stone. How could they possibly pass that up?

"Lao Xiao, don't even think about it!"

Upon seeing the schedule, the head coach of the wrestling team, Hu Cunyong, roared directly at Xiao Yunlin: "Even with Meng Fan there, it will still be an uphill battle for your judo mixed team to win a medal! Whereas with Meng Fan in wrestling, let alone a medal, the gold is already in the bag!"

After shouting, Hu Cunyong instantly calmed down again. Indeed, why was he shouting? It was a plain and obvious matter.

Xiao Yunlin let out a long sigh and remained silent, knowing that saying anything would be useless. Even if Meng Fan's inclusion guaranteed a gold medal, the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center could not possibly agree, because wrestling offered two!

This damnable schedule!

Xiao Yunlin was angry enough to want to hit someone.

"What are you worrying about?"

After Xiao Yunlin returned, the technical advisor of the judo team asked for clarification, carefully reviewed the schedule, and then took the wrestling schedule to look it over, laughing, "Lao Xiao, don't worry! Look here. This is the wrestling qualifier time, and before this deadline, there is only one stop left for the wrestling point tournaments. Look at this again."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, logged onto the United World Wrestling website, clicked on the Olympic ranking list, and said, "Look at Meng Fan's ranking, and then look at the gap between him and the fifteenth and sixteenth places."

Xiao Yunlin took the phone, his eyes lighting up instantly. "If Meng Fan wins a double championship at this final stop, then whether it's freestyle or Greco-Roman, it's possible for him to break into the top sixteen in points, thereby securing direct qualification!"

Once confirmed, he went straight to find Hu Cunyong.

"Lao Hu! If Meng Fan plays one more stop, his Olympic points in wrestling could directly earn him Olympic qualification. Why haven't you arranged it? Are you out of your minds? Do you absolutely have to make him fight through the qualifiers? What if something goes wrong?"

"What are you shouting for! Are we blind? Of course it's been arranged! However, until the results are out, don't you go daydreaming about the team event! The rankings are still volatile, and even if Meng Fan takes the double championship at the final stop, entering the top sixteen isn't a hundred percent guarantee."

"That goes without saying! But if wrestling secures the tickets and doesn't need to participate in the qualifiers, you better not object when the time comes."

"That's not a given. After all, adding another team event is inherently a burden for Meng Fan, so I might have a reason to object! The key is that even with Meng Fan, the team might not win a medal. I advise you to weigh the pros and cons carefully yourself first!"

"That may be so, but with Meng Fan added, there really is a chance!"

"You, Lao Xiao, are just too greedy!"

Meng Fan received the schedule sent by the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center on the evening of the 10th. For him, the three continental qualifiers were the final Olympic sprint; to go to the Olympics, he had to secure the tickets first.

As for the final wrestling point tournament arranged by the Center, Meng Fan was certainly going to participate, since securing the tickets ahead of time was more practical than anything else, and it seemed only wrestling offered this opportunity. For judo, even if Meng Fan participated and won the championship before the final point tournament deadline, he wouldn't be able to break into the top sixteen of the rankings.

Weightlifting went without saying; he hadn't participated in a single point tournament to date.

On March 20th, the final stop of the United World Wrestling Olympic ranking series took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, the headquarters of United World Wrestling.

The Chinese team arrived in Switzerland on the 18th. On the 21st, Meng Fan claimed the Greco-Roman 130 kg championship, and on the 23rd, he captured the freestyle 130 kg championship. His points for both events broke into the top sixteen, ranking 15th in Greco-Roman and 14th in freestyle, securing two Olympic tickets ahead of schedule.