Chapter 124: Love Variety Show Strategy System (42)

One year later.

The beach volleyball court at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The stands were packed with spectators from various countries, but looking closely, the largest number of people in the audience were Chinese with black hair and yellow skin.

Some were overseas Chinese, others were enthusiastic fans who had flown in from the country specifically to watch the match, all waiting for the start of the game with surging emotions.

The two sides facing off in this match were China vs. Australia; the winner would enter the quarterfinals, while the loser would naturally face elimination.

Don't look at it as not yet being the final round, but for our country, the quarterfinal match is equivalent to the final.

Since the Olympic Games added the beach volleyball event, the best ranking our country has achieved is ninth. Before the whistle for this match even blew, foreign reporters had already prepared drafts titled "China's Beach Volleyball Stops at the Quarterfinals Again, Exits in Dejection."

As for Australia, they were determined to win this match.

After all, since they were classified into Asia for sports events, they had always been the number one in Asian beach volleyball. As a beach volleyball powerhouse and the Asian number one, how could they allow themselves to lose in the quarterfinals?

Ten minutes before the start of the match, Coach Guo handed the water bottle he had been keeping personally to Xie Yang: "Moisten your throat. You don't sweat easily, don't drink too much."

"Lao Guo, are we no longer your precious disciples at the tip of your heart?" Liu Ying teased with a grin, "Aren't you afraid we'll all rebel together!"

Coach Guo threw a towel at her irritably: "Stop blathering, look at what kind of occasion this is. If we get caught, it'll be hard to explain again. Hurry up and warm up some more."

Liu Ying looked around; there were indeed many long lenses and cameras pointed at them. She couldn't help but stick out her tongue. She was used to joking around and had forgotten this wasn't the training base.

"There seem to be a lot of spectators watching the match today, the stands are full." Another teammate also looked up and took a glance.

Coach Guo scanned the spectator stands. There were indeed many people, likely here for Xie Yang.

A year ago, she made her debut at the national tour, bringing the Haicheng Team where her household registration was located, and fought her way to the finals. Unfortunately, due to teammates' insufficient strength and lack of assistance in coordination, she ultimately lost narrowly to a beach volleyball powerhouse province that included three national first-team members, but it could be considered an overnight success.

Over the past year, she hadn't appeared in other major competitions, but instead restrained her edge, training systematically according to the training plan provided by the coaching staff, and rarely left the closed-off training base.

But there were always voices of doubt about her online, feeling that she came from an unconventional background, lacked experience in major competitions, and that playing domestic matches was enough. How could they send her to an international top-tier competition like the Olympic Games! Wasn't this just wasting a spot?

Four years of grinding for one battle, why should she be able to go to the Olympics after only one year on the team? How unfair it was to other team members!

The outside skepticism naturally put great pressure on the coaching staff.

But as long as one had watched Xie Yang's matches, no one would doubt her.

This was an athlete born for beach volleyball!

In the entire national first team, one could not find a stronger Spiker than her.

As long as Xie Yang was active, the position of Gold Medal Spiker would only belong to her!

The match was about to begin, and the athletes from both sides entered the court.

"Relax! At this moment, put down all the pressure for me! Just go all out and play every ball well! Especially you, Xie Yang, just bring out the strength you had during training!" Coach Guo finished instructing the whole team, then gave Xie Yang a separate instruction, fearing she might get stage fright in front of so many spectators.

After all, this was her first appearance in a world-class competition.

For the previous rounds of elimination matches, the coaching staff had considered it repeatedly and didn't let her play.

Over the past year, driven by Xie Yang's tireless training, the other girls had also worked harder and fought more than ever before, and their overall strength had improved significantly.

Before, when there was no Xie Yang, they could grit their teeth and fight their way to the quarterfinals; there was no reason they would regress this time. If it really didn't work, it wouldn't be too late to call a timeout and swap Xie Yang in to save the situation.

Therefore, in the previous few matches, Xie Yang had always sat on the bench. Today's quarterfinal was her first real appearance on the Olympic stage.

Coach Guo couldn't help but worry she would get stage fright. After all, the audience in an international competition stadium was much larger than in domestic tours, and they were crazy when they roared.

Would Xie Yang get stage fright?

The Main System laughed when it heard this.

Anyone might get stage fright, but its Host certainly wouldn't.

"Tweet—"

The referee blew the whistle.

"It's starting, it's starting! Go Sister Xie! Go China Team!"

"Go, go! It really wasn't easy to pass five levels and kill six generals all the way here! I don't know if they can break into the quarterfinals... I'm so nervous!"

"Oh, did you guys see the little expression on Sister Xie's face after she finished drinking water? So cute!"

"Quick, take a picture! Your phone has high pixels, take a good one and send it to me when we get back to the hotel."

"Mm-hmm, I'm taking it!"

In one of the rows in the stands sat Xie Yang's fans. They had become fans of Xie Yang during the national tour a year ago, and afterwards, they reviewed the Love Variety Show that Xie Yang participated in recording, completely falling in love with this treasure of a girl who looked plain but inexplicably gave people a sense of peace. This was their fan group's first team-building event, collectively grabbing tickets and flying to Los Angeles to watch the match.

They waved the small national flags in their hands from time to time. As they craned their necks to watch the athletes enter, one of the girls in charge of filming had her eyes light up, pointing to the front of the stands and saying: "Hey! Look, is that person in the middle of the first row of the VIP seats also Xie Yang's family? So handsome!"

The others looked in the direction she was pointing.

Unfortunately, the person was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, and the brim of the cap was pulled so low, with the sunglasses covering half of their face, that it was impossible to see who it was.

"But looking at the back, they really are handsome. Could it be some celebrity?"

Just as they wanted to send a photo to ask other fans in the group, the match started, and everyone hurriedly sat down, watching the match with full concentration.

One minute into the start, Australia had already lost three balls.

The Australian coach shouted at them with a serious expression, reminding them to be cautious and not to take it lightly; China's strength this year was truly unexpected.

However, no matter what kind of ball it was, as long as it fell into Xie Yang's hands, she could always hit it in a way that left the opponent with no power to parry.

"Boom!"

Another ball was spiked, and the Australian coach was shouting until hoarse.

On the other hand, Coach Guo sat steadily in the coaching seat, a smile on the corner of his mouth as he watched the girls play.

He thought to himself, this is just the beginning; Xiao Xie's stamina and power couldn't be stopped just by sending a few more people to watch and defend her.

As the match progressed, the score gap between the two sides grew wider and wider.

Australia lost several balls in a row, and their mentality became somewhat unstable.

The Australian spectators in the stands were banging on inflatable cheering sticks, their faces red and ears red as they started cursing.

The Chinese spectators were also red-faced, but that was from excitement.

"Sister Xie is awesome!"

"Holy cow! The angle of that spike was so tricky! One centimeter more and it would have been out, one centimeter less and the opponent would have saved it!"

"The quarterfinals are in sight, the quarterfinals are in sight!"

"If they keep playing at this pace, the chances of winning are high!"

"Awoo! They've taken the first set!"

China easily took the first set with a large score of 21:13.

Liu Ying and the other girls gathered around Xie Yang and jumped for joy; this winning start gave them great confidence while simultaneously putting immense pressure on their opponents.

During the rest interval, the Australian coach kept chattering away, analyzing tactics with the team members.

Looking at the China side, Coach Guo was smiling as he handed water and Towels to the girls, praising their good coordination from time to time; the atmosphere could not have been more relaxed.

This relaxed atmosphere continued into the second set of the match.

Without any suspense, the Chinese girls once again took a set with a lopsided score.

Best of three sets, the ticket to the quarterfinals was firmly in their hands.

The spectator stands were boiling over.

The deafening cheers could practically shatter the sunshade of the stands.

The good news was sent back home, and countless media outlets forwarded their congratulations.

This was nothing short of a nationwide celebration.

Both those who watched the match and those who didn't were discussing this event.

The trending search was undoubtedly exploding.

【Beach volleyball Olympic champions! Oh my god! I wouldn't have dared to dream of this before today!】

【This is the first time our country's beach volleyball has squeezed into the world's top eight, right? Sob, I'm so moved!】

【Defeated the Asian number one and charged into the world's top eight! Our beach volleyball women are awesome!】

【It's complete, it's complete!】

【Thrilling! Too thrilling! Sister Xie is awesome!】

【I'm sliding to my knees to pay tribute to my Sister Xie!】

【I always knew my Sister Xie was great at spiking, but I didn't expect her to be so great at saving the ball too!】

【Hexagonal warrior Sister Xie! Is there anything you're not good at?】

【I declare, Sister Xie is my own sister!】

【Go ask Sister Xie if she wants a younger sister like you!】

【Hahahaha...】

Coach Guo heard the cheers from outside the court and saw the comments on the trending search, and he smiled with gratification.