China Report - Liu Xiang Clocks Season-Leading Time, Looks Ahead to London

(ATR) Chinese star hurdler Liu Xiang tells and Around the Rings and Tencent "I have tried my best" after topping a first-class field at Saturday's rain-soaked Shanghai Diamond League.

The men's 110m hurdles champion from Athens 2004 was even with last year's world champ Jason Richardson of the U.S. for the first seven hurdles before Liu pulled away to clock a winning time of 12.97 seconds, the world's fastest the season so far.

David Oliver of the U.S. finished second in 13.13s while countryman Richardson was third in 13.16s. Aries Merritt, world indoor champion and owner of the previous season-best time, came fourth in 13.26s.

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After clocking his first sub-13 seconds result since the 2007 world champs, Liu says he's very satisfied with his current form.

"I have tried my best today and I'm very pleased with my result," Liu exclusively told ATR and Tencent after his victory.

"I have nothing to hide since I am competing at home today, so I was very excited before the race," he added.

"This is my second international outdoor race this season, and I was very satisfied with the whole race from the start to the end."

As his country's most famous sports star besides Yao Ming, Liu became China's hero after surprisingly claiming the 110 hurdles title at the Athens Olympics. Withdrawing from his heat at the Beijing Games four years later with a foot injury damaged his reputation dramatically, however, and many of his fans criticized him for "escaping" from the races because of a fear of losing in front of home crowds and with the whole world watching on TV.

Liu came back to racing 13 months later after a series of surgeries in the U.S. Later, he raised China's attention again after placing second at last year's IAAF world champs.

"I'm now enjoying racing because it brings me lots of happiness," Liu said.

"I will try my best at every race. About the result, I am not thinking much of it."

Raising Expectations Again

Liu's world-class time in Shanghai became the headline in China over the weekend with many experts commenting that he would have a strong chance of winning Olympic gold again this summer in London. His picture is also adorning the front page of Chinese newspapers, refreshing people's memories from 2004.

"I know lots of people have huge expectations of me, and I am very appreciative of their support," Liu told ATR after learning that millions of users of Tencent Weibo - the largest Chinese social-media provider - left and retweeted 4.16 million messages on his race.

His opponents just might be a little jealous of the support he enjoys throughout China.

"I am not surprised of any results he produces because everyone is clear of his capability," Richardson told ATR.

"What I will say was surprising is to see an entire country get behind one athlete. I tip my hat to the Chinese culture. I wish we had a little bit more of that in America."

The current world record holder, Dayron Robles of Cuba, also says he envies the support Liu receives.

"He is so lucky that he has a whole team to meet the demand he requests. However, I am hardly finding the track to train. It makes lots of differences."

Sometimes, expectations can also turn into pressure, says Liu, but he's no longer worrying about that.

"I am getting used to facing all of the pressures since I was back from the Athens Games. I have some ups and downs from previous years, and those pressures won't affect me at all now."

"I need to focus on myself. I will be very happy if I have done my best."

Coach Downplays London Expectation

Sun Haiping, the coach of Liu Xiang, is very pleased with Liu's current performance but admits that the result was out of his expectation.

"Although the temperature was low and the track wet, Liu ran with the wind, which benefited him a lot. If he ran against the wind, the result might be 13.20 or 13.30," Sun told ATR.

"I knew he would run faster than last time in Kawaski, Japan (13.09 seconds) but I did not expect him to run in 13 seconds in Shanghai. It is his fastest time in 5 years," he added.

"The American hurdlers competed in Daegu (in South Korea) after a long flight on Wednesday and came to Shanghai right after that, so they didn't perform at their best. They were slower today and did not show their real abilities.

"This race has boosted our confidence, but I'm still worried about how to maintain his good form, how to do everything well in training and how to avoid more injuries leading up to the Olympics. We have to be very careful about these things."

Liu also tried to calm down everyone's expectations after showing his sparkling early-season form, saying running so fast had not led him to think about the world record.

"Lots of people asked me whether I could set the world record again and I cannot predict it. No matter whether I am in hot form or not, I haven't thought of breaking the world record again. It cannot be predicted. You need to have a very lucky day to break it," said the 28-year-old.

Liu set the world record in 2006 in 12.88s, a time soon surpassed by Robles, who later became the Olympic champion in Beijing.

"What I care about is maintaining my great form and delivering my training form at my races," Liu said.

"I will be very satisfied if I could run in the final of Olympic Games."

Homepage photo from Getty Images.

Written by Norman Li.

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