The Agony and Glory of the Nike Ad

Nike's celebrity Liu Xiang, said he was sorry for his dramatic withdrawal from the Olympics but that he had no choice because pain from a foot injury became unbearable.

"There's so many people concerned about me and who support me. I feel very sorry. But there's really nothing I could do," a downcast, disconsolate Liu told China Central Television in an interview aired Tuesday.

China's great hope for track glory at the Beijing Games withdrew from his heat in the 110-meter hurdles, shocking and disappointing millions of Chinese who wanted to see him defend his Olympic title at home.

Liu, 25, won China's first Olympic gold medal on the track in Athens four years ago, and became a superstar to rival NBA hero Yao Ming at home and a posterboy worth millions for the Beijing Games. His surprise withdrawal on Monday shocked not only China, but the rest of the world. His coach was  at the forefront of those who wept openly.

China's communist leaders sent a message of support to Liu and his team that was printed Tuesday (Aug 19) on the front page of Chinese newspapers - a sign of recognition of the athlete's popularity in China.
In Xinhua's translation of Liu's comments, he said: "I didn't feel right when I was warming up before the race. I knew my foot would fail me. I felt painful when I was just jogging."

He mentioned about running a competitive time just two weeks before this walk-out incident.

Still in the Xinhua translation, "I didn't know why things turned out this way," he said. "I wanted to hang on. But I couldn't. It was unbearable. If I had finished the race, I would have risked my tendon. I could not describe my feeling at that moment."

Rumors had already circled for weeks that Liu was suffering a leg injury since he trained in seclusion before he first appeared in the Bird's Nest stadium on Monday.

In his warm-up, Liu grimaced through clenched teeth.  When the starter's gun fired, Liu launched out of the blocks but started hobbling immediately, limping gingerly after clearing two hurdles. Soon the gun fired again to signal a false start by a different hurdler. Rather than head back to the blocks, he headed inside the stadium for the change room in this first heat first heat of the event for which he was clear favorite. 

Liu just wanted everybody to know that he feared doing more damage to his damaged tendon, but vowed he would return to competition as soon as his foot recovers 100%.

"I know I have the ability, once my foot recovered," Liu said, according to a translation of the interview by The Associated Press. "Now the most important thing is to heal my injury. I still have a chance next year, after all I'm still at the peak. I must be optimistic, and I shouldn't blame everyone and everything but not myself. I will not easily give up."

The most-senior Communist Party leader overseeing the games is Vice President Xi Jinping.  He sent a message to the General Administration of Sport on Monday to express sympathy and encouragement for Liu and his coach. Xi is widely viewed as the heir to President Hu Jintao.

The message, which was printed on the front page of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, as well as other papers was this: “ The country's leaders are paying attention to Liu's injury, and hope he is able to quickly return to health.”

"We all understand that Liu quit the race due to injury," Xi said. "We hope he will relax and focus on recovery. We hope that after he recovers, he will continue to train hard and struggle harder for the national glory."

Liu's sponsors also signaled full support for their star athlete, taking out full-page ads in English- and Chinese-language papers and running spots on television.

Despite the disappointment of one of their biggest endorsers, Nike will salute hurt Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang instead of hoping that he'll disappear.

This is the type of thing that makes Nike a leader in sports marketing. When the other sponsors privately cringe at the thought of one of their top endorsers going down, the decision-makers at the Nike camp actually think, "How do we spend on this and turn it into a great human moment that appeals to people?"

The print ad, that circulated via The China Daily and a few local papers here in Beijing, will have Liu Xiang's face and will contain the following copy (in Mandarin):


“Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you've got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.
Just Do It.”

said the Nike ad, over a photo portrait of a clear-eyed, serious Liu looking directly into the camera lens.