Who is Liu Xiang?

By Bidz dela Cruz

Born in 13 July 1983, Liu Xiang, a Chinese track breakthrough athlete hopes to defend his title this year in the 2008 Olympics. Hailing from Shanghai, as a child, he was a high jumper until his sports school asked him to give up the event because a bone test showed that he would not grow tall enough to become a world-class jumper.

This reality though didn't stop him from leaving the Athletics. He started training as a hurdler in 1998. In 2002 Liu surpassed Renaldo Nehemiah and broke his 24-year-old world junior record for the 110m hurdles. The year after that he won a bronze medal at the World Championships of Athletics and stamped himself as a medal contender for the 2004 Olympics, although he was not considered the people's choice for the gold. However, in the final, Liu's technique was nearly perfect as he barely touched the sixth hurdle and cleared all of the others without mistakes. He managed to bag victory of almost three meters which means that he tied the 11-year-old world record of 12.91 seconds. Liu was the first Chinese to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. He was only 21 years old at the time of his victory, Liu vowed to defend his title when the Olympics come to Beijing in 2008, and that day is just around the bend now.