Chapter 375: The Birth of the Blade Warrior
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Two weeks later, a track and field competition was held in Oakland.
This was only the second official race Philip had participated in, but he was no longer an unknown and obscure contestant anymore. Although most people had never seen him before, they had heard of his name, and they knew that he had broken a world record two weeks ago. Most of all, they knew that Philip, as a T43 class para-athlete, was faster than para-athletes in the T44 class.
"That person should be Barron Philip, right? I heard that this rookie broke a world record in Seattle."
"He doesn't look all that young, he must be at least 25 or 26, right?"
"I heard that this Barron Philip has been to Iraq, he probably lost both his legs there."
"To tell you the truth, I still can't believe that he actually managed to break the world record. From what I've heard, he uses a prosthesis on each of his legs, which means that he should lose in terms of speed. After all, the other contestants still have one healthy leg."
"It might have just been a coincidence! It was just one race, it doesn't mean anything. Let's hope that he can still perform well today! Lots of charities came to today's race, so he might even get himself a few sponsors."
Amidst discussions within the stadium, Philip had already started his sprint.
The first 30 meters he was lagging behind. The next 30 meters he was catching up. The last 40 meters he was coming from behind. As he reached the finish line, Philip had once again left all his opponents far behind him.
"11.61 seconds! He's done it inside 12 seconds, and compared to two weeks ago, he is 0.5 seconds faster!"
"That's fast. His pace is really amazing, and I heard that he only started training in track and field not that long ago."
In the stands, the heads of various charities had their eyes glued unto Barron Philip. Their eyes glistened as they stared at him.
The US has a lot of charities, and Americans enjoy donating to charities. The wealthier the individual, the more they enjoyed donating to charities. The middle class also happily donates small sums to charities.
Donating to charities in the US makes one eligible for tax deductions. However, the donation mentioned earlier is not limited to monetary donations. It also includes stocks, properties, cars, and even old clothes, which can all be counted as donations, and used as tax deductions.
For example, a person had an income of $100,000, and he donated clothes worth $1,000. When paying his taxes, he would only have to pay taxes on the revenue of $99,000. For those who had just passed a tax threshold, using these types of donations to offset tax collection was very cost-effective. These people could reduce their income tax level by donating to charities, which would result in a significant amount of taxes they would have to pay. The donor would also gain the good reputation of being a philanthropist.
For the wealthy, donations can be used to avoid gift tax and inheritance tax. Gift and inheritance taxes in the US are very high, so much so that the taxes can cut a person's wealth in half, and it is in these situations that charities show their true value.
The rich are allowed to establish or register a philanthropic foundation and name their heir as the decision maker of the foundation. In the event of their death, the money would be left to be used by their heir. They can buy cars and houses, all without having to pay a single cent of inheritance tax.
Another example would be when a billionaire wanted to give his son ten million dollars. To avoid tax, he would make a donation of ten million dollars to a charity, before having the charity give his son a random designation at the charity. The charity would pay his son's salary, which might be 300,000 dollars a month. Using a method much like how ants move, little by little, the money the billionaire donated to the charity would become his son's salary, all done without having to deal with the gift tax. Of course, the charity involved would also receive a portion of the fees as compensation.
However, where there are people, there will always be a Jianghu. As the number of charities increased, the competition grew as well. When people made donations, they would prefer well-known charities, and so it was easier for well-known charities to receive donations. This meant that charities had to perform deeds that people knew about to promote themselves and increase their reputation so that more people would donate to them.
Sponsoring a popular para-athlete was an excellent method of promotion. For example, if a charity were to sponsor Philip, they would be able to display Philip's photographs and images during their fundraising and inform everyone that the fantastic para-athlete who had broken world records was sponsored by the charity. These advertisements would be similar to popup ads such as "Chicken bro delivers a dragon slayer" when one was browsing the web, or the erotic voice of a woman saying something like, "ABC company has opened its business, real women dealing cards online," that appears when a Laosiji selects a video.
...
In the afternoon, Philip appeared yet again at the scene of the 200m sprint.
In the 100m sprint that morning, Philip had set a new world record. Philip had already become the star of the entire stadium. As he stepped onto the racetrack, deafening cheers erupted from the audience.
At the side of the track, Dai Li looked at Philip with a relaxed expression.
Philip started training in the 200m sprint after the sports games in Seattle. However, his talent potential in the 200m sprint was greater than his talent potential in the 100m sprint. The speed of his growth was also extremely fast, and in his routine daily test, he had already broken the world record of the 200m sprint of the T43 class multiple times.
In truth, Philip's growth had far exceeded Dai Li's expectations by breaking a world record with just two weeks of training. It would be unimaginable if this situation were to happen with a normal and healthy athlete, whose limbs were intact. After thinking about it for a long time, Dai Li attributed the result to the athlete training system in the US.
Although the US was among the best in the world in track and field, when it came to track and field in para-athletics, the US was far less dominant. In the sprinting event of para-athletics, for example, a prosthesis that cost more than 20,000 dollars was enough to stop most disabled people who aspired to become para-athletes.
Half of the disabled population in the US lived on government relief funds, especially black people who grew up in the slums. Even if they had terrific sports talents, they wouldn't have the money to get their hands on a sports prosthesis. A Chinese saying says that the poor studies while the rich practice martial arts describes this situation perfectly. One needed money to play sports. Philip was one who fit the condition; he was willing to spend several tens of thousands of dollars to get himself an advanced sports prosthesis. Philip's case was extremely rare because for most Americans, after receiving a large sum of money, the first thing that came to mind would be to go and have fun and enjoy their lives.
As Dai Li contemplated, Philip had left the bend and gone into the straight track. His pace was as quick as ever. Dai Li even saw glimpses of a normal and healthy athlete from him.
"Come on, Blade Warrior!" A voice erupted from the stands. Someone was holding onto a sign with the words, "Blade Warrior," with a drawing of a cheetah-style bladed prosthesis on the side.
"Blade Warrior!"
"Blade Warrior!"
The voices spread through the entire stadium. Gradually, on the side the voice originated from, the number of voices shouting "Blade Warrior" had increased.
Philip sure has gained a lot of fans! The "Blade Warrior" is a pretty cool nickname. It's also very well-put. The Flex-Foot Cheetah that he's using really looks like a sharp blade.
Dai Li kept pondering as he watched Philip continue his wide lead before finally crossing the finish line.
Philip's result was 21.58 seconds, just barely breaking through the 22 seconds threshold. In the US, this result would have been unconvincing for healthy people who called themselves professional sprinters; however, for a para-athlete like Philip, he had set a new world record.
...
"The Blade Warrior. Sounds strong and rambunctious. We are talking about the young man who lost both his legs, right?" A bespectacled and well-dressed man with white sideburns who sat in the main central stands asked.
"That's right. It's probably a nickname given by the audience, looks like he's already made some fans," answered a youngster who sat beside the man.
"I think that this young man is worth the investment. Don't we still need a representative for our newly launched accident disability insurance? The Blade Warrior, a very memorable name," the older man said with a big smile on his face.
"I understand, director. I'll go meet with Philip after the race," the younger man replied immediately.
...
The name "Blade Warrior" appeared in the media very quickly. At first, only media from the west coast followed Philip. However, not long after, media companies in the east had also learned about the "Blade Warrior" who had lost both his legs and still repeatedly broken world records in several para-athletic games.
The nickname "Blade Warrior" went viral overnight. Philip had suddenly become a "limited celebrity.""Limited" mainly because it was still only sports for disabled people, not something mainstream media paid attention to. Even if there was a news report, it would have only appeared as a side story.
In a large sporting country like the US, the weekly number of matches of the four biggest sports leagues alone reaches over the hundreds. Taking into account other sports like tennis, golf, car racing, boxing, and various other sports loved by Americans, sports media in the US had an abundance of content to report on. Who would pay any attention to para-athletics?
...
As Philip handed over a check to Dai Li, he said, "Coach Li, I can finally pay the fees for your training!"
"20,000 dollars? Where did you get that much money? I remember your prize money, it was only around 2,000 dollars, wasn't it?" Dai Li asked with a puzzled expression.
The annual average income of Americans was over 55,000 dollars. However, people with that kind of income had to pay an income tax of 25%. Adding to that, there was also the social security tax they had to pay to enjoy social benefits, as well as the medical insurance and dental insurance paid to insurance companies. As such, the maximum disposable income of Americans was only around 40,000 dollars. This meant that the 20,000 dollar check was already an American's expenses for half a year.
"I just signed a sponsorship deal. An insurance company is launching a new accident disability insurance product, and they asked me to be their representative. There were also several other charities that provided me a few thousand dollars' worth of sponsorship," Philip answered as his face filled with an excited smile. He then continued, "I can finally stop working part-time, and I don't have to depend on a government check anymore. I can train the whole day!"
"Looks like you should start looking for an agent!" Dai Li said with a smile.
"You've got that absolutely right. There's a guy called Steven. I haven't got a clue where he got my contact info, but he's saying that he wants to be my agent! Of course, I ignored him." Philip shook his head before continuing to speak, "I am not a superstar, there is no way I can afford an agent!"