Chapter 466: The Four Iron Walls

Chapter 466: The Four Iron Walls

A group of journalists stared at Meng Fan with expressions that screamed, "Are you kidding me?" Did he really not know his own level?

The CCTV-5 reporter was probably the only one who believed Meng Fan—since even the cameraman didn't—so he played the straight man and told Meng Fan that his result had surpassed the Asian record, and also informed him that the current world record was 23.12 meters.

"That much of a gap, huh?" Meng Fan said with a smile. "Guess it shows that without professional training, you're still far off."

A gap of nearly 1.8 meters was indeed huge. In any event, once you reach a certain level, making further progress becomes extremely difficult.

This time, even the CCTV-5 reporter wanted to hit someone after hearing that. What was he going on about professionalism? Did he mean he just casually tossed it and got a result that beat the Asian record?

Unable to hold back, he said, "Iron God, the world records in the four throwing events are notoriously long-lived—hammer, javelin, discus, and shot put—all over thirty years, some even forty, all set in the last century, and they're called the Four Iron Walls that can't be broken in this century! Take shot put, for example—it's actually considered the most likely to fall, but the best result in the last decade was just 22.61 meters, set by American athlete Ryan at the Kyoto Olympics. I think if you trained systematically, reaching 22 meters would be no problem, and breaking 23 meters might even be possible—you could even shatter this Iron Wall!"

Meng Fan waved his hand modestly with a look that begged to be punched, then seized the opportunity to let the reporters interview the department heads, and promptly slipped away.

"Xiao Meng!"

He escaped from the reporters but was caught red-handed by Dean Zhan.

With a face full of spring-like smiles, Dean Zhan stroked his mustache and walked over with measured steps, while his wife and child were chatting with Wu Tong on the other side.

"Dean, you're here," Meng Fan said. Seeing Dean Zhan's smile and thinking it over, he had a vague sense of trouble and smiled sheepishly. "Did I cause any trouble?"

Dean Zhan couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Whether it's trouble depends on how you look at it."

"Then it probably is trouble," Meng Fan said, scratching his head. Just then, Dean Zhan's wife and child walked over with Wu Tong, and Meng Fan quickly went to greet them. "Master's wife, are you hungry? Let me take you to try the food in our school cafeteria."

It was indeed around mealtime now.

Ye Liwei and the head of the throwing events project had landed in Hangzhou by nine in the evening and immediately took a taxi to the China Academy of Art. Along the way, they naturally obtained Meng Fan's number through some channels, but no matter how many times they called, it wouldn't go through. They considered contacting Meng Fan through Dean Zhan, but that idea was dismissed as soon as it came up.

Going through Dean Zhan to find Meng Fan would only invite trouble—far from helping, it would definitely backfire!

Meng Fan was the golden goose of the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo department!

Yet, what Ye Liwei never expected was that Dean Zhan would call him voluntarily.

On the other end of the line, Dean Zhan's voice was utterly flat. "Old Ye, you're in Hangzhou, right?"

Ye Liwei hesitated. "...Yeah."

"Fast mover, huh! Now what? Can't get in touch with him?"

"...We'll find a way!"

"What way? Staking out the school?"

"How about finding him through one of his teachers?"

"Don't bother! I'll send you an address. Come eat first. I have to play the host, after all. Stay at our college tonight, and tomorrow I'll take you to him."

"Old Zhan, you're not playing games with me, are you?"

"If I were playing games, I'd just hide him from you, believe it or not! Hurry up! Besides, don't you want to see his javelin result tomorrow first?"

"...Alright, Old Zhan, I'll trust you this once!"

"Enough! Do I seem like someone who doesn't see the bigger picture?"

"...You do... kind of. Oh no, no, I'm coming now, coming now!"

Ye Liwei ended the call. Though still a bit skeptical, he went anyway. He had no choice—he couldn't reach Meng Fan, and it was already late.

Dean Zhan wasn't the type to "ignore the bigger picture," but he still had to give Ye Liwei some warnings and lay down at least a few ground rules!

No matter what, Meng Fan now belonged to the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo team. If any other team wanted a piece, the prerequisite was to ensure that Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo's training and competition schedule came first.

Meng Fan was already "busy" enough—he couldn't even attend Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo training, and many events were hard to arrange for him. If the track and field team started messing around, that would be a disaster!

First come, first served—that had to be clear!

Of course, there was an even more important prerequisite: Meng Fan's own thoughts.

By then, there were already many reports online about Meng Fan's participation in the school sports meet. The media had been very friendly and cooperative with him, covering not only his amusing entrance and the casual toss that broke the Asian record but also his "recruitment ad."

Well, the fact that Meng Fan was staying on as a teacher in the animation department was indeed news in itself. For many, this was more interesting than him breaking some Asian record. On Weibo, for instance, while #MengFanNewCompetition# trended, it wasn't as hot as #IronHeadCapeGuy# or #WantToTakeTeacherMengsClass#.

Especially #WantToTakeTeacherMengsClass#, which some people twisted into #WantToTakeTeacherMengsClass#, making it quite "hardcore."

The javelin event was scheduled for the afternoon of the second day of the sports meet, as the final event. Besides being the grand finale with Meng Fan's participation, it was mainly because the javelin's "range" was too large for the small field, and the athletes weren't particularly professional. So the area had to be "cleared"—meaning it could only proceed after all other events were finished, and during the event, it was "under lockdown" to keep others out of the "range" to avoid accidents.

The javelin event at the school sports meet had also been modified, as before. With over a hundred participants, if they followed the original three-round format, it would definitely get dark.

Meng Fan went last again in the first round. Compared to shot put, his javelin results were clearly more impressive. From a technical standpoint, with less-than-perfect form, the javelin was easier to throw. For an athlete like Meng Fan, with immense strength and fast arm speed, as long as he chose the right release angle with a basic run-up and grip, letting it fly, getting good results wasn't hard.

86.34 meters!

That was Meng Fan's first throw, far exceeding the national first-level athlete standard of 66 meters and the international-level athlete requirement of 78 meters. It easily crushed the national college sports meet record and was even close to the national and Asian record of 89.15 meters.

That record was relatively recent, set by Chinese athlete Zhao Qinggang at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, breaking the Asian record held by a Japanese athlete for thirty years and improving it by over two meters. Unfortunately, Zhao Qinggang was plagued by shoulder injuries afterward and couldn't produce good results again. As he aged, even though he recovered and could still throw over 80 meters, dominating domestically, he lost his edge on the international stage.

Otherwise, with results like that, if he could perform consistently, he would have been a gold medal contender at international events, including the World Championships and Olympics.

89.15 meters was indeed among the top tier in today's javelin scene.

Meng Fan's second throw lived up to expectations, improving to 88.23 meters, and his third throw broke the 90-meter barrier, hitting 90.31 meters!

It was a good thing the school had prepared by pushing the throwing zone far forward and clearing a large area ahead; otherwise, that javelin might have hit someone.

From the moment Meng Fan released the javelin in a full-moon arc to its landing, the entire process felt "endless"—so long that many people with average lung capacity ran out of breath just from shouting "Ah!" along with the javelin's flight.

90.31 meters!

This result surpassed the national and Asian records. Though still far from the world record of 98.48 meters, if placed in the last three Olympics, it would have been a guaranteed gold medal result!

In a corner of the stands, Ye Liwei went crazy when Meng Fan threw his second shot!

(End of chapter)