Chapter 454: The Former Ruler of the 400-meter Sprint

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“What? Jimmy Aylwin plans to came back?” Blake said in surprise, but he was also a little excited.

Dai Li nodded. “Yes, Taylor told me that Aylwin invested a lot of money in shale oil and he suffered heavy losses. So he wants to came back and participate in the Olympics again, and he wants me to help him to return to his competitive condition.”

“Oh my god, I think it must be the most sensational sports news of this weekend! He won the championship in the Olympics three times. With such brilliant achievements, as long as he will be in the next Olympics, there will be some top sponsors for him!” Blake exclaimed.

Jimmy Aylwin was a white track and field athlete who focused on the 400-meter sprint.

Black athletes had an absolute advantage in sprint events, whether in the 100-meter sprint, the 200-meter sprint, or the 400-meter sprint. Especially in the World Championship and the Olympics, almost all the finals of sprint events were monopolized by black athletes.

But in the finals of the 400-meter sprint, the ruler was a white man named Jimmy Aylwin.

Jimmy Aylwin also had a similarly brilliant record in the World Championship. He participated in two World Championships, and each time he was the champion of the 400-meter sprint and the four-by-400-meter relay. In addition, he also won numerous championships in many tournaments, such as the IAAF Super Grand Prix, the IAAF Golden League, and the IAAF Diamond League.

The 400-meter sprint was less popular than the 100-meter sprint, so Aylwin didn’t enjoy the same reputation as Kittell, “the world’s first fleet-footed runner.” But Jimmy Aylwin was a household name in the United States, and he was even more influential than the NAB superstars.

Aylwin’s fame was due to the rise of sprinting in Central America and the Caribbean in recent years.

America had been the ruler of sprinting since the beginning of 1980s, but due to the rapid rise of Jamaican sprinters after the 21st century, Jamaican sprinters competed with American sprinters in several years.

Then the top sprinter, Kittell, suddenly appeared, and his ability overwhelmed all the other sprinters, which also gave American sprinters a fatal blow. After that, American sprinters had never won the championship as long as Kittell participated.

Apart from Jamaican, countries in Central America and the Caribbean also paid attention to sprint. The ethnic talent of the black athletes, the natural environment, and the unique climate in Central America and the Caribbean created a large number of top sprinters. Such small countries as the Bahamas, Grenada, Trinidad, Tobago, Saint Kitts, and Nevis were able to challenge American sprinters in the International arena. There was a time when American sprinters couldn’t win the fourth place if Justin Alexander didn’t participate in the match.

But America was still the ruler of the 400-meter sprint, because they had Jimmy Aylwin. His ability was far more than other 400-meter sprinters; thus, he was the idol of many Americans.

People like to praise winners. An athlete, no matter how excellent he is, can never be successful if he doesn’t win the game all the time. For example, Justin Alexander could never be the winner as long as Kittell participated in the game, even though Justin continuously created better records and constantly renewed the record in America.

Because Jimmy Aylwin was always the winner, he was more popular than Alexander. From the perspective of others, Alexander could be regarded as a world top athlete, while Jimmy Aylwin was a “great” athlete.

More importantly, Jimmy Aylwin was a white.

White people dominated mainstream American society, and the elites in American politics, economy, culture, entertainment, science, and other industries were white. The vast middle class in America was white, and even in the sports industry, the most influential athletes were not the black superstars in the NBA, but the white quarterbacks of the NFL.

As a white, Jimmy Aylwin had congenital advantage in gaining influence, and the function of this influence was to attract sponsors, in particular the top advertising sponsors. Aylwin had won three championships in the Olympics, so as long as he passed the qualification trials in America and entered the Olympics, he could easily get millions of dollars in advertising sponsorships.

Blake was very excited when he found out Jimmy Aylwin planned to come back, and he asked Dai Li in a hopeful tone, “Would you like to help him?”

“Helping these athletes who have been retired for several years return to their competitive condition is very difficult. Aylwin is now 34 years old. Sprinting has a strict requirement for physical condition, and very few athletes can hold up to 34 years old. You know that age is a terrible enemy for athletes.” said Dai Li.

“So, you won’t help him?” Blake said disappointedly.

“No, I just want to emphasize the difficulty. Because it’s so difficult, I will charge more money!” Dai Li paused and said with a smile, “As usual, I want a revenue share for the next three years!”

For Dai Li, Jimmy Aylwin was definitely worth three age-reduction cards.

In the 1990s, Franklin, a professor in a prestigious university, left the university’s laboratory to set up a company. He built up a joint laboratory called Franklin Laboratory.

On the surface, the main task of Franklin’s laboratory was to research how to manufacture nutrition. Their flagship product aided the circulatory and excretory systems and replenished the body with vitamins and minerals. Meanwhile, more covertly, Franklin’s laboratory had been working on the latest steroid doping.

The scientific name of the steroid was epinephrine. The adrenal glands naturally secrete a certain amount of the steroid every day to maintain the normal physiological operation of the body. This steroid also had a variety of clinical functions, and could be used to treat a variety of common diseases, such as cancer, brain edema, rheumatism, skin diseases, sepsis, meningitis, and so on. It could be used in the treatment of almost all diseases.

So, the development of steroid derivatives had become a research topic of high commercial value. With a bit of luck, a new kind of derivatives could be a new medicine, which would then bring hundreds of millions of profits to the developer.

By turning their research products into performance enhancers for athletes, they found free experimental subjects to test their products, and they obtained a lot of experimental data to continue their research and development. But once athletes started doping, they were afraid to speak out in public. Even if there was something wrong with their bodies, they would choose to solve it privately in the laboratory rather than through legal channels.

It has to be said that the doping in Franklin’s Laboratory was very effective, and it couldn’t be easily detected by the Anti-Doping Committee. Over the past two decades, Franklin’s Laboratory had become more famous and popular, and many famous coaches and athletes went to Franklin’s Laboratory and asked for help. When they obtained brilliant achievements, they became an accidental advertisement for Franklin’s Laboratory.

Sebastian was the most faithful partner of Franklin’s Laboratory, and he had been the friend of Dr. Franklin for many years. But today, they seemed to be at odds over something.

The door of Franklin’s office was closed and the blinds were drawn down, and it looked as if they were discussing something secret.

“There were no traces of enhancers found in Alexander’s sample? How could that be?” Sebastian assumed an air of disbelief.

“We have used all of the tests, but all the results show that everything is normal for Alexander; there was no evidence of doping in his samples. To be exact, there was no evidence to suggest that Alexander used any performance enhancer at all.” Franklin handed Sebastian the test report.

“That’s impossible! Is there anything wrong? Something was forgotten in the process of the test?” said Sebastian.

“We tested it three times.” Franklin shrugged his shoulders. “But we found nothing.”

“How could Alexander run so fast without doping? Did he get back to his competitive condition in such a short time? That’s impossible, there is no training that effective in the world.” Sebastian shook his head. “He must have doped, but we haven’t found it yet.”

“It’s theoretically possible that Alexander used a new type of drug, but we can’t detect it at all. But that’s only reasonable in theory. If we can’t detect it, we must have fallen behind in technology.” Franklin showed a confident expression and said, “My laboratory may not be the number one in the world, but it must be a top laboratory in the world. It is impossible that other laboratories would be so far ahead of us in technology! So, I think there is another possibility.”

Franklin stretched out two fingers and then said, “The second possibility is that Alexander didn’t dope, but finished the game within 9.90 seconds through his ability.”

“He was suspended for four years! It’s impossible for him recover his condition in such a short time,” Sebastian said confidently.

Franklin’s face was gloomy. He was unhappy with Sebastian’s attitude, and he said in a tone of a scientist, “Athlete’s training is not my field. You are a professional, so you would know better than I how long it will take Alexander to return his competitive condition. But I am sure that people must have both good conditions and bad conditions, and it’s possible for an athlete to present an extraordinary performance in a match.”

Sebastian frowned. He was not Alexander’s coach now, so he didn’t know Alexander’s current condition, and he couldn’t judge whether Alexander’s performance was extraordinary. But there was no denying that what Franklin had said was possible. Alexander might have presented extraordinary performance in that match.

Franklin went on. “Anyway, I didn’t detect doping at all, and I thought if I couldn’t detect doping, neither could other laboratories. Even if Alexander doped, there’s no sense talking about it, because we can’t detect it and you can’t do anything to him.”

“I see!” Sebastian nodded helplessly and his eyes were full of unwillingness.

“Well, my friend, do not pay much attention to Justin Alexander. We should focus on the qualification trials of the Olympics. I hope more athletes can pass the qualification trials and participate in the Olympics by using our products!” Franklin eased the atmosphere and then said, “I heard that the head coach of the US track and field team hasn’t been decided yet, and you’re one of the candidates?”

“Yes, I am one of the candidates and I’m likely to be the head coach.” When Sebastian thought of this, he was not so helpless, and he was in a much better mood.

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