That god-like man planted a seed of heroism in the heart of every Chinese basketball player.
Along with the tide of reform and opening up, the nation and society increasingly advocated individualism.
Personal heroism was no longer a tumor, no longer a heresy contrary to collectivism.
On the sports field, geniuses are also part of the collective, and valuing talents and leveraging their roles can actually benefit the progress of the group.
"Okay, in the second half, we focus on Zheng Haixia. We must win this championship!" Li Yaguang gave the order.
Thus, in the second half, the tactical style of the Chinese Women’s Basketball Team changed, focusing on Zheng Haixia to improve success rate.
Zheng Haixia, who only shot once in the first half, began to dominate, scoring continuously inside and drawing fouls from opponents.
With the rehabilitation treatment from America, Zheng Haixia’s leg injury improved significantly. Coupled with her teamwork approach throughout this Olympics, her energy reserves were excellent.
Thus, Zheng Haixia began her personal show, unstoppable in the three-second zone, helping China Team slowly catch up on the score.
In the latter half of the game, Zheng Haixia received Cong Xuedi’s pass during an attack, made a deft hook shot for two points, and drew a foul from the opponent!
The core center of the CIS, the highest scorer tonight, Natalia Sususkaia, fouled out with 5 fouls!
Zheng Haixia made the free throw, and China Team took the lead!
At this moment, the players of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team all stood up, clapping and cheering.
The women’s basketball players knew their opportunity to make history and create a miracle had arrived.
In the final minutes, there were no fake moves, no shortcuts, just hard confrontation on both offense and defense.
With the last moment, the long shot of the CIS team missed, bouncing off the rim, and the Chinese Women’s Basketball Team narrowly won by 71:70, seizing the 1992 Olympic women’s basketball championship!
Gan Guoyang somehow got a Five-star Red Flag, then ran to the stadium’s cleaning area and stole a mop, breaking its head off forcefully, and waved the red flag by the court.
At that time, athletes from China and Eastern Europe, especially female athletes, were still very reserved. Even after winning the Olympic championship, they didn’t celebrate wildly, just smiled and hugged simply.
The male basketball players only applauded, clapping until their hands hurt, but still found it hard to express more enthusiasm.
Gan Guoyang was influenced by capitalism, waving the red flag and shouting, becoming the most striking sight by the court.
But later, when the women’s basketball players were truly about to step onto the podium to receive the gold medals, the national anthem played, and a tidal wave of emotions surged.
The surging tears blurred everyone’s vision and couldn’t be stopped no matter what.
In the stands, Gan Guoyang patted Gong Xiaobin next to him and said, "Hey, borrow your girlfriend’s gold medal to play with later."
Gong Xiaobin, somewhat embarrassed, said, "What... what girlfriend, Lao Gan don’t talk nonsense..."
Gan Guoyang smiled ambiguously; everyone knew about the romance between Gong Xiaobin and women’s team main player Li Xin.
But due to national team discipline issues, the two could never formally be together and even had serious conflicts with the coach because of it.
Gan Guoyang actually supported their relationship, thinking they might produce an exceptionally talented player for Chinese basketball in the future.
"By the way, Lao Jiang, leave me a bed in the Olympic Village tonight. I’ll sleep there, and tomorrow, we can do a morning workout together and prepare for tomorrow night’s final."
Jiang Xingquan hesitated for two seconds when he heard Gan Guoyang wanted to stay in the Olympic Village and said, "Should we apply to the leaders and report it, and also security..."
"I’ve already reported it and communicated with the leaders. They agreed. Don’t worry about security, I’ll just sleep for one night, it’s fine. With tomorrow being the final, I want to stay with everyone. After this game, we might part ways, not knowing when we can play together again."
Hearing this from Gan Guoyang, the atmosphere among the men’s team became a bit more sentimental.
Tomorrow’s game was basically a one-way ticket to death, fighting for honor.
On the way back to the Olympic Village, Gan Guoyang said, "It’s really joyful that the women’s team won the gold medal today. Very joyful. Tomorrow, we play against the Dream Team. I admit there won’t be a chance unless a bunch of terrorists come tonight and kidnap the Dream Team and take them out. That’s one reason I want to stay in the Olympic Village, so they can’t take me out."
Everyone laughed, but immediately understood that if Ah Gan said so, it meant there really was no chance of winning the final.
"Even knowing we’ll lose, we still have to take the game seriously. The hardest thing in life is admitting defeat; you have to lose gracefully. If you don’t know how to lose beautifully, you won’t win beautifully. That’s how the world works; when you want to survive, you must have a determination to die, then your chances of surviving are greatest. When you inevitably must die one day, have the greatest hope for life, then dying will have value, will be impactful."
"No matter what, tomorrow, our goal remains the championship, the gold medal! Down with American Imperialism!"
Gan Guoyang shouted an old slogan, and everyone responded, creating a cheerful yet somber atmosphere.
Meanwhile, at the hotel where the Dream Team was staying, when Jordan, Barkley, and others wanted to chat with Gan Guoyang, mock him before the game, and probe him, they found out Ah Gan had moved to the Olympic Village.
"Xie Te! That sly guy! I’m going to call him!" Barkley was impatient, really unable to sleep without adding some spice before the big game.
Jordan shook his head, saying, "Forget it, he won’t answer. Tonight, he’s definitely plotting something, we must be fully prepared, absolutely cannot be careless. I’m going back to the room to watch game videos and research with Larry and the others. Are you coming?"
Jordan spent every night playing cards, but tonight was different; tomorrow’s opponent was Ah Gan.
Barkley shook his head, "I plan to visit a church, talk to God, and ask Him to be merciful to us."