Chapter 424: Greco-Roman Wrestling

Chapter 424: Greco-Roman Wrestling

The Chinese team, having won the mixed team judo gold, ranked second on the judo medal table with 4 golds, 1 silver, and 1 bronze, achieving their best ever Olympic result and their best ever in any international judo competition.

Yet, from the ratio of gold to silver to bronze, one could still discern the relative weakness of China's judo foundation. Of course, this weakness was certainly temporary and would improve in a very short time.

For one, an Olympic Games producing so many champions and star athletes would undoubtedly boost the sport; by now, countless judo dojos and training classes across the country were likely already being prepared or even opened. For another, with so many gold medals won, the sports authorities would surely offer strong support, and local governments would actively cooperate.

Take the area around West Lake, for instance—almost overnight, every fitness venue added judo courses, and several new judo training centers were undergoing intense renovations. The reason for such a stir here was naturally because Meng Fan trained nearby, making it a veritable feng shui treasure for judo.

In those few days, the wages of everyone working in judo nationwide rose by at least thirty percent, while judo coaches saw their salaries more than triple.

At Peak Extreme Martial Arts Hall, every coach associated with judo received at least ten calls offering high salaries to poach them, with wages ten times their current pay.

As for those seeking cooperation with Peak Extreme Martial Arts Hall, they were countless. Yang Feng’s office had been trampled flat over the past two days, and after the Chinese judo team won the team championship, it only got worse. Forced to flee, Yang Feng headed straight to Shanghai to hide out for a few days.

Old Black went with him.

Yang Feng was driven away by annoyance; Old Black was scared away. A well-known domestic fitness chain offered Old Black an annual salary of one million!

What was he afraid of?

Old Black feared he might be tempted to accept!

Old Black came from a hardscrabble background; he’d never seen so much money in his life!

But he wasn’t stupid—he knew exactly what that million was for!

“Those in the know understand I’m Master Meng’s primary sparring partner; those who don’t might think I’m selling my ass! Old Yang, let me go with you to Shanghai to hide for a few days—it’s too damn scary!”

Old Black didn’t hesitate. Knowing Yang Feng was heading to Shanghai, he followed immediately. His words were tough, but his heart itched a little—the more so, the less he dared to stay.

“Old Yang, tell me, what kind of being is Master Meng, anyway?”

“You’ve stumped me with that question!”

On August 2nd, the second day of the judo team competition, which was also the ninth competition day, Meng Fan had no matches to fight. The only thing he had to do was go to the wrestling venue at Building A of the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall for weigh-ins.

After returning, he did some simple pre-match conditioning training and then strolled around the Olympic Village. Though he no longer had photo-taking duties, he still sought out people for photos everywhere. There were plenty of famous athletes in the Village—well, saying he sought them out was a bit of a stretch; he was really just wandering around waiting for others to come to him for photos, since everyone else saw him as a famous athlete too.

No particular reason—just that the opportunity was rare, and it was also a way for Meng Fan to relax before the competition. At any rate, he was having a good time.

With nothing else to do, he replied to a trending topic on Weibo related to him: #DidMengFanCompeteToday#—No.

Looking more closely, wow, his Weibo follower count had quietly surpassed fifty million!

Meng Fan remembered it was around ten million before the Olympics; after these two matches, it had grown so much. Oh, and there was the flag-bearer role at the opening ceremony too.

This follower count was likely the highest among athletes, and the growth rate was probably the fastest ever. No internet celebrity could compare to Meng Fan.

In the past couple of days, Weibo’s system had automatically posted two updates on Meng Fan’s page, both “notifications” of his Olympic gold medals. The retweets, comments, and likes were terrifying.

“And still no achievement task triggered? That’s a bit much!”

Meng Fan sighed and logged off Weibo. In the past, he’d hoped something on Weibo would trigger a task—like becoming a big V with a certain follower count, or achieving some milestone in retweets, comments, or likes. Even a crude task like a million fans or a “hot topic regular” title would do. But no, nothing!

Before this, he’d even secretly changed his gender, hoping to trigger some “Weibo Queen” achievement title!

On August 3rd, the tenth competition day of the Kyoto Olympics, fifteen gold medals would be awarded. Among them, China had medal prospects in women’s hammer throw, men’s rings, men’s vault, women’s balance beam, men’s 109kg weightlifting, and men’s 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling.

Women’s hammer throw was one of two field events where China could contend for medals; the participant was Zhang Wenxiu, who had won silver at the previous Olympics. The other was men’s triple jump, whose final would be held tomorrow; Chinese athlete Dong Bin had won bronze at the last Games.

One more note: China’s gold medal hopes in track events lay in race walking, especially the men’s and women’s 20km race walks, where they were nearly dominant. At the last Olympics, for example, the men’s 20km race walk champion and bronze medalist, and the women’s 20km race walk champion and silver medalist, were all Chinese.

Speaking of which, the fate of race walking was somewhat similar to wrestling—both were nearly kicked out of the Olympic family, and race walking had it even worse. Wrestling was at least confirmed to remain until 2024, while race walking was only guaranteed for the 2020 Olympics; its place in 2024 was uncertain (even if the whole event wasn’t cut, the 50km race walk would be dropped).

The reason it was retained this time was mainly related to Japan. Japanese race walkers were a peculiar phenomenon—they went weak-kneed in international competitions but could easily break world records on home soil, and in every event! With such a good opportunity, they naturally wouldn’t miss it, and they managed to keep the race walking events intact.

Returning to today’s events, among the three artistic gymnastics disciplines, China had strong gold medal potential. In the men’s 109kg weightlifting, Yang Zhe, who had performed excellently in recent years, also had medal prospects. As for the men’s 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling, that was Meng Fan’s event, and it was widely seen as a sure win by both domestic and international audiences.

The wrestling competition was held at Building A of the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall. Today, the men’s 90kg and men’s 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling events were held together. Since women’s wrestling only includes freestyle, the schedule didn’t mix men and women; instead, the two weight classes ran concurrently.

The competition began at ten in the morning. A total of 32 athletes qualified for the men’s 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling event, divided into four groups competing simultaneously. Meng Fan was in Group C, where he had to win three matches within the group, then face the winner of Group A for a spot in the final. In other words, to win the gold, he needed five consecutive victories.

“Don’t be nervous; just perform normally!”

Before the match, head coach Hu Cunyong offered Meng Fan pre-game encouragement. There was little else to guide—technically and tactically, Meng Fan was an expert, and he knew himself best. As for analyzing opponents, there wasn’t much to analyze; everyone in Group C had already lost to Meng Fan.

While waiting for check-in, Meng Fan joked with Hu Cunyong beside him: “I’m not nervous, but you—why do you seem so nervous?”

“I’m not nervous! I’m excited!”

Hu Cunyong’s face reddened a bit, but what he said was half true—he was excited, but also a little nervous.

Meng Fan had won two gold medals for Chinese judo—how could Hu Cunyong not be a little envious? Meng Fan was the one he had first invited into the national team—at least in his view, he was the first; whether Xiao Yunlin agreed was another matter—so why should he win two for judo first?

Scheduling?

Why was the schedule like this!

Well, Hu Cunyong could console himself that wrestling was divided into Greco-Roman and freestyle, and Meng Fan was competing in both. In terms of probability, Meng Fan winning both wrestling golds was a sure thing—much more likely than the judo team event!

Now that judo had two, it was wrestling’s turn—though Hu Cunyong wouldn’t pressure Meng Fan or compare them outright, he was certainly competing in his heart!

“Yes, yes, you’re excited. So excited your hands are shaking!”

Meng Fan smiled and stepped onto the mat. Mentally, he was relaxed, but on the mat, he didn’t let up at all. His competitive state was excellent, his attitude serious, and he even let out some killing intent when necessary.

Hu Cunyong valued wrestling gold medals, and Meng Fan himself certainly did too!

In Group C, Meng Fan’s three matches went very smoothly. All ended within 15 seconds, each won by high-scoring technical superiority—meaning he scored five technical points in every match. Basically, he’d probe a little, then execute a forceful throw for points. No one could evade, and no one could withstand it.

The semifinal was against the winner of Group A. Though that opponent was the silver medalist from the previous Olympics, he had lost to Meng Fan before. The match ended at the 9th second; Meng Fan won easily.

After the semifinal, Meng Fan had a rest period—or rather, the other competitor got some rest. After the repechage and bronze medal matches concluded, with over two hours of rest, the final ended in less than 10 seconds.

Not only did commentator Zhou Yingjie once again fail to introduce the opponent in time, but even the author couldn’t get his name out before he happily claimed the silver medal in that event.

Meng Fan earned his third gold medal of these Olympics, and for the third time, the notification of a world-class championship rang in his mind.

“Ding! Judgment successful. Obtained 5 championship honor points.”

Adding the two from judo earlier, Meng Fan’s championship honor points now totaled 52, granting a 27% all-attribute BUFF boost.

(End of chapter)