BEIJING, Feb 20 - China’s Olympic track hero Liu Xiang was disqualified in a national track event after jumping the gun, state media said Sunday.
In the men’s 60-meter hurdles at China’s National indoor Track and Field Grand Prix in Shanghai on Saturday, Liu pre-empted the starter’s pistol in a re-start, the Beijing Times said.
Shi Dongpeng had caused the first start to be abandoned after he also began too early, the report said.
The starter was relatively slow and my hands felt a bit weak. I couldn't hold my position any longer so I ran,'' Liu was quoted as saying. Having learned my lesson, I won’t make the same mistake again,’’ he said.
In the warm up race Saturday morning, Liu clocked 7.87 seconds to rank first, the report said.
Liu became the first man from China to win an Olympic athletics gold medal.
His time of 12.91 seconds in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final at last year’s Athens Olympic Games equalled the mark set by Briton Colin Jackson at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart.