BEIJING, Nov 23, 2007 - Reigning Olympic and world champion 110m hurdler Liu Xiang has been told he will be a failure if he does not pick up gold at next year’s Beijing Games, it was reported Friday.
Liu, who also holds the world record in the event, has consistently complained of the enormous pressure he is under in the lead-up to next year’s Olympics, and his coach Sun Haiping gave a glimpse of one reason why.
``Officials from the State General Administration of Sports once told us if Liu could not win a gold in Beijing, all of his previous achievements would become meaningless,’’ Sun said, according to the China Daily newspaper.
``So we have to take everything possible into consideration to keep him in a top form.’’
But Sun said Liu was coping well with the expectations and was even looking to beat his world record of 12.88 seconds ahead of the August Olympics.
``I am so glad to see Liu is in very good form, both physically and mentally,’’ Sun said, adding that a detailed training programme through the northern hemisphere winter would see him primed for 2008.
``When there are chances (to break the world record), we will not let them slip away,’’ he said.
Liu became the first Chinese man to take an Olympic athletics gold when he won the 110m hurdles in Athens in 2004 aged 21. And in August this year he created history again in Osaka after becoming the first Chinese man to win a world athletics title.
BEIJING - Chinese Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang’s legs have been insured for US$13.3 million in the run-up to next year’s Beijing Summer Olympics.
To him, though, the limbs are beyond valuation. “You can’t really put a concrete figure on this,” Liu was quoted as saying by the Beijing News newspaper. “They’re priceless,” Liu said.
Liu won the 110-metre hurdles at the 200 Athens Olympics, set a new world record of 12.88 seconds last year, and in August won gold at the World Athletics Championships.
Liu is one of the country’s most celebrated sports stars, prompting Ping An of China insurance to donate coverage for his legs as part of its sponsorship of the Chinese athletics team.
Liu’s race at the Beijing Games is expected to be one of the most watched events at the games.
I’m rather glad and impressed that a track and field athlete can become such high-class property. Compared to the media driven team sport codes that are market-friendly, quantitative individual sports get shit all - even though they have to train harder and show greater dedication for less monetary or publicity reward. The lifestyles (rockstar!) many (not all) team sport athletes live, well, you just couldn’t survive in the ‘purest’ sports where 1% can mean the difference from 1st to 8th, or 5% can trade mediocrecy for greatness.
But you see this is a team sport it’s China vs The West. The reason team sports do well is they build a connection and loyalty in and between their fans. Same thing with political regimes that set themselves apart from the rest. It’s not Liu that is big but what he represents.