Chapter 1176: Zhang Ye commentates the Olympics (Part 2 of 5)
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At noon.
Everything was set up and ready in the live coverage studio.
The professional athlete invited by the Central TV Sports Channel had arrived. It was the former table tennis Grand Slam winner 1 —Bao Han. She had been retired for many years.
"Sister Bao." Yu Yingyi nodded at her.
Bao Han smiled and said, "Teacher Yu."
The two of them had commentated together many times and were very familiar with each other.
But when Bao Han saw that there was another person sitting in the live coverage studio, she was taken aback for a moment. She clearly knew who he was because it was just impossible not to know him. In all of China, who did not know the famous Zhang Ye? But it was obvious that Bao Han had not expected Zhang Ye to be here today. The retired athletes who appeared on the show to provide commentary were usually only participating as guests. Sometimes, it would be her, sometimes it would be other people, and there was also a chance that they would make a last-minute switch. This lineup was often not fixed, so she didn't know about the changes to the internal arrangements of Central TV Sports Channel's commentators and other affairs. It was also likely that Central TV Sports Channel had not informed her beforehand due to the awkwardness surrounding the situation. After all, the table tennis team was the cause of the battle between Zhang Ye and the sports world that had shocked the nation.
Zhang Ye nodded at her.
Yu Yingyi quickly said, "The three of us will be teaming up for today's show."
Bao Han acknowledged her and looked at Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye looked back at her.
Bao Han smiled and went forward with hand reached out. "Hello, Professor Zhang."
"Hello." Zhang Ye stood up to shake her hand. "There's still about half an hour before we go live. Shall we get to know each other a little first? That will help us work better later."
Bao Han said, "I already know you pretty well."
Zhang Ye was surprised. "Oh, are you?"
"Yes, we have argued on Weibo before," Bao Han said with a smile.
Zhang Ye said, "Ah? Did we?"
Yu Yingyi was taking a sip of water and nearly choked. "Cough, cough!"
Bao Han said helplessly, "Yes, we did. When you declared war on the sports world during the new year, a few hundred of us responded and scolded you back. But as it was, none of us could outscold you at all. That's why I said it's not our first time interacting. You don't even know how aggravated we were over that matter at the time. But we shouldn't bring that up again and just let bygones be bygones. Just for that 'Leg of God' that you 'played' on the first day of the Olympics, we'll write off all the unpleasantness from before. That trip of the referee was such a release! You've scolded us once, but also taken the blame for us once, so that makes us even." Only now that she realized they were in the studio, so she asked, "Ah, the cameras are not recording this, are they?"
The camera operator laughed and said, "No."
Bao Han wasn't good-looking, but her temperament was rather interesting.
Yu Yingyi was really afraid that the two would come to blows, but it looked like she had been worried for nothing.
"Then shall we go through the script together?"
"OK."
The two women exchanged whispers with each other.
Zhang Ye did not take part in the exchange since he did not have any lines.
…
It was almost time.
Zhang Ye's mother turned on the television. "It's starting."
His father said, "What did our son mean by that?"
"Who knows? He only said to watch the Olympic live coverage in the afternoon, that's all," his mother said.
His father nodded. "Then let's just watch it."
…
At Old Yao's house.
Yao Mi shouted, "It's starting, it's starting!"
Yao Jiancai asked, "What's on in the afternoon?"
"Ping pong. It's the women's quarterfinals match," Yao Mi said.
Old Yao's wife said, "Oh, that's not interesting. It's a guaranteed win."
"But we still have to watch it." Yao Mi said, "That's the result everyone is expecting as well. But if no one watches it, then how bad would the viewership ratings for the Beijing Olympics be?"
Yao Jiancai said in amusement, "Alright, let's watch!"
…
Zhang Ye's first uncle's house.
The fall semester hadn't started yet, so the three sisters had gathered here.
"Wow, it's starting."
"Time to watch the Olympics!"
"It's the table tennis event today."
…
Meanwhile.
A lot of others had also turned on their televisions.
Some people were watching the live coverage on their cell phones in the subway.
Some people had secretly launched their web browsers to watch the Olympics at work.
But of course, there were also many others who did not really pay attention to today's events. They did not think that would be any surprises, and since it wasn't the finals yet, there was less attention given to it.
The live coverage began!
After the introductory music played, the cameras cut to the live coverage studio.
Yu Yingyi appeared on screen. "Welcome, everyone, to the Olympics live coverage studio. I am Yu Yingyi, and the women's table tennis quarterfinals match will be starting in five minutes. The match will be between the current world number two, China's Sun Linlin, and the current world number thirteen, Japan's Kaki Aoi."
The opening commentary did not seem any different than before.
But with the following introduction, all of the viewers watching TV burst into an uproar!
Yu Yingyi smiled and said, "First, let us introduce today's guest that everyone should know, Bao Han."
The camera cut to her.
Bao Han waved. "Hello, everyone."
Then Yu Yingyi said, "Next up, we have a new guest commentator who will be joining me to cover the Olympics live from today onwards, the famous host—Zhang Ye."
The camera cut to him.
Zhang Ye's smiling face appeared. "Hello to our viewers and friends."
His mother pointed at the television dumbfounded. "Little Ye!"
His father was stunned. "It's Little Ye!"
His eldest younger sister exclaimed, "Ah!"
His third sister shouted, "It's Brother! Brother's on TV!"
Yao Jiancai said, "What?"
Yao Mi got extremely excited. "Teacher Zhang has become an Olympic commentator?"
Old Yao's wife sat down. "This will be interesting! I'll watch as well!"
Everyone on the Internet went crazy as well!
"How could this be?"
"Damn, did I see that wrong?"
"How did Zhang Ye go and become a commentator?"
"Well, he's already a host to begin with!"
"But this is sports commentary we're talking about. He has no experience in this!"
"Isn't he on very bad terms with the sports world? Why did they invite him onto the show? And he's even going to commentate on table tennis?"
"This looks like it's going to be really interesting!"
"Everyone, quickly come and watch. Zhang Ye is going to commentate for the Olympics, my God!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah! It's true! The live coverage is happening right now!"
"No wonder Zhang Ye's Studio sent out a Weibo post like that!"
"Teacher Zhang has a new job!"
"This is a huge job! How surprising!"
"Damn, quickly go and watch!"
"It's starting, it's starting!"
"We must watch it just because Zhang Ye's on it!"
The news spread from there like wildfire.
The media was surprised!
The netizens were surprised!
Everyone was astonished, bewildered, confounded by Zhang Ye's appearance!
A lot of people who weren't intending to watch the afternoon match were now turning on their televisions at the same time. This was the appeal that an A-list celebrity had. Without needing to say anything, just by showing themselves or having their names mentioned, it would be able to attract countless sets of eyeballs. This was one of the reasons why Central TV Sports Channel had taken the risk to invite Zhang Ye to commentate for them. An A-list celebrity like this always meant a high viewership rating! But of course, whether they could hold the viewers' interest and retain them by keeping them watching would have to depend on the ability of the commentator.
The attention that the live coverage was getting soared!
Everyone wanted to see how Zhang Ye's commentary would be different from others'!
In fact, even the staff of the Central TV Sports Channel wanted to know. The few executives and most of the staff along with the camera operators were all eagerly paying attention to the live coverage studio.
The cameras cut to the competition venue.
Yu Yingyi said, "Alright, the match has started."
Bao Han said, "Seems like Sun Linlin's form today will be pretty good."
"Is that so?" Zhang Ye asked.
Bao Han said, "Yes, she looks very excited for today's game, and her body is quite relaxed as well."
Zhang Ye said, "Then let's wait and see."
1-0.
5-0.
7-1.
11-2.
Sun Linlin used just four minutes to take the first game!
It was too fast!
It was too easy!
Yu Yingyi said, "Great showing!"
Bao Han smiled and said, "Sun Linlin's form is in great shape."
Zhang Ye said helplessly, "This is my first time commentating and I was prepared to do this for at least an hour. But why does it look like the match will be decided in 20 minutes?"
Yu Yingyi smiled. "There are practically no opponents who are a match for the Chinese table tennis team nowadays."
But Zhang Ye said, "They definitely still have opponents."
"Eh?" Yu Yingyi was startled. "There are still opponents?"
Japan?
South Korea?
Bao Han also gave Zhang Ye a look as she wondered what he was going to say.
Zhang Ye looked at them curiously and said, "Isn't it quite obvious? The Chinese table tennis team only has one opponent, the ITTF 2 . From the minimum height of the ball toss, to the red and black sides of a racket, then changing the size of the ball, and the change from the 21-point to 11-point scoring system, all of those were introduced to make it more difficult for the Chinese team to win. But it doesn't seem like any of those changes were effective. I wonder what the ITTF will try to pull off next."
Bao Han laughed. "Pfft!"
Yu Yingyi was tickled pink as well.
The home viewers.
"Hahaha!"
"The only opponent they have is the ITTF?"
"I'm cramping up from laughing!"
"As a comedian, this guy is too professional!"
The second game began.
Yu Yingyi said, "Sun Linlin will be serving."
"It's no good, she faulted." Bao Han said, "The quality of this service was not good."
Kaki Aoi scored a point with the return serve.
However, Zhang Ye loudly applauded. "Beautiful!"
Bao Han was floored. "Ah?"
Yu Yingyi asked in surprise, "Teacher Zhang, whose side are you on?"
Zhang Ye said, "Of course I'm with Team China."
"Then why are you applauding and calling it beautiful when the other team scored a point?" Yu Yingyi said in a speechless manner.
Zhang Ye's reply left everyone speechless. "It's exactly because of that that I'm hoping for our Chinese team to drop a few more points. That would give the other countries' athletes the illusion that they have a chance of winning against us. Otherwise, if we keep playing like this, I'll be afraid that table tennis might get removed from future Olympics!"
The camera operator cramped up in laughter!
Bao Han laughed out loud on camera!
The viewers were also roaring with laughter!
"Hahaha!"
"I've got to give it to this fella!"
"What a joker!"
"Is it alright to commentate this way?"
Before long, the match was brought to an end.
Sun Linlin was victorious and raised her racket in celebration!
Bao Han said, "Linlin looks very happy with her performance."
Zhang Ye added, "Yes, but she's actually not feeling happy about it. She's just acting like she is. Otherwise, that would make her opponent look really bad. Sun Linlin is an excellent athlete and knows how to be considerate to her opponent. I guess that's what you'd call Olympic spirit and good sportsmanship. Today, everyone should know of this athlete named Sun Linlin. This act of celebration with her racket in the air is really too touching!"
Bao Han: "…"
Yu Yingyi: "…"
She was truly happy about her performance, alright?
When did she ever mean it the way you described!
Touching? Your sister!
Where the heck are you getting that idea from!
1. A Grand Slam is earned by a player who wins singles crowns at the Olympic Games, World Championships, and World Cup.
2. International Table Tennis Federation