The Chinese Hurdle for Glory

The highlight of China's hosting the World Olympics is seeing Liu Xiang, their Olympic war hero, defend his title by running in the 110-meter hurdles.

The entire China witnessed that he didn't even get to race.

Grimacing and aiding his troublesome right hamstring so he could get into his crouch, Liu pulled up lame just steps into the first round of qualifying Monday, leaving the Summer Games' host country without one of its biggest stars - and far and away its biggest celebrity in track and field.

He faltered out of the block at the sound of the gun, took a few awkward steps, then stopped and limped when the second gun sounded to signal a false start. No one is disqualified by an initial false start, yet Liu tore the pieces of paper with his number off each leg and walked out towards a tunnel, walking wobbly all the way with what the coach of China's track team said was a right foot injury.

"He couldn't imagine the pain he was suffering," coach Feng Shuyong said at a news conference Liu didn't attend. "Let me repeat: Liu Xiang will not withdraw unless the pain is unbearable."

While the other competitors in the heat that included him prepared for the restart, Liu took slow, painful ginger steps along a concrete path leading away from the rust-colored track where he was supposed to amuse a nation of 1.3 billion people.

But the sudden turn of events sent him sitting alone against a wall. That man who had smiling faces adorning so many advertising billboards have now become sullen. At that instance, some members of the Chinese media watching the scene unfold on a TV under the stands began to cry while thousands of his disappointed countrymen were walking towards the exits.

Had this been any other competition, in any other setting, it seems safe to say Liu wouldn't even have shown up at the stadium himself on this day.

"When you see the crowd, you realize why he had to come out," said Britain's Allan Scott, who was surprised when he glanced across the lanes and didn't see Liu ahead of him in the final heat.

According to Sun Haiping (Liu's personal coach),  Liu was plagued by a right foot injury that has been perennial for six or seven years - and that the pain intensified Saturday. Sun's shoulders shook and he wiped away tears as he spoke about Liu's exit.

Feng said the injury is where the Achilles tendon attaches to Liu's right foot, "his takeoff foot, so there is a lot of stress on that area."

There were signs of trouble as soon as Liu made his first appearance on the Bird's Nest's big video screens. Once on the track, he stopped after clearing two hurdles during the warm-up period, then crouched down and favored his right leg as he walked back to the starting area.

He peeled off his red shirt when others were lining up behind the blocks and seemed to wait forever before pulling a new jersey over his head.

"In watching warm-ups, we could see he wasn't quite as strong as you expect him to be," said former world record-holder Colin Jackson. "But we didn't know it was as bad as it turned out to be."

His injury caused him to pull out from a number of races prior to the Beijing Games and only rarely has made public appearances, training in seclusion. Because of  the Athens Games four years ago, where Liu became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic track and field gold medal,  this 25-year-old hurdler is as much a celebrity here as Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.  With that, a Chinese insurance company volunteered more than $10 million of coverage for his legs. His image appears everywhere in his hometown of Shanghai, and he has sponsorship deals with Visa and Coca-Cola, among others.

"I think the Chinese people will understand the situation," Feng said of Liu's withdrawal, "and will encourage him to come back to the track."

The 110-meter hurdles final this Thursday night was expected to be one of the highlights of these Olympics: China's Liu vs. Cuba's Dayron Robles, the man who broke Liu's world record in June - with 91,000 fans crowding into the National Stadium to cheer on their man.

"I think they will be disappointed," said Wang Wei, executive vice president of the games' organizing committee. "But they will understand. When somebody has an accident, you can't help it."

The crowd now has a new favorite: Robles, who won his heat but at 13.39 seconds was well off his world record time of 12.87.

With an injured left leg, another of the top contenders departed Monday when two-time Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell of the United States grabbed the second hurdle and limped off the track.

The exits of Liu and Trammell leave David Oliver convinced that he was performing consistently as any of the U.S. hurdlers of late, as a serious medal candidate. His personal best of 12.95 seconds is only 0.08 second off Robles' world record.

Robles didn't recognize his Chinese rival as he appeared to be hurting badly before lining up. He was busy focusing on the way Bolt mentally conditioned himself. "I'm going to do what Usain Bolt did," the Cuban said when asked about breaking his hurdles world record. "The track is perfect. Anything is possible in the final."