At the University of Oregon, an old man with white hair was approached by a blond man as he was stepping out of his car.

"Coach Logan, long time no see! I"m Smart. Do you remember me?" The blond man extended his right hand to the white-haired old man.

"I remember you. You"re the journalist" Coach Logan shook hands with him out of politeness and asked, "What can I do for you?"

"I heard that the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation invited you to become the head coach of this national track and field team. I want to talk about their offer," said Smart.

Coach Logan closed the car door and said, "Let"s walk and talk."

As they were walking together, Coach Logan said, "Yes, I received the invitation. They wanted me to replace Sebastian as the head coach of the national team."

"Did you accept it?" asked the journalist immediately.

"No, I refused." Coach Logan shook his head with a smile.

"Why? Isn"t it a great position?" asked the journalist.

"Indeed, it"s a great honor to become the head coach. Every coach wants to lead the world"s most powerful track and field team into the Olympic Games, including me." Coach Logan sighed. "But I am old now. I"m 73 years old. I"m not energetic enough to lead a national team with over 150 athletes. If I were twenty years younger, I would accept this invitation."

"I remember that you were the head coach of the national track and field team twenty years ago," the journalist said with a laugh.

"Yes. So many years have pa.s.sed since then. I served as the a.s.sistant coach for a term, the head coach"s a.s.sistant for two terms and the head coach for two terms. I served the national team for twenty years and I loved it. However, time and tide wait for no man! Now I am vigorous enough for the job. Maybe I can handle being the head coach of the track and field team for this school, but I don"t think I"m a good option for the national team." Logan shook his head once again.

...

After seeing the journalist out, Coach Logan smiled.

His a.s.sistant came to him and said in a low voice, "Coach, I still don"t understand why you refused the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation"s invitation."

"What do you think?" asked Logan.

"It"s definitely not about you or your body. They don"t know you, but I do. I know you are still Have more than enough energy," said the a.s.sistant.

"Yes, I am good in strength and energy. Right now the American national team is like a hot potato. They"re trying to pa.s.s it to anyone they can," Coach Logan responded.

"I don"t get it. The American track and field team is the strongest team in the world, isn"t it?" said the a.s.sistant.

Coach Logan pointed to the chair next to him, motioning his a.s.sistant to sit down. "There are 154 athletes on the national track and field team, but 73 of them are involved in the recent drug scandal. That"s nearly half the team. I don"t even know if the rest of them are clean. Besides, that means there are going to be 73 people on the team who didn"t originally make the cut. Who knows if all those subst.i.tutes are clean?

"Therefore, the national team this year is not so powerful. Many of the athletes are likely to be second-rate. I"m afraid that they won"t even make it to the finals! If my judgment is correct, this will be the weakest national team that we have ever had. Agreeing to lead such a national team to the Olympic Games is agreeing to fail."

Coach Logan took a long sigh and went on, "I have served as the a.s.sistant coach of the national team for one term, the vice head coach for two terms and the head coach for two terms. I have received enough accolades. I don"t want to destroy my reputation for this!"

...

In the office of the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation, Frey, the COO, stared at the sheet in his hands with a grim look.

"27 people have applied to leave the national team. We have lost 100 athletes in all, including the 73 athletes who were using drugs. There are only 54 athletes on our national team now." Frey spoke in a low voice.

"It seems that the impact of this scandal went beyond our expectations. Maybe the 27 athletes were worried the International Anti-Doping Agency would discover they were using drugs as well." Williams, the CEO of the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation was almost as desperate as Frey. "How about the subst.i.tutes?"

Frey looked at another sheet. "We sent 73 emails to take the places of those 73 athletes, but only 23 of them agreed to join the national team. The rest either refused our invitation or didn"t reply to us within the allotted amount of time. We only have 77 athletes in all, including these 23 athletes. We still have over seventy vacancies to fill."

"In the past, everyone was eager to join the national team. Now no one wants to." Williams had a wry smile on his face. "Then we have to keep picking athletes according to the qualification standards."

Frey thought about this for a few seconds. "There were only eight athletes in the finals of the qualifiers for each event. We might have to select the athletes who were eliminated in the semifinals of the qualifiers."

"Yes, we have no choice," said Williams.

Frey put down the sheet and asked, "How are we coming along with coaches? Has Coach Logan agreed to coach our team?"

Williams shook his head. "No, he refused. All the famous coaches we"ve invited have refused. The national team is going to be so weak this year, no one wants to take on that role of leaders.h.i.+p for us."

"d.a.m.n it. They"d normally kill for the chance but now, when we need them most, they aren"t willing to help us out!" Frey said angrily. "The next training camp is only two days away and we still can"t find a coach. Should we postpone it?"

"I"m afraid we can"t." Williams rubbed his temples. "I plan to let Rivers subst.i.tute as the head coach temporarily. He applied to be head coach but didn"t even make it to the interview round."

"Rivers? He is too young! He is not qualified for this at all." Obviously, Frey was not optimistic about Rivers.

Williams shrugged his shoulders reluctantly. Like you said, we only have two days to find someone. Rivers is our only choice."