Liu Xiang's race for the day was over.
After his massage, Chen Yu told him to head back to the hotel first.
Having broken the Olympic record today, it was easy to imagine how many reporters would be clamoring to interview him.
It would be impossible to avoid them all.
His run today was a magnificent new page in the history of Chinese track and field.
But Liu Xiang wasn't in a hurry to leave. Instead, he stayed behind to watch Bolt's first heat.
"What, you really think he can break the world record today?" Chen Yu asked with a smile.
In his daily training, Bolt had never run under 19.5 seconds.
So, in theory, it was impossible for him to run under 19.3 seconds.
That was a full 0.2 seconds—a massive, chasm-like gap for a top athlete and for a world record.
The body's limits are what they are. They aren't so easy to break through.
