He is expected to deliver China's only gold-medal in the track and field event in the coming Beijing Olympics. He won at the Athens Games four years ago, and held the 110m hurdles record until Cuban athlete Dayron Robles broke that record by 0.01 seconds.
Since June, Robles has won seven championships out of eight. Liu, on the other hand, was suffering from a sore hamstring.
Things do not look good for China's biggest athletic star. If he does not win gold, 1.3 billion people will be disappointed. As one commentator said, even a silver or bronze will not be good enough.
China is expected to win quite a few gold medals, especially in table tennis, gymnastics, etc. But a gold in the 110m hurdles is bigger than any of them. It shatters the stereotype that Asians are intrinsically weaker in track and field events.
This reminds me of Zhu Jianhua, another star athlete from Shanghai. Before the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the high jumper repeatedly won world championships, setting three world records within a short period. Then, when it mattered, he took home only bronze.
I still remember the day of his astounding defeat. The year 1984 was a time China did not have much live transmission of sports events or many television sets. Dozens of students crammed into a single dorm with a TV, and CCTV, not yet dexterous with talking heads or commercial breaks, kept us waiting for Zhu Jianhua.
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