Olympics: China in shock as injured Liu pulls out Olympics

Monday 18 August 2008

BEIJING - China suffered a major setback Monday to its hopes of winning gold on the Olympic track when superstar Liu Xiang sensationally pulled out of the 110m hurdles heats injured.

The host nation had been banking on Liu to shine, but the Shanghai-native has been troubled by a hamstring injury and he was clearly in pain when he lined up for his race and pulled up before the first hurdle in a false start.

The dejected star, one of the faces of the Beijing Olympics along with basketballer Yao Ming, limped down the tunnel of the Birds Nest stadium to a stunned silence from the patriotic crowd.

Liu, the defending champion, has been absent from international competition for most of the year and his coach Sun Haiping admited before the event that the injury could hamper China's best gold medal hope on the track.

"Liu's injury has been diagnosed as something wrong with his hamstring, but not with the bone," he said in the China Daily.

"It is an accumulated injury due to long training and it will affect him if he uses power.

"It won't cause problems for the heats, but I'm worried about the semi-finals and the final."

Seldom could there have been more pressure and expectation placed on an athlete than there has been on Liu since he confirmed his class in winning the title in Athens four years ago.

The 25-year-old - who added world gold last year - looked a dead certainty to defend his title successfully up until Cuban Dayron Robles threw down the gauntlet this season.

While Liu has not been seen on the European circuit 21-year-old Robles has torn it up with some devastating performances.

He capped it by breaking Liu's world record in a stunning hurdling display in Ostrava, Czech Republic, timing 12.87 seconds in June and clocked 13.39 seconds in his heat Monday to be hot favoutirte for gold.

Liu's stunning withdrawl took the gloss off China revelling in its best Olympic gold medal achievement.

The host country has bettered the 32 gold it won in Athens and is on its way to becoming only the third country since World War II -- after the United States and the Soviet Union -- to top the end-of-Games medal table

Its state-run media celebrated the gold rush that threatens US sporting supremacy.

"China's team is fully flowering," commented the official Xinhua news agency. "The March of the Volunteers (China's national anthem) is ringing out in every stadium."

On Day 10 of competition, China has 35 gold to the United States' 19, but the track and field is traditionally an American domain and the balance of power is expected to shift.

Cui Dalin, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation, admits it is not China's strong point and said the medals would likely start drying up.

"Chinese lag behind in track and field. Despite all the efforts we have made to improve, it is still a long way to go before we catch up with the world level," he said.

"With events like track and field, China's pace in winning gold medals will slow down."

Elsewhere, China's men's table tennis team -- Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Wang Liqin -- look good to match the exploits of their women by winning the team title when they play European powerhouse Germany in the final.

Chinese gymnasts have already had their best Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984 where they won four gold.

So far, the hosts' have five gold -- men's team, women's team, men's all-around, men's pommel horse and men's floor exercise -- and more can be expected Monday.

Yang Yilin led qualifying for the women's uneven bars while Chen Yibing is the world men's rings champion.