Almighty Coach

The 100m race hadn’t started yet. The eight participants were just on their tracks to make preparations. At the same time, the audience were all talking about Jimmy Aylwin’s most recent victory.

What the common audience saw was Aylwin’s comeback to win the 400m race. But professionals focused on his score of 43.82 seconds.

In the TV studio, the commentator with ESPN couldn’t help saying, “Aylwin is still so fast! It’s beyond my imagination that a 34-year-old coming back three years later after retirement can still finish the race within 44 seconds. His physical condition has seen no decline through four years. I really want to know his secret of keeping such a good physical condition!”

The question of the ESPN commentator was also confusing many coaches. In their opinion, it was impossible for an athlete aged 34 who came back after three years of retirement to get a score of 43.82 seconds. They would consider it a delusion if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.

“How did he do that?” Every coach on site couldn’t help thinking about it. Many coaches were discussing it.

…

“To tell you the truth, I think there are two possible reasons for Aylwin to keep so fit. One is that he was born physically gifted. There are some people who are born to run faster and jump higher than others. It’s impossible for an ordinary person to copy the brilliance of a talent,” a black coach said. He added after a pause, “The second reason may be the training. A more scientific training method can keep the athlete’s physical condition good.”

But a Spanish coach beside him shook his head to say, “The training? That’s hardly possible. That’s a score of 43.82 seconds. A 34-year-old sprinter must have gone through a severe physical degeneration. No training will help. Training can make a man stronger, but it cannot rejuvenate him. So, I believe in your first inference that Aylwin is gifted just like the mutants in X-Men. He is unique and cannot be replicated.”

“Your words about rejuvenation remind me of another man. Do you remember the boxing king, Kevin Taylor? Everyone was optimistic about his comeback. Taking his age into consideration, all people thought it was impossible for him to fight so aggressively. But the reality, Taylor shows a better physical condition than before. It’s a real rejuvenation,” a coach with a beard said.

“Maybe that’s just a coincidence,” the Spanish coach denied stubbornly. “And boxing is different from sprint. There are many professional boxers in their forties. But sprinters are considered old athletes when they are more than 30 years old.”

“But Ted’s way was in pursuit of extreme explosive force, which is similar to the aim of sprint,” said the coach with a beard. He seemed like he might have a problem with the Spanish coach.

“Okay. Let’s suppose you are right. Training can rejuvenate athletes. Could you please tell me what kind of training can achieve that? No? So, Kevin Taylor and Jimmy Aylwin today are both just unique cases. Never forget that we are just coaches. We cannot beat time!” the Spanish coach said.

“If I may speak,” the black coach who started the topic interrupted the two, looking at his mobile phone. “According to my search just now, Jimmy Aylwin’s fitness coach is also Kevin Taylor’s fitness coach.”

“So, this coach has helped two athletes regain youth?” the bearded guy said with the expression of someone who had just won an argument. And he added, “One athlete’s rejuvenation can be called an isolated case. But I don’t think we can still use the term ‘isolated case’ since we have found the shared key point in the two cases.”

The Spanish coach asked skeptically, “Who is that coach?”

“Dai Li, and you must have heard of him. Chinese names are few in our field,” replied the black coach.

“It’s him! The man in Los Angeles!” Obviously, the Spanish knew Dai Li.

Track and field were traditionally the weakness of Asians. Asian coaches were fewer than pandas. So, everyone knew of Dai Li.

“As far as I know, he is also the coach for the ‘Blade Runner,’ Philip. I met Dai Li in the last World Championship tryout,” the coach with a beard added.

“Philip, Taylor, and now Aylwin. Their achievements cannot be analyzed by common theories. They are not isolated cases. This Coach Li must have a special way of training.” The black coach paused and then he said, “I think he really has beat time to some extent!”

…

Sebastian’s expression was very serious. Aylwin’s score of 43.82 seconds went beyond his imagination. He believed that Dai Li had a more effective new drug.

I must have that new drug! And I’d better get it before the Franklin Lab gets it. And I can make an exchange with the Franklin Lab to get benefits. I must figure out a way. From his seat on the main stand, Sebastian looked over the coach rest area by the side of the field and found Dai Li.

Asking Dai Li directly will not work. No coach will admit he provided drugs for athletes. That’s silly. And even if he admitted it, he would never give it to me. A new type of drug, which is so effective. That’s priceless.

So, I need to think of something to make Dai Li give it to me. If I can find the evidence of his providing drugs to athletes, I could threaten him with it to get the new drug. If he refuses, I could take it public to make him notorious. Okay. Good idea! And a direct one!

But the problem is how to find the evidence? Should I hire an investigation company? The Franklin Lab has done that, but it hasn’t got any information. And nothing was found in the urine samples of Alexander and Ford after several rounds of tests. And I think they would be equally useless on Aylwin.

Or should I talk with athletes to seek some information? No. They are athletes, not fools. Admitting that they used drugs would be too silly. Their mouths are zipped on the issue of drugs. It’s meaningless.

What should I do? Sebastian thought.

I know! The urine test found nothing, but other tests may find something. The blood test! But it’s very complicated to set up a blood test… Suddenly Sebastian got an idea.

That’s fine. I am the Chief Coach of the National Track and Field Team of America. Winning the qualifications, Aylwin and Alexander are all going to be promoted to the National Team soon. It will be so easy to get the blood samples when they are all under my control.

Thinking of that, Sebastian smiled happily.

…

Under most circumstances, athletes were required to take urine tests. Some migh be asked to take blood tests. But there were just few cases of blood tests. Take the International Anti-Doping Organization for example; during ten years, it set blood tests for only 5000 athletes, most of which went through batch tests. Many high-level professional athletes needn’t take blood tests for several years.

When athletes used drugs, the metabolites of the drugs would be conveyed through the blood to the organs and tissues where they would function. So, the blood test was quicker and more accurate than the urine test. The urine test just examined the metabolic waste of humans, but the blood test was a real-time test of athletes’ usage of drugs.

Many illegal drugs, including peptides, some kinds of hormones, erythropoietin, the human growth hormone and so on, could not be found by the urine test. Because they were natural hormones of the human body and so were their metabolites. The urine test couldn’t identify the evidence of those drugs as long as the hormones didn’t exceed the limits too much. But the blood test could solve this problem.

The blood test was more accurate, but its process was very complicated. According to the IAAF regulations, reasonable cause and a written notice with the athlete’s personal signature for confirmation must be presented for a blood test. It was more complex than the urine test.

According to the rules, athletes were allowed to refuse to offer their blood samples immediately, as long as they offered the samples within one week. So many changes could take place in one week with current technologies.

And the athletes had to hand in the list of drugs they used over the last ten days and records of any blood transfusions in the last six months. The two requirements gave the athletes room for playing tricks. Some of the athletes might make deals with doctors to give themselves a temporary prescription to confuse the results of the blood test.

Because of all of the reasons above, the blood test was not a usual option. Generally, only when an athlete was under suspicion of using drugs, or when the athlete was the top three of a high-level competition such as the Olympic Games, would blood tests happen. Usually, the urine test could solve all problems.

…

Having made his plan, Sebastian relaxed to refocus on the field.

The 100m race was going to begin. And his student, Warton, “the Miami Hurricane,” would take part in the race.

Warton made great efforts these last two months. I think he will not be defeated by Alexander.