IBABS Chapter 74 — Chen Zhi Returns to Training & Spring Festival Interviews & The Start of the Indoor Championships

On January 12th, Chen Zhi, who had been temporarily absent due to injury, officially returned to the team.

That morning, an atmosphere of joy filled the entire sprint division of the track and field team. Even during training, Su Zhe could sense the cheerful mood of the staff around him. In the spacious indoor training facility, many people were talking about this topic during their breaks.

Within the sprint group’s training area, the mood was especially relaxed.

A little past nine in the morning, the doors of the training facility swung open. Then, under everyone’s watchful eyes, the long-awaited Chen Zhi and his coach Tian Fangzheng, foreign coach Taylor Way, and others stepped inside.

For a brief moment, the large training hall fell silent. Then, a wave of enthusiastic applause broke out.

Welcome back to the team!

Everyone shouted together, “Welcome back!”

It was the simplest yet most heartfelt welcome they could give Chen Zhi.

“Thank you.” Chen Zhi was moved as he looked at his teammates, both old and new. He bowed deeply to everyone. “Thank you all. I’m back!”

Chen Zhi’s return marked the comeback of a symbolic figure for China’s track and field team. Since joining the national team at 22, he had steadily shouldered the responsibility of leading the sprint events. Whether facing external competition or internal challenges, his presence alone brought a sense of stability.

At the same time, everyone couldn’t help but look forward to another development. Now that Su Zhe, a rising star, was making his mark, China’s sprint division would no longer rely solely on Chen Zhi. What changes would these two talented athletes bring to the sport?

Not just the public, but everyone within the national team also felt incredibly excited about this.

“Xiao Zhe, I’m back.” After Chen Zhi walked to the sprint group’s training area, he went straight to Su Zhe, smiled and hugged him, then casually ruffled Su Zhe’s hair.

Su Zhe was quite speechless as he swatted away Chen Zhi’s hand and sighed, “Welcome back, but Xiao Zhi-ge, I’m almost 22, not 12. Shouldn’t you change this habit of ruffling my hair?”

Chen Zhi chuckled and raised both hands in surrender, “Haha, okay, our Xiao Zhe has grown up. I’ll pay attention to that in the future.”

Beside Su Zhe and Chen Zhi, everyone watched their interaction with amusement. Only Su Yinsheng had a stern face, like a disgruntled father watching his two troublemaking sons.

After Chen Zhi greeted Su Zhe, he turned to look at Su Yinsheng and smiled, “Master, I’m back.”

Having lived under Su Yinsheng’s roof since joining the provincial team at 14, Chen Zhi had long learned to read the man’s infamous temper. Years of master-disciple understanding told him clearly that Su Yinsheng’s concern for him was no less than that of his own parents.

After Su Yinsheng looked him up and down for a while, he frowned and said, “You’re jumping straight back into training? How’s the post-surgery recovery? How’s the rehab going?”

Looking at Su Yinsheng, Chen Zhi smiled confidently, “Everything’s good. My injury isn’t a problem anymore.”

Tian Fangzheng, who came with Chen Zhi, added, “That’s right. The doctors in Germany were surprised by his recovery rate. His condition is excellent, and his rehab progress is ideal. He’s ready for training now.”

It had to be said that the one-time recovery halo Su Zhe had given Chen Zhi was worthy of being a system product, and lived up to the 9 million reputation points Su Zhe had paid. Chen Zhi’s injury recovery effect far exceeded everyone’s expectations, and also gave Tian Fangzheng and others better hopes for Chen Zhi’s future performance.

The national team had actually been coordinating with Tian Fangzheng’s side, so Su Yinsheng was already well-informed. Still, seeing Chen Zhi in person, he couldn’t help but double-check.

Once satisfied with Chen Zhi’s condition, he scowled again. “Now that you’re back, take it easy with the upcoming training. If anything goes wrong again, see how I’ll deal with you!”

Chen Zhi smiled while fully accepting the care behind Su Yinsheng’s threatening concern.

Even Chen Zhi’s return only briefly interrupted the athletes’ training. Everyone, including Su Zhe, quickly threw themselves back into training.

Meanwhile, Chen Zhi, Tian Fangzheng, Taylor Wei, and their assistants gathered with Su Yinsheng and others in a corner for an official meeting of the national sprint coaching team.

During the mid-to-late stages of Chen Zhi’s recovery and rehabilitation training, Tian Fangzheng and Taylor Way, along with their assistants, had already prepared a comprehensive training plan for him. The goal wasn’t just to help him regain his form but to strategically align his peak performance with this year’s Olympic cycle.

This single-cycle training plan wasn’t just created by Tian Fangzheng and his team. Su Yinsheng, Zhang Ye and others had already received the corresponding plan forms and made some suggestions and additions.

For Chen Zhi, the next phase would focus on recovery training and technical adjustments. He had already been excluded from the lineup for the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March.

His task was to rebuild his stamina, strength, and technique within the limited time. Starting with the National Athletics Grand Prix in mid-April, he would gradually compete in various events, using races as training to restore and accumulate his competitive level, then secure his Olympic 100m qualification before June 29th.

Besides this, Su Yinsheng also shared the current training plans for sprint group members including Su Zhe and Zhao Zhixuan with Tian Fangzheng and Taylor, and together they refined the overall program for better efficiency and scientific precision.

For Su Zhe, the only noticeable change after Chen Zhi’s return was seeing his senior back in training mode.

If asked, other team members would say Su Zhe had already become a training maniac. And now, with Chen Zhi back, there were two such maniacs haunting the track and field hall every day.

Su Zhe and Chen Zhi’s training routines were entirely different. Su Zhe’s regimen emphasized technical drills and specialized exercises, with adjustments tailored for the upcoming World Indoor Championships. His training focused on improving his overall technique, consistency, and performance in the first 60 meters.

Chen Zhi was still in recovery, so his training concentrated on endurance, conditioning, and speed training. He was constantly adjusting his overall condition, hoping to gradually restore his body to its pre-injury state.

Although their training content and directions were different, the entire team could see how focused and serious these two were about their daily training. Even with boring training drills, they could complete each item meticulously, with constant attention to technical details.

Influenced by these two people’s, especially Su Zhe’s, silent and focused training state, Zhao Zhixuan and other sprinters couldn’t help but push themselves harder in training, hoping not to fall too far behind them.

The hurdlers were no exception. After the Japan Indoor Invitational, Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun had elevated their training intensity. The taste of dominating the top three was too sweet. Whether for Zhou Tianjue or Ye Jun, this competition had boosted their confidence in themselves and fueled new expectations for the upcoming World Indoor Athletics Championships.

The desire to win, to achieve greater results.

This belief was deeply engraved in the heart of every athlete of the national track and field team.

As training progressed day by day, the Lunar New Year also arrived.

Like New Year’s Day, the Spring Festival held little real significance for these athletes in the midst of winter training. No one would disrupt their rigorous schedules just for the holiday, risking the progress of their cyclical training.

The only difference was perhaps that the sports channel crew once again came to the training base for a Spring Festival livestream, offering holiday greetings and conduct live interview broadcasts with all the athletes.

The day the crew came was already the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve, but the training atmosphere throughout the track and field hall remained intense. In each training area, everyone was still focused on studying whether they were performing their training courses adequately.

When the crew entered, it barely drew anyone’s attention.

On Weibo, sports fans on holiday had already gathered in the livestream room, eager to see the athletes they hadn’t seen in a while.

As the camera panned across the training hall, the chat exploded with lively comments.

[Haha, the livestream started! Front row for the comments!]
[Much respect to the athletes, still training hard during the New Year holiday.]
[Hey guys, look over there. Isn’t that Chen-dashen¹ training? I spotted him! Ahh, so good to see him back in training. I feel so much better now.]

Wei Liang, the director in charge of this sports channel’s live broadcast planning, was once again leading the production. As soon as the broadcast began, he followed along closely, constantly checking the schedule and key points in his hands.

This livestream wasn’t particularly long, but it required covering the entire track and field training hall, so timing had to be precise. Aside from showcasing the athletes’ training routines, Wei Liang’s plan also included a segment where selected questions from enthusiastic viewers would be answered by the athletes, which was a special New Year’s treat for the audience.

Following his schedule, Wei Liang began making his rounds, interviewing athletes from different track and field disciplines. The questions posed to each athlete were wildly varied.

For example:
– What’s the toughest training you’ve ever done to build strength?
– What’s the maximum weight male and female athletes can lift during strength training?
– How do pole vaulters carry their poles when traveling abroad? What if they run out of poles?

And so on, covering all sorts of topics.

As the athletes finished answering questions about their respective events and sent their Spring Festival greetings to the livestream audience, the interview gradually moved into the two most popular events, the hurdles team and the sprint team.

Since Su Zhe was still in the middle of specialized sprint training that day, only Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun from the hurdles team were available for interviews. The moment they appeared on screen, the livestream welcomed a small peak in viewership. After all, the hurdles team’s sweep of the top three places at the previous Japan Invitational had left such a deep impression on sports fans that the surge in popularity was no surprise.

After answering questions like their goals for the upcoming World Indoor Athletics Championships being held in their home country, Wei Liang handed a stack of photos to the two men, asking them to help sign autographs to be used as prizes for the sports channel’s repost lottery.

At the same time, Wei Liang led the livestream crew straight to the final stop of today’s interview, Su Zhe and Chen Zhi from the sprint team, who were still buried in training.

The moment the camera shifted to the sprinters, the livestream atmosphere skyrocketed to its peak.

[It’s Chen-dashen and Zhe-shao! Finally we get to see them both.]

Wei Liang’s timing was perfect. By the time he arrived, both athletes had just finished their respective training sessions and were taking a short break.

After Wei Liang, doubling as the host, greeted them, Su Zhe and Chen Zhi also waved at the livestream audience with a cheerful, “Hello, everyone!”

Although it was the middle of winter, in the warm indoor training environment and after their intense physical drills, both Chen Zhi and Su Zhe were drenched in sweat. Su Zhe’s bangs had grown a bit long, so he had simply tied them up with a rubber band into a small tuft, revealing his smooth forehead.

Their condition made it obvious just how grueling their training had been.

In the livestream, track and field enthusiasts quickly and spontaneously lined up in an orderly fashion after seeing the two: [Happy New Year, Chen-dashen! Happy New Year, Zhe-shao! Wishing you both good health and constantly improving results in the new season, with endless PB breakthroughs!]

Chen Zhi’s injury had genuinely worried his fans for over half a year.

Both he and Su Zhe were now irreplaceable figures in men’s 100m sprint — and in Su Zhe’s case, the 110m hurdles as well. The flood of well-wishes on screen reflected the purest hopes and support from sports enthusiasts.

Su Zhe and Chen Zhi naturally saw the netizens’ comments, and both smiled as they expressed their thanks for everyone’s blessings.

After briefly introducing and demonstrating the training programs and content that the two were doing during winter training for the livestream audience, Wei Liang pulled out the final set of interview questions and began posing them to Chen Zhi and Su Zhe.

In the interview script, the questions about Chen Zhi were quite straightforward, mostly caring about his actual physical recovery status, how his current recovery training was going, when he planned to start participating in his first competition, and so on.

But when it came to Su Zhe’s turn, the overall tone of the questions suddenly took a huge turn…

[Please tell us, Su Zhe, you have many nicknames, such as “Zhe-shao, Track Fairy, Little Lamb, Zaizai², Snow Leopard Boy, Zhe-mei³“. Among these nicknames, which one do you like most and which one can you absolutely not accept?]

???

Su Zhe, who had been completely relaxed just moments ago, visibly stiffened the moment Wei Liang read out that cringe-inducing list. Beside him, Chen Zhi paused for a second before a faint smile appeared on his face.

This ridiculous compilation of nicknames that spanned both China and Japan, and crossed both the entertainment and sports circles, made Su Zhe feel a wave of despair.

After hesitating for a moment, he still bravely steeled himself and answered, “The one I absolutely cannot accept… the last one.”

Su Zhe never expected that just from focusing on training for this period of time, his already embarrassingly extensive collection of nicknames would gain another addition like “Zhe-mei,” a title so mortifying it made him want to tear his hair out.

He suddenly felt that his previous complaint to his mom wasn’t harsh enough, and he should have his mom give his dad another thorough scolding.

[So… which nickname do you like most?] Wei Liang wasn’t about to let Su Zhe dodge the question.

After looking at the question card again, Su Zhe finally chose the nickname “Zaizai.”

“This nickname came from my earliest fans. They’ve stuck with me through everything, whether it was during the time when I was being mocked by everyone and no one paid attention to me, or since I switched to track and field. They’ve been with me the whole way. Even though at first they couldn’t really understand the basic rules of track events, they still supported me without hesitation.” Su Zhe paused before adding, “Although I rarely mentioned this before, I’m truly very grateful to these fans who have accompanied me and grown with me along the way.”

In the livestream, whether it was regular sports fans or the “Philosophers,”⁴ everyone originally thought Su Zhe would choose “Zhe-shao,” which seemed like the most serious-sounding nickname. No one expected his final answer to be like this.

After a brief silence, the “Philosophers” in the live chat began flooding the screen with comments, “Zaizai, we will always love you!”

After this playful question, the remaining questions were all quite normal, including what kind of results he hoped to achieve at the upcoming World Indoor Athletics Championships in N City, and things like that.

“Of course, I want to win as much as possible!”

When Su Zhe answered this question, his gaze was extremely determined. No matter how difficult the road ahead might be, he refused to lose his determination to climb to the top!

At the end of the interview, Su Zhe, Chen Zhi, and the rest of the sprint team, together with all the coaches and staff, wished the livestream audience a prosperous New Year, and then this livestream interview was successfully completed.

On New Year’s Eve the next day, the track team’s chefs prepared a lavish feast for all the athletes. Everyone gathered in the cafeteria, raising their glasses to celebrate the Spring Festival amidst their winter training.

After dinner, they split into small groups to watch the Spring Festival Gala. Su Zhe even unexpectedly spotted Boss Shao on the stage.

Looking at the familiar Shao Xingchen on TV, Su Zhe thought for a moment, took out his phone and sent him New Year greetings, while also praising his performance on the Spring Festival Gala stage.

As midnight approached, amid the festive atmosphere of the gala, the team members began exchanging New Year’s wishes. At the stroke of midnight, Su Zhe’s phone also received a reply from Shao Xingchen: [Happy New Year, wishing you health and success in everything in the coming year.]

After the Lunar New Year, the national track team’s training entered a new phase of intensity, especially for the 15 competing athletes who would soon depart for N City at the end of February to participate in the World Indoor Athletics Championships. Their corresponding training plans were adjusted again.

Domestic promotions for the event were in full swing, with major news broadcasts on various channels covering the upcoming championships.

Starting from mid-February, national teams from around the world successively arrived in N City, China, and began adaptive training in the nation’s first large-scale indoor track and field stadium that N City had specially built for this competition.

This world-class indoor track and field event brought together around 160 countries and over 1,000 athletes competing for glory. As always, the most formidable team was the US team, a powerhouse that had once dominated half of the gold medals with their strength.

As teams from various nations arrived, sports networks rolled out special coverage, featuring N City’s challenging bid against rival cities, its extensive preparations for the games, and athlete profiles. These segments helped casual viewers grasp the event’s prestige, intensity, and overall difficulty.

With official promotions fueling the hype, online discussions about this competition also increased day by day. National pride surged as people eagerly anticipated the competition. They also began analyzing what kind of breakthrough results the Chinese team could achieve in such a competition.

Amid this buzz, late February arrived.

At the national track and field training base, the 15 athletes who would represent China in this World Indoor Athletics Championships had completed all their training cycles. Some athletes who hadn’t participated in the Japan Invitational also went to participate in some events when the domestic National Indoor Athletics Championships qualifying rounds opened at the end of winter training, once again adjusting their competitive state in competition.

Finally, on February 25th, the 15 competing athletes and accompanying officials gathered at the national track team’s training base. Led by Zheng Wensheng, they boarded the team bus and set off for N City.

March 1st, 2020, N City Olympic Sports Park Indoor Stadium.

Under the watchful eyes of audiences nationwide and the eager gaze of hundreds of millions of athletics fans worldwide, the World Indoor Athletics Championships officially kicked off.

Author’s Note:
Today’s Strange Conversation
Su Zhe: 0.0 Boss, I have a question. Why do you appear in the author’s notes every day when you’re so busy?
Boss Shao: (complicated expression) …Because if I don’t, I probably won’t have any chance to win over my wife in this lifetime.
Su Zhe: 0.0 Eh??? There’s such an important reason? Then I wish you success soon!
Boss Shao: (even more complicated expression) …Thank you.
Caicai watching from afar: (expression: complicated x10,000) Zaizai, do you know what you’re saying???