Mid-August, the news suddenly reported about China’s athlete, Qu Yunxia, had won the gold medal for the 3,000 meters event in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics!
Qu Yunxia’s popularity rose. Before this, there might be people who do not take note of the sporting events. But when this was reported on the news, it was different.
Many people noticed that this Qu Yunxia looks familiar. Oh, she was the one who acted in some commercials.
Wait that means the Calcium medicine Qu Yunxia endorsed was really useful? Those people that do not believe in this product before started to buy the calcium Gluconate for their children.
Two days later, CCTV news reported another news. China’s athlete Liu Dong had won the gold medal for the 1,500 meters event in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics!
This news was almost the same as the previous one, except the name and event was changed. More people start to notice Liu Dong.
And two days later, Wang Junxia had won the 10,000 meters event. People were getting used to this news.
Was the athletic team we sent really so strong? Not only they had won the gold medal, but there were also several others who had won the silver and bronze medals. Of course, silver and bronze medals were not worthy to be reported on the news.
Because CCTV news had reported on the World Championships, the rest of the local TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and even magazine follow suit. Those athletes who had won medals but were not featured on CCTV news were also reported. The popularity of these athletes rose further.
As such, many people start to take note of the advertisements aired on CCTV and subconsciously, they memorized the advertising messages in the commercials.
And then, there was more significant news. As the athletes had made breakthrough performances and did China proud, China’s Premier will be meeting all of them, including the coaches.
Coach Ma was upset and happy at the same time when he heard about the performance of all those athletes at the World Championships. He should be the coach who led all these athletes to victory. He should be getting the credit of their performances and their prize money.
However, Coach Ma was glad that all these athletes had achieved good results, and everyone should know that this was due to his training. Will the higher ups help him get back his position as the head coach of this team?
It was an honor for the country’s Premier to meet all those athletes and coaches. Shouldn’t he be one of the coaches?
But Coach Ma waited until all the athletes returned back to Beijing and he still did not receive the notification from his leaders to attend the meeting between the team and Premier.
Coach Ma was anxious. This was an opportunity for him. If he did not grasp this opportunity, then he would be out of the athletic circle. He would not be able to make a comeback!
Coach Ma had started construction of his own training base at Lianyungang. Initially, he had the funds. He made use of the National Team’s name, and the local government gave him the land parcel for free. He sold the health product formula, take on the endorsement for the Chinese Turtle Essence and took the prize money from the athletes. He had more than enough funds to build the training base. Even the athlete’s dormitory was designed to be 3 stories building.
But after the construction started, all of Coach Ma’s money was confiscated! Not only that, his 3 months’ salary, bonuses, allowances, etc. were deducted. Then, all of his athletes decided to leave him for another coach. Now, he does not even have an athlete to participate in international competitions!
Coach Ma was in debt now. He owes the bank, the construction company, and the materials supplier! But he firmly believes that if he could resume his position as the head coach of this team of athletes, it will not be a problem for him to clear all these debts.
This team was the national team. They were athletes who competed on the world stage. With these athletes, money would be rolling in when they perform well in competitions, take on endorsements or attend some promotional events. Previously, there was a hotel owner who wanted to get him and a few athletes to participate in the opening of his hotel. The owner had offered 10,000 RMB. But Coach Ma thinks that 10,000 RMB was too little and rejected the offer.
But now, even if someone offered Coach Ma 1,000 RMB, he would also attend. But no one had made any offers. He was only a coach. Without the world champions, who would take note of the coach?
“Hello? Chief Lee? I am Old Ma.”
“Old Ma? Why are you calling me at this time? I am about to go out. If there is nothing else, we will take some other time. Bye.”
“Wait a minute. Chief Lee. Hello? Hello?” Coach Ma clenched the phone in his hand and wanted to smash it on the floor. But he did not do that. It was a mobile phone, and it cost 30,000 RMB!
What does he mean by going out? This was an excuse. It was apparent that Chief Lee was avoiding him. When I was the head coach, all of these officials lined up to meet me. Now, they are treating me like the plague!
Coach Ma did not dare to show his anger. He no longer has a group of world-class athletes under him. If he showed his anger towards his leader, he would be in trouble.
Coach Ma called a few more leaders who were quite close to him previously. But now, all of them were avoiding him.
As the sky became dark, Coach Ma decided to shamelessly attend the meeting without an invitation. He was the one who had trained these athletes, and he should be getting credit for his part!
Coach Ma immediately drove to the State Guesthouse. This was the venue where the Premier will be meeting the athletic team. He was staying quite near to the State Guesthouse.
“Sir, we do not allow people to enter without invitation.” Someone at the door stopped Coach Ma. The Premier was there and how could anyone just enter the place?
Coach Ma pointed to himself: “I am the coach of the athletic team. The Premier is meeting the athletic team and the coaches today. Let me in.”
“Sorry. Do you have the approval papers?”
“Approval papers? Do I still need approval? Don’t you know that I am the one who trained Qu Yunxia, Wang Junxia, and Liu Dong?” Coach Ma roared.
“I do not know about this. Without approval papers, I cannot let you in. You can contact your leader and let them escort you in.” This person was not an ordinary security guard. Even if it were a Provincial Governor, without prior notification, he would also not let the governor in!
Contact the leaders to escort me in? If they were willing to speak to me, I would not be standing here talking to you.
Coach Ma saw something bulging under the security’s coat. This security was carrying weapons. He thought about the people attending this event and changed his mind about forcing his way in.
In the end, Coach Ma left quietly. The next day, he watched the news and saw the athletes and coaches smiling and talking to the Premier. He was so furious that he smashes a glass on the floor.
This was all because of the person who exposed about the health products. It was all because of that Li Jiayu. All these honor should be mine!
Bing City Pharmaceutical Enterprise, don’t blame me for letting you take the blame!
Translator’s note: It’s weird when people did something wrong, most would not reflect on themselves. Instead, they would think that it was the fault of someone else.
The author wrote Lian Gang as the location of Coach Ma’s new training base. But I did a search, there was no such location in China. The closest to this name I could find was Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianyungang