Chapter 212 A Different Race (2)

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Because there are dozens of athletes left in the arena at this time, all of them are about to participate in the 100-meter race. Although the sports meeting preparation team also prepared lunch for them, most athletes did not eat it immediately, but adapted to the track. Venue and warm up.

On the side close to the royal stands, the staff of the Games inserted wooden poles at the two ends of the track that had been measured, and then tied them to the poles with a long string, stretched on the ground, and then the judges Holding an iron spoon with a long rod, along the string, draw straight white lines that are 100 meters long on the solid mud...

"I was surprised before that there are neither starting slates nor finishing stone pillars in this arena. How to conduct a race? Now I know that those white lines drawn with white powder are the starting line, the finish line and the tracks one by one. , this is very clear!"

"However, I counted them, and they only traced 6 tracks with white lines. Could it be that only 6 players are allowed to participate in the competition at a time? I remember that there are more than a dozen stone pillars at the end of other sports games, and more than a dozen players. At the same time, the competition~"

"It's nothing, just play a few more rounds! The key is that there are fewer players at a time, which can avoid confusion and facilitate the referee's supervision. It seems that the Dionysians have carefully considered the disadvantages of other games, and they really want to Get this game right."

The person who spoke was Harpius, a middle-aged citizen from the city-state of Okomenus in the Arcadia Alliance. He had participated in various sports competitions many times when he was young, but he was unable to participate because of his age. Also keen to watch the game. His biggest regret is that he failed to win the championship. Once, he was very close to the championship, but because a neighboring player hit him in the face when he swung his arm, it affected the final result. He also appealed to the referee, but to no avail, Therefore, he hated some of the drawbacks of the Greek Games.

Harpius is a long-time sports fan. When he learned that Dionia, the overlord of the Greek world, was going to hold the Games, he came to watch it without hesitation, and was lucky enough to buy tickets for the opening ceremony. Before entering the arena, he was prepared to criticize the Dionysian Games with a critical attitude, but after the opening ceremony, his favor for the Dionysian Games increased greatly: the unprecedented novelty of the opening ceremony is second. , the most important thing is that he felt the real respect of the athletes participating in the Dionysian Games.

As an experienced person, he deeply understands the hardships of being an athlete. In addition to the usual hard training, he also has to rush to the stadium alone before the start of the games, arrange food and lodging at his own expense, register at the temple in time, and accept priests. The detailed inquiries, the tedious preparations before the start of the game, the nervousness and irritability were unresolved, all the glory after the game belonged to the champion, and the other losers were not greeted even if they were injured...

But this time the Dionysian Games were significantly different. He had chatted with the athletes of the Arcadia League before: Dionysus not only provided free and comfortable accommodation and meals to all participating athletes, but also required participating city-states to send Officials are responsible for solving all the chores of the athletes, which means that the athletes can devote themselves to the competition without worrying about other problems. At the opening ceremony, the Dionysians arranged for the athletes to circle the arena for a week, receiving the tributes and cheers of so many spectators...

Harpius regretted that he had been born a few years early and did not enjoy such a privilege.

Therefore, Harpius, who has a good impression of the Dionysian Games, certainly hopes that the Dionysian Games will also be outstanding after entering the competition stage, and carefully observes the layout of the stadium with his experienced competitive eyes, and soon finds that There are some clues that are different from previous games.

"I heard before that the Dionysian Games will not only hold the 100-meter race, but also the meter... After I entered the venue, I found that there were no stone pillars as markers in the venue, and I kept wondering how they would do long distances. races (in the Greek Games,

In a long distance race, the athlete runs from the starting slate to the finish slate, then goes around the slate and then runs back, and so on and so forth until the distance is full, similar to the current roundabout), now I understand.

lo and behold! The Dionysians built a big circle with small stone bricks throughout the arena, and then, like now, painted the tracks with lime powder outside the entire circle, and the contestants ran around the entire circle, let alone Hundreds of meters and thousands of meters can also be easily held, which is much simpler than running around the stone pillar! "

Harpius was deeply touched by the way of long-distance running in previous games. With his decades of experience in games, he spoke in a coherent and infectious manner, which naturally attracted a group of spectators. Discuss seriously.

At this moment, someone shouted: "Look up! My God, the Dionians are going to cover the sky!"

The foreign spectators raised their heads one after another, then opened their mouths wide, revealing a look of surprise: I saw long white cloth strips slowly converge towards the center of the arena above the main arena. A thin white cloth cover covers the sky above the arena, blocking the direct sunlight at noon and bringing shade to the audience.

Xenophon, who came to the Dioria Arena for the first time, was as amazed as other foreign audiences and couldn't help asking: "How is this done?"

Davos replied calmly: "Actually, it's very simple. There are 200 wooden poles erected on the edge of the top of the arena. On days when the sun is shining and there are competitions, the management of the arena will tie a special cloth strip to the string of each wooden pole, and then turn the pulley to push the cloth strip to the center of the sky... However, just in While we are enjoying all this in peace, don't forget that there are hundreds of management staff at the top of the arena who are serving us under the scorching sun..."

"Although it sounds simple, the design is very ingenious!" Plato on the side sighed sincerely: "The key is that this kind of difficulty is not willing to endure, but try to solve the difficulty and try to do the best. It's rare! We Greeks are relatively rough in life and not very particular, but the Dionysians are different, they have high requirements for life, so that their spirit of trying to do the best inquiries permeates all aspects of the entire kingdom ...so I have full confidence in the Dionysian Games, which will not only be a success, but will definitely give all Greeks a new understanding of the Games!"

"Hahaha..." Davos said with a hearty smile: "Well, you Plato, you can tell a big truth about a little thing!"

Xenophon didn't speak, he looked up into the sky, thoughtful.

Just when the foreign spectators marveled at the ingenious design of the main arena, the athletes began to withdraw from the arena, which caused some spectators to wonder: "Could the race be stopped?"

And some experienced spectators like Harpius said firmly: "No, the race is about to start!"

As they said, the players came to the lounge next to the entrance of the arena. Since the Dionysian game is held every year, this room for players to rest is very comfortable and decorated, but the players have no intention. Feeling these, they took off their costumes for the entrance ceremony, then put on the shorts specially provided by Dionia, and then began to carefully apply olive oil to their bodies. After all this was done, everyone All began to pray devoutly to Apollo to soothe their nervousness.

after awhile. A priest walked in and said loudly, "Players, it's time for the competition, please come in!"

When Siriteos, who had calmed down, heard this, his heart began to beat faster.

Dozens of athletes returned to the arena once again, and the priests gathered them together. Since this was the first game of the Dionian Games, in order to ensure that it could go on smoothly, Karsidis, the head of the referee panel, personally served as the The host, the always amiable old priest looked serious at the moment, and he said in a strong tone: "Everyone, after this period of practice, you should have a good understanding of the rules of the Dionysian Games. But before the race, I still have to stress it again - only the runners whose names are called can participate in the race, and the rest of the runners must stay away from the track and not interfere with the race; the runners can start after the referee issues the 'race start' order; The feet cannot step on the starting line; after the start, the runners cannot deviate from their own track, cannot interfere with other runners, and cannot deliberately hinder and hurt...

Anyone who violates any of the above regulations will be disqualified from the competition! If there is a deliberate violation and the circumstances are extremely serious, the referee team will report the situation of the players to the Games preparation team, who will decide whether to engrave the player's face on the punishment wall of the upcoming Dionysian Games Memorial Hall as a A warning to the players who will participate in the Dionysian Games in the future! - Did you all hear clearly? ! "

"Clear!" The players nodded in response.

Only at this moment did Karsidis show a smile, his palms turned to the sky, and he said warmly, "May Hades bless you!"

Then, a priest held the roster of athletes and said loudly: "Please pay attention, the player whose name I called will participate in the first round of the competition - Siritaios! Runway 1!"

Siriteos was stunned for a moment: He was the first to be called, which must be very lucky!