Sijie Yang had A-level ability in sprinting. He had the potential to win several national championships easily as long as he tried a bit harder. If he did, he would have the chance to compete against the top sprinters in the world; and, if he was lucky enough, he could probably become a world champion. It surprised Dai Li that such a talented star was saying that he hated sprinting, and that he did not want to be an athlete.
People always said that your interests were your best teacher. If Da Vinci had not been interested in drawing, he could not have become a great painter; Had Shakespeare hated writing, he could not have been a master in literature.
Of course, not everyone liked their job, but most would not say they hated it either.