Chen Yu’s clinic, like all top private clinics in the United States, was beautifully appointed.
Chen Yu personally favored a minimalist style, so the space was dominated by light colors, creating a strong sense of design. With few patients, it bore no resemblance to a noisy public hospital; it was as quiet as a high-end private club.
The six-foot-three Usain Bolt, dressed in a light green, slightly frayed short-sleeved shirt, sat in the lobby’s waiting area with his coach, Glenn Mills.
Mills was fifty-three years old with a white beard. He was a large man, wearing a horizontally striped shirt under a light black jacket. Despite the clinic’s powerful air conditioning, beads of sweat dotted his forehead. He sat anxiously, lost in his thoughts.
A well-dressed, long-legged nurse with curly golden hair approached, offered them two cold drinks, and then stood by with a pleasant smile, waiting.
This was a private clinic, after all. You couldn’t have a group of sour-faced, middle-aged won giving attitude to top athletes like Ronaldo, who were worth tens of millions. All the nurses at the clinic were young, beautiful, and exceptionally easy on the eyes.
’Besides, it’s more pleasant for to look at, isn’t it?’
Out of the corner of his eye, Bolt’s gaze swept over the pristine white stockings of the nurse beside him, and he quickly looked away.
He was only sixteen, in the throes of a restless adolescence, and he found the nurse before him completely irresistible.
Just then, a shrill song suddenly erupted from the hallway, booming as if soone were blasting the street with a car full of subwoofers.
In such a tranquil environnt, the noise was incredibly jarring.
Bolt looked toward the source of the sound, his curiosity piqued, wondering what was happening.
The nurse smiled apologetically. "My apologies. That’s one of our VIP patients. He’s the one making all that noise."
Mills just said, "Oh," not daring to press the matter.
Bolt couldn’t help but ask, "Aren’t you going to do anything about it?"
The nurse maintained her smile. "We can’t. Because he’s the Big Shark, O’Neal."
Bolt’s jaw dropped. He had heard before arriving that all of Chen Yu’s clients were the best athletes in the world.
And of course, Bolt knew the na Big Shark O’Neal.
"I read in the news that Ronaldo is here now, too. Is that true?" Bolt asked.
He loved cricket, but he also loved soccer. And when it ca to soccer stars, how could he not know of Ronaldo?
At the ntion of Ronaldo, a peculiar expression crossed the nurse’s face. She nodded. "That’s right, he’s staying here. If you end up staying for treatnt, you might get to see him. It’s one of the perks of our clinic—you get to et many of the world’s top sports celebrities."
Bolt nodded eagerly.
Beside him, a look of embarrassnt crossed Mills’s face as he asked cautiously, "May I ask, roughly how much would the treatnt cost?"
Before coming, Mills only knew that Dr. Chen’s services were expensive. Now that he was here, seeing the clinic’s environnt, he suspected it was far more than just ’expensive.’
For this trip, he had prepared two hundred thousand US dollars.
Bolt had already made a na for himself in Jamaica. At the recently concluded World Youth Championships in Athletics, he had won the 200-ter title, becoming the youngest athlete ever to achieve that honor. But on the world stage of track and field, he was still a nobody.
Furthermore, the comrcial endorsents and prize money for track and field athletes were far less than those for stars in sports like basketball and soccer, so Bolt’s inco wasn’t high.
He might be able to land a comrcial endorsent after his recent victory, but nothing had materialized yet.
That was why Mills was genuinely worried that two hundred thousand US dollars wouldn’t be enough.
The nurse smiled and shook her head. "That depends on the specific course of treatnt. We can’t say for sure."
Just as she said that, Chen Yu arrived.
Naturally, he heard the noise echoing through the hallway.
’He’s been making a racket ever since his surgery. You have to admit, O’Neal has boundless energy.’
Chen Yu ignored it, letting O’Neal raise a fuss. He went about his daily routine as usual and never once told him to quiet down.
In Chen Yu’s eyes, this was a contest of wills between him and O’Neal.
O’Neal was like a child throwing a tantrum because his parents wouldn’t buy him a toy. In this situation, you just had to let him vent, give him the cold shoulder, and once he’d had enough, he would naturally back down.
If Chen Yu gave in now, he’d never be able to manage him in the future.
"Hello."
Chen Yu approached and greeted the pair with a smile.
As his gaze fell upon Bolt, who had stood up, Chen Yu’s eyebrows raised slightly.
’This kid is pretty tall, isn’t he?’
Although Chen Yu didn’t know much about sprinting, he was under the impression that most sprinters were around five-foot-eleven.
’Too short, and your stride length suffers. Too tall, and not only do you have greater wind resistance, but your center of gravity is also less stable.’
Leading the two to the consultation room, Chen Yu didn’t rush into a diagnosis. He first made so small talk and asked about their situation.
’This is a private clinic, after all. There’s all the ti in the world.’
"Well, congratulations," Chen Yu said during their chat. He had just learned that Bolt had won two gold dals at the end of last month.
One in the 200-ter and one in the 4x100-ter relay.
Even though it was at the youth level, winning gold was still a testant to his ability.
This wasn’t soccer or basketball. This was a sport where there was no debate about who was the best—he was number one in the world.
"Thank you," Mills said quickly, then gestured to Bolt. "Dr. Wolffat told us that Usain is exceptionally talented, but he has a problem with scoliosis. Dr. Wolffat said he couldn’t fix it, and that you were the only one who could, so we ca here."
Chen Yu nodded. Setting aside the treatnt for a mont, he had already noticed Bolt’s natural physical gifts the mont he saw him and knew that Wolffat hadn’t been exaggerating.
Having seen so many of the world’s top athletes, Chen Yu understood that while hard work was important in sports, talent was even more so. It was the fundantal prerequisite for success.
Take the young man before him, for instance. First off, Bolt’s arms were remarkably long.
It reminded Chen Yu of Marion.
Soone like Marion, at six-foot-seven, possessed a wingspan of nearly seven-foot-three. His static physical attributes were already at the top tier of the league.
But Bolt was a bit shorter than Marion, yet his wingspan felt about the sa.
’That was monstrous.’
’If this kid had trained for basketball from a young age, with these physical gifts, he’d be a first-round draft pick, no problem.’
And then there was his Achilles tendon.
When he had scanned Bolt’s body with the Eye of All-Seeing just now, even Chen Yu had been taken aback.
’If I rember correctly, Tracy McGrady’s 30-centiter-long Achilles tendon is the longest in NBA history.’
’But this kid in front of is even more frightening. His is much longer than McGrady’s; I’d say it’s over 40 centiters.’
’He’s practically an Alien.’
With an Achilles tendon that long, one could only imagine his explosive power. He was an absolute freak of nature.
"Let’s run so tests first."
Chen Yu turned and began to fill out the order form for the tests.
After a mont’s thought, Chen Yu added a number of items to the list, including a wide range of biochemical markers, and he ordered two sets of them.
He planned to take Bolt to the track later for a test run to create a set of comparative data. This would allow for a better analysis of his physical condition, such as his crucial ATP production capacity.
For a sprinter, ATP energy supply was critically important.
While Mills went to handle the paynt, Chen Yu chatted a little more with Bolt.
The boy was a bit reserved, likely due to his young age and modest family background.
Chen Yu suspected this might also be a major contributing factor to his scoliosis.
Although the condition was congenital and related to genetic factors, if he had co from a wealthier family, early detection and intervention could have easily resolved the issue.
It beca much more difficult to intervene as he got older.
As they were talking, Mills returned with an embarrassed look on his face. "Dr. Chen," he said, "is it possible to reduce the number of these tests? Also, I think there might be a mistake; so of them have been ordered twice."
The key issue was the cost. They didn’t have dical insurance, so it was all out-of-pocket. The price of any single test on the list was enough to make him shudder.
Chen Yu paused for a mont, recognizing the middle-aged man’s financial predicant.
After a brief thought, Chen Yu smiled. "Just take him for the tests. Don’t worry about the cost for now. If you don’t have enough, I can reduce or waive the fees."
The tests themselves weren’t expensive. They were expensive simply because they needed to be.
Besides, the clinic had a discretionary fund set aside to reduce fees for patients with special needs.
Even without that fund, as the director of the clinic, Chen Yu could waive the fees with a single word.
In truth, Chen Yu was incredibly curious to find out just how good the physique of a uniquely talented athlete like Bolt really was.
Mills thanked him profusely and took Bolt to get the tests done.
After the blood draws, various imaging scans, and a physical examination, Chen Yu took Bolt over to the soccer field while they waited for the results.
Since Bolt was a runner, having him do a run would be the most direct way to understand his condition and identify any issues.
"Ronaldo!"
From a distance, Bolt instantly spotted Ronaldo still training on the field, and he began to tremble with excitent.
"Calm down," Chen Yu said, patting his shoulder.
’If you want to see sports stars, this place is full of them.’
Then, Chen Yu asked him who his idol was, recalling that he’d ntioned he preferred cricket.
Bolt thought for a mont before giving a na.
Michael Johnson!
"Oh, him."
A flicker of awkwardness crossed Chen Yu’s face.
Chen Yu was certainly familiar with the man—the famous Arican sprinter, a top athlete nicknad the "Arican Forrest Gump."
However, he had recently beco embroiled in an incident.
Chen Yu also served as an honorary consultant for the United States Anti-Doping Agency, so he knew sothing about it. Not long ago, the Olympic Committee had decided to reopen an old case.
Another famous Arican sprinter, Jero Young, had been caught using Nandrolone back in 1999. At the ti, World Athletics banned him from the 2000 Olympics, but USATF completely ignored the ruling.
Consequently, Jero Young competed in the 2000 Olympics and, together with Johnson, won gold in the 4x100-ter relay.
Now, the Olympic Committee was bringing the matter up again, reportedly wanting to strip them of that gold dal.
The deeper reason was likely that other countries couldn’t stand the United States using the FBI and the IRS to investigate FIFA, believing Arica was interfering far too much in global sports.
’Arica has its own backyard full of crap, yet it’s always eager to police everyone else.’
After all, back in ’98 during the Salt Lake City bid for the Winter Olympics, the United States Olympic Committee was embroiled in a bribery scandal. The key thing was that it was Salt Lake City’s own local ss, yet it ended up forcing the then 79-year-old Samaranch to travel to the United States for an unprecedented hearing. The whole world got to witness Arica’s unreasonable and arrogant nature.
As a result, Michael Johnson had also been implicated and would likely lose a gold dal.
Thinking of this, Chen Yu turned his head to size up Bolt.
"Is sothing wrong, Dr. Chen?" Bolt asked, feeling a little awkward under his gaze.
"It’s nothing."
Chen Yu looked away.
’I’m just curious,’ Chen Yu thought. ’For him to achieve these results at his age... I wonder if he’s used any performance-enhancing drugs.’
In the world of sports, especially in track and field, doping was all too common.
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