All that glitters: China's most important gold
Updated on 08 July 2008
Danny Vincent looks at why China has high hopes for their golden boy.
When Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang crossed the 110m sprint finish line in Athens in 2004, he became a first: the first Asian man to win a sprint event and the first Chinese man to claim a track and field gold medal.
In China's search for gold, the 110m hurdle medal holds more importance than most. And with a month to go before the opening ceremony the pressure is on for Liu to fulfil the aspirations of the Chinese people.
The 24-year-old hurdler, son of a truck driver born in Shanghai, most readily represents the dreams of the nation.
The fact that he is once more the under dog adds to the nation's sentiment.
Not only is he the Olympic champion, a clinical hurdler and the first Chinese man to hold the triple crown, he is part of the post 1980 generation - raised in a changing country and the natural heir to all that the Chinese achieve.
Across Beijing his name and face is attached to many a brand on subways, in shopping areas, in taxis. He is the face of Coca Cola, and Nike in China as well as Visa. His branding connects him to the west, but his persona, manners and his love for his country keeps him rooted in China.
Obviously the government approve of him. He is the quiet and modest poster boy of the Games.
Today with one month to go to the games he will be so deeply locked in intense training that even the state-run media and sponsors would be hard pushed to get an interview with him.
The official Olympic film released nationwide at the end of last month followed his training regime with his coach, Sun Haiping - a real task master of a man, who would not think twice about barking instructions, orders or criticisms at the champion.
But rumour has it that Liu went looking for this life. They say he wasn't picked up by an official with a clipboard in school or forced to train day and night as a child. Instead he opted to go knocking on the door of the Chinese Olympic dream machine, trying to get into elite schools that rejected him.
Now no other athlete shares the pressure on his shoulders. And the fact that he is once more the under dog adds to the nation's sentiment.
Cuban sprinter Dayron Robles last month broke Liu's 110 metre hurdles record. Clocking in at 12.88 seconds his time was 1-hundredth of a second faster than the Chinese star.
The Beijing Olympics will ask many questions of China and its ambitions on the world stage. Sport is not without its stereotypes. If Liu does again prove that China can produce the fastest man over 110 metres hurdlers, and if the pollution in Beijing's skies is not clear by the time the Games arrives, a collective sigh of relief from a nation should do the job.
Because this time, unlike in Athens; it's expected.
