Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang, (born July 13, 1983, Shanghai, China), hurdler who in 2004 brought China its first Olympic gold medal in a men’s track-and-field event.

Liu enrolled in a junior sports school in fourth grade and initially succeeded at the high jump. He switched to the hurdles at age 15 and debuted internationally at the world junior championships in 2000, finishing fourth in the 110-metre event. He won the same race at the 2001 World University Games and in 2002 set world junior records indoors in the 60-metre hurdles (7.55 sec) and outdoors in the 110-metre hurdles (13.12 sec). In 2003 he earned bronze medals at the indoor and outdoor world championships and was named his country’s Male Athlete of the Year. Liu won the 110-metre hurdles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, equaling the world record of 12.91 sec and becoming just the sixth man to post a time under 13.00 sec. In 2006 he set a world record (12.88 sec) in the event, which was broken two years later.

Liu entered the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as a heavy favourite in the 110-metre hurdles. However, he pulled up after a false start in his first-round heat, having aggravated a chronic Achilles tendon injury, and subsequently withdrew from the Games. He returned to competition after 13 months of rehabilitation and won his third consecutive Asian Games 110-metre gold medal in 2010.

Liu was again favoured to medal in the 100-metre hurdles at the London 2012 Olympic Games, but he ruptured his Achilles tendon and crashed into the first hurdle of his preliminary heat. He hopped toward the finish line and ceremonially kissed the final hurdle, but his Olympics ended with an official “did not finish” in his first race, and he underwent surgery to repair his tendon upon his return to China. Liu’s rehabilitation was ultimately a failure, however, and he did not compete again before announcing his retirement from athletics in 2015.