Almighty Coach

Xu went back home, but still felt lifeless. What had happened tonight was like a plot from a movie. He kept replaying it in his mind. Every time he thought about it, he felt shaken. Li’s slimming exercise had gone against all the principles and knowledge in Xu’s head.

One set of exercise helped me lose 0.32kg. I would never believe it if it had not been me who experienced it! Where is this young Coach Li from? How is he able to do that? Xu was deep in thought.

Xu had already realized he had misunderstood Li and that he should apologize to him. However, remembering Li was just a young assistant coach, he shook his head. He himself was the main coach of the swimming team, and he was very overbearing today. He would feel so ashamed if he went to apologize.

One set of exercise could help people lost weight. There is no science supporting that at all! I don’t believe this witchcraft! He stood up and tried to recall all the movements in Li’s exercise. He started practicing in his living room.

What’s the next move again...? Xu thought to himself as his wife walked towards him.

Xu’s wife, Qian Liu, was also a swimming coach. She looked very anxious.

"Xu, something happened!" Qian Liu started.

"What’s wrong?" Xu asked.

"Feifei is in trouble." Qian walked very quickly with a phone in her hand. "It is being said that she is going to be kicked off the national team. It’s all over social media."

He grabbed the phone and looked through it quickly. "It’s a rumor. There is no source."

"The problem is that some of the websites already have some related news. You can google it if you don’t believe me," she said.

Xu picked up his own phone and searched it. The screen was full of news that had been retweeted by all the main news websites, many with the headline: "Feifei Yu is going to be kicked off of the national team.

"Recently, many media outlets have received anonymous emails saying that Feifei Yu is going to be kicked off of the national team. According to the email, she doesn’t work very hard on training, which has lead her to gain a lot of weight. The weight gain has had a bad influence on her condition in sports games. She is already over 70kg as of today. If she is asked to go back to the Hanbei provincial team, she will be kicked off of the national team.

"The reporter contacted the swimming sports center of the national sports bureau concerning the information about Feifei Yu, but he was unable to get a clear reply. According to what the reporter learned, Feifei Yu is not on the national swimming team currently, but went back to the Hanbei swimming team which might be evidence supporting the rumor. We’ll keep updating the information about this story."

After reading the entire news story, the expression on Xu’s face had completely changed.

"Somebody is trying to frame her! It must be someone from the national team, otherwise they wouldn’t have known her weight," Xu said immediately.

Where there were humans, there was competition. Every industry had its dark side—even sports. To fight for the opportunity to represent the team, teammates who were best friends betrayed each other all the time. There used to be situations where an athlete would add stimulants to their teammate’s water.

Feifei Yu, as the representative athlete of the national swimming team, enjoyed special benefits whether it was in training or competitions. For example, the 200m and 400m medley relay race always placed her as one of the candidates. Even if she was not in her best condition, and even if there was only one person that could take part in the competition, the swimming management center would give it to her. The national team was willing to waste competition chances on her just to help her get back to her normal condition.

If Feifei Yu left the national team, there would be someone benefiting from it. Besides the quota for taking part in sports games, as long as she left, all the training resources that she took in the national team would be dispersed to others. There would be more than one people who would benefit from her leaving.

"Shxt, I will ask the swimming management center to investigate thoroughly as soon as I go back!" Xu felt very indignant. However, his first priority now would be to deal with reporters’ interviews.

"What should we do now, Xu? Obviously, somebody was trying to frame her!" Qian Liu said anxiously.

However, Xu laughed all of a sudden. "If you told me this news a few hours ago, I might have panicked and had no idea what to do. But now it is different. I’m not afraid no matter how many media outlets gather together, because she’s already dropped the weight!"

Saying that, Dai Li’s face popped up in his head.

That was close! He shows up in time! It looks like I really should say thank you to this Dai Li.

...

Feifei Yu was not older than 20. Normally athletes her age should have been like the sun, rising from the horizon and continuing until they reached the highest point in the sky. However, she was the opposite. Her records had dropped, which had filled many people with questions.

Some people thought she was too proud of herself and wouldn’t get trained seriously; Some people thought that she participated in too many commercial events that influenced her training; Some even questioned that Feifei Yu’s former records were obtained using illegal methods like using stimulants, and because she didn’t use them anymore after she had gotten famous her records had dropped.

The first two rumors were okay and could be dealt with, but the last one was taboo that could destroy an athlete’s career forever. Obviously the people who questioned if she had used any stimulants were intent on destroying her professional sports career.

She was a champion when she was 14-years-old, and broke the world record when she was 16. It was actually unbelievable enough that others began to question. If she could keep working harder and get better records, she could empty all the questions and doubts. Unfortunately, however, she was going in the opposite direction.

The national team stated that she was injured when posed those questions, and blamed everything concerning her bad records on her ankle pain. Everybody understood when an athlete’s records were affected by injuries, especially if she had hurt her ankle during training.

Now there was another aspect of her condition that excited many conspiracy theorists. There were all kinds of rumors. The fact that she had gone back to the provincial team to get trained was taken as a sign that she was going to be kicked off of the national team. All the media outlets in Qing City had rushed to the story like eagles who had seen some rotten meat.