Chapter 85

August 20, Tuesday.

After a day of rest, the gymnasium should have been thoroughly cleaned. The plaque at the entrance was shinier than usual.

It was probably because the leaders from the city would also come to watch the competition today.

Coach Wu was also called in to clean yesterday.

Just like at school, there would often be general cleaning where every corner had to be wiped spotless and lights that normally weren't bright would be re-installed and lit up.

Xiaoqi was feeling a little nervous, though she had initially entered for the bonus prize money.

The first prize was 15,000 yuan which would directly solve her tuition fees. Even if she didn't get first place, second prize was 8,000 yuan which she could scrape together to pay for school. Third prize of 5,000 yuan was still a lot.

However, after practicing swimming for so long, she instead felt that she was ignorant back then to dare think that way.

First place was not that easy to obtain. She had been soaking in the water every day that her skin had turned white. Now, she didn't dare to confirm that she could win a prize.

Moreover, her opponent in this competition, Li Enya who got first place in the preliminaries, was already a reserve member of the national team. She was surrounded by a professional coaching team which was completely different from an amateur like herself. Although Coach Wu taught very well, Xiaoqi didn't dare to say that she was stronger than Li Enya's coach.

It felt a bit like an unrealistic ambition.

Usually, Wu Peirong was very casual and had high hopes for Xiaoqi. But here at the competition venue today, she also felt a little unsure. However, when she turned around and saw Xiaoqi in the corner doing warm-up stretches with the same calm expression as usual, she felt a sense of pride inside. This was the student she had picked and who would definitely succeed. Xiaoqi was still young at 17 years old, the same age as Li Enya, and had unlimited potential.

In fact, an athlete's career was very short. At 26 years old, Wu Peirong already belonged to the category of veteran athletes.

Zeng Tingting of the Three Flowers Team was 19 years old and ranked fifth in the preliminaries, so she was also seen as a top contender for the championship. The Three Flowers Team still had quite a reputation in Lvshan City as a local team.

The girl who ranked second in the preliminaries was very tall, Wang Songli. She had broad shoulders, the standard body shape of a swimming athlete, very strong and powerful and also a veteran athlete with explosive strength.

Ranking third was Li Si from Meng City. She was tall with good looks and dressed very fashionably. She also had a whole entourage of people waiting on her. Meng City was the most developed city in Jingnan Province and was quite highly ranked nationally with good conditions as a coastal city.

Ranking fourth was Ouyang Yan with a compound surname. Her skin was very fair and she looked a little mixed race with high nose bridge. Xiaoqi was quite curious about this girl as she gave off a very charming vibe, not the traditional type of good looks but a distinctive feeling. She also seemed to have a very cheerful personality, always smiling in her photos to reveal neat, straight teeth.

Ranking sixth was Xiaoqi herself. As Xiaoqi read the profiles and introductions of the other athletes, the others would also be reading about her.

She felt she was very insignificant, just tagging along with the name of the Three Flowers Team. In fact this was her first competition and she didn't have much experience.

But it was precisely athletes like her who aroused interest.

Even Zeng Tingting from the Three Flowers team stared at her profile for a good while.

17 years old, graduated from high school, had only officially started swimming practice for less than a month...this point was the most unbelievable but that was what was written in the materials.

There was no such detailed material available during the preliminary eliminations at that time when half the competitors were eliminated. Nobody bothered to prepare something so formal but for the official competition, city leaders would come to watch and relevant provincial leaders might also show up, so naturally the event had to appear more formal.

However, Xiaoqi only received these information booklets introducing the athletes and profiling the top six preliminary finishers, their competition history and records etc, today right before the start of the competition.

Previously, she hadn't considered that something like this would need to be prepared. She felt that swimming was not like combat sports where you could study an opponent's moves and weaknesses to gain an advantage. Competitive swimming was more like a competition against yourself.

During races, each swimmer had their own lane and there was no direct contact.

When she saw her photo in the booklet, it was the 1-inch bare-faced photo she had given to the coach earlier. She looked silly and stupid in it, making her appear flat in pictures. The photo was really dumb.

On the other hand, Li Enya's material clearly used a beautified photo with large eyes and red lips. Though it was only a 1-inch photo, it still managed to make her look pretty. Li Si's photo also seemed like an artistic portrait shot despite the small size. The others' photos looked normal.

Since today wasn't a weekend, Xiaoqi's aunt couldn't get time off to accompany her. But while she was warming up, she saw the spectator stand getting more and more crowded. By the time she spotted the huge banner and lighted signs that read "Go Xiaoqi" she knew Liang Jiajia and the rest had arrived. She also recognized one or two older faces in the group - even Liang Lady had come. She didn't know who the others were.

With so many people today, Xiaoqi could only wave from afar, unable to go over. Seeing the banners and lighted signs still made her blush a little, even though nobody there knew who she was. She strangely felt a bit nervous.

The organizers were clearly much better prepared than during the preliminary race. Things were at least orderly. Spectators also could not run around randomly. The competition area was spacious.

But Xiaoqi's coach was still commandeered by the organizers today to help out so Xiaoqi stayed in the Three Flowers Team's area.

Her swimsuit today was still black and red, with three little flowers on the chest.

Having learned from past experience, she made sure to bring a towel for outerwear, wearing a longer T-shirt over her swimsuit until the start of the race.

There were many cameras set up around the venue today, people with media passes and cameras hanging around their necks walking everywhere taking photos.

Xiaoqi saw reporters specifically interviewing Li Enya and Li Si from Meng City. Zeng Tingting also accepted a short interview but it was quite brief.

Xiaoqi wondered if they would try to interview her as well and soon a reporter came over shoving a microphone in her direction.

They were probably doing pre-race interviews to compare against post-race reactions from the eventual champion.

When the microphone suddenly appeared, Xiaoqi was a little stunned.

But the girl looked young with fair skin and hair tied in a little ponytail. After swimming training for so long, she had become thin and tall, still appearing pretty even on camera. The cameraman seemed quite satisfied with the footage, at least she photographed well.

And her attitude was very calm and composed, but somehow also a little stern, oddly feeling like she was being interviewed as some leader.

Yet a pretty, serious looking young girl also had an endearing gap moe.

Her responses were also one-by-one, seemingly not nervous at all.

Reporter: How do you feel your current form is? Are you confident about the race?

Su Xiaoqi: I think my condition is very good, I'm confident.

Reporter: Who do you think has the best chance to be champion?

Su Xiaoqi: Don't know.

Reporter: What plans do you have for your future development?

Su Xiaoqi: Go to university.

Reporter: ......