Chapter 463: Related to Strength

Chapter 463: Related to Strength

The annual sports meet at Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts was never really about the sports themselves; the focus was always on the other activities that sprang up around it, all linked together into a grand, joyful party.

This year was no different, following the same big-party format. The athletes' entrance parade once again came up with new twists, the scale and influence of the charity sale outside the track expanded further, and the number of citizens and tourists attending hit a new high.

Of course, the sports themselves this year were quite a spectacle, even becoming the true core highlight of the meet, for no other reason than that an Olympic five-gold medalist would be competing. An Olympic five-gold medalist at a school-level sports meet—what does that even mean? It was like a bronze-level game in a video game suddenly featuring a world champion MVP from esports—the excitement was off the charts!

The track at Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts wasn't very large, and the seating on the bleachers wasn't abundant either. Before the opening ceremony of the school sports meet began, every spot was filled, with the number of people far exceeding the number of seats. If the school hadn't been worried about a stampede, the crowd here could easily have been ten times larger. Those who couldn't squeeze in were now gathered outside the track, content to listen to the commotion inside or wait for the charity sale to start after the opening ceremony.

Today, besides the many citizens and tourists who came because the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts sports meet was open to the public, there were also many uninvited media outlets. This was Meng Fan's first return to the competitive arena since the Olympics! Although it was a school sports meet, and although he wasn't competing in any of the weightlifting, wrestling, or judo events, they still swarmed in.

Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts didn't block most media outlets; after all, it was a way to boost the academy's influence, even if it sounded bizarre and rather frustrating for an art school to rely on sports to increase its profile.

In addition, representatives from the education system also showed up. In previous years, relevant officials had always attended the sports meet, but their rank was usually far lower than those attending other academy events. This time, however, the level was quite high, which could be seen as a recognition of the academy's efforts in physical education—a balanced development of morality, intellect, physique, and aesthetics.

At 9:30 in the morning, music began to play, and the athletes officially entered the arena. Following the order drawn by each department, the Animation Department—whether by luck or something else—had its student council president draw the last spot, bringing up the rear.

The Animation Department's entrance style was always unique, never falling out of the top three in terms of creativity and eye-catching appeal. This year was no exception—well, it was utterly ridiculous!

When Meng Fan appeared with the senior class phalanx, dressed as a "bald-caped hero," the entire audience fell silent for a second before erupting into thunderous applause, screams, and laughter of all kinds—ha ha ha, ga ga ga, he he he, xi xi xi, and goose-like cackles. The two classmates in front of Meng Fan, while cosplaying as goofy characters, each held a powerful electric fan, deliberately blowing Meng Fan's cape up and fluttering around, which was equally goofy and left everyone speechless.

Students, citizens, and tourists laughed heartily; media reporters clicked away with their cameras; school officials and visiting dignitaries struggled to suppress their smiles. What truly made it impossible for them to hold back their laughter or even look directly at Meng Fan was that after the entrance ceremony ended, Meng Fan went up on stage to deliver a speech on behalf of the athletes. His bald headpiece, treated with some unknown process, was so shiny it even sparkled!

Although the scene was far from serious, given the atmosphere, it didn't feel too out of place. The officials could only comment that the academic atmosphere was lively and full of delightful quirks.

After the opening ceremony concluded, Meng Fan, now the new face of Huamei, took off his headpiece and was kept behind by the school officials to accompany the dignitaries on a stroll around the campus, including a visit to the charity sale that followed the ceremony. The officials gave high praise to this Huamei tradition, each buying a small trinket with their own money. Seeing how popular Meng Fan was with the citizens and tourists, they laughed heartily and let him go.

Meng Fan stayed behind, pulled out his phone, and started a live stream, essentially continuing last year's "live-stream shopping agent" activity. From the morning until around 3:00 PM, aside from eating, Meng Fan basically acted as a "shopping agent," buying over two hundred items. He gave some to the live-stream viewers and signed a small portion to give to the citizens and tourists on-site. Both the live-stream audience and the on-site crowd were overjoyed.

Of course, the citizens and tourists were also enthusiastic about buying. This year, Huamei's charity sale revenue hit a new high, roughly seven or eight times higher than before.

It was a good thing everyone had prepared, knowing this year's sale would be a hot seller, so they didn't sell out on the first day.

At 3:10 PM, the men's shot put competition officially began. This was one of the two events Meng Fan was participating in, and also one of the events with the most participants this year at the school sports meet.

In previous years, this event had only a dozen or so participants, but this year—ha—it was nearly a hundred!

The same went for the javelin event, the other one Meng Fan was in.

This gave the school sports meet organizing committee a huge headache!

With so many participants, when would they ever finish? Each person had three throws; even if each throw took just one minute—including calling names, checking in, and preparing, not just throwing—that would be three minutes per person. For a hundred people, that's three hundred minutes, five hours! This completely disrupted the event schedule.

So, with no other choice, they had to temporarily change the rules: the first round, each person throws once, the top thirty advance to the second round, and the top twelve from that go to the third round. Such a rule was obviously unscientific, but the whole thing was hardly scientific to begin with, so they just changed it. Besides, everyone knew most people were just there for fun, and no one would take it too seriously.

Meng Fan was lucky enough to draw the last spot. After a brief warm-up, under the gaze of thousands, he walked to the throwing area, hefting the shot put in one hand while waving to the crowd with the other. Then he assumed the throwing stance he had learned last year, which was quite standard. With a smooth motion, he threw—the 7.26-kilogram shot put traced a beautiful arc through the air before landing in the sandpit, drawing a roar of cheers from the crowd.

Anyone could see that Meng Fan's throw was very far. Compared to the previous hundred or so throws, this distance was nearly double the farthest one so far!

The referee stepped forward to measure, then announced the result—18.18 meters!

That number was quite... golden-eyed!

Aside from finding the number amusing, others didn't feel much, but the physical education teacher on the referee team immediately checked the records and found that this had already far exceeded the national first-level athlete standard for shot put! Moreover, it had broken the men's shot put record for Zhejiang Province's university sports meets!

By over two meters!

Looking at Meng Fan, they sighed in admiration, saying—Is there any strength-related event he can't handle?

(End of chapter)