Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang (born July 13, 1983) is a Chinese former 110 meter hurdler.

Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion.

In May 2001, Liu won at the East Asian Games in Osaka, Japan with a time of 13.42 seconds.

In August 2001, he won at the Universiade in Beijing with a time of 13.33 seconds.

He also won at the 2001 National Games of China that same year.

In 2002 Liu set an Asian record time at the Athletissima meeting, completing the event in 13.12 seconds.

This also broke Renaldo Nehemiah's long standing and world junior record, which had stood for almost 25 years.

The following year he secured bronze medals in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 110 m hurdles at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics.

His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China.

Liu is one of China's most successful athletes and has emerged as a cultural icon.

On top of being the only male athlete in history to be all of 110-metre hurdles World Record Holder, World Champion and Olympic Champion—Liu remains the Olympic record holder for the men's 110-metre hurdles with a time of 12.91 seconds he set back at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

He was the favorite to win another gold in the 110 metre hurdles at the Beijing Olympics, but he had to withdraw from competition at the last moment after a false start and aggravation to a previously unrevealed injury.

Again a gold medal favourite in the 110 metre hurdles at the London Olympics he pulled his Achilles tendon attempting to clear the first hurdle in the heats.

In May 2004 at an IAAF Grand Prix race in Osaka, Japan, Liu managed to beat Allen Johnson with a personal best record time of 13.06 seconds.

He improved even further at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Although he was not considered a favourite for the event, he won the Olympic final by some distance to pocket the gold medal with 12.91 seconds, tying the world record set by Colin Jackson 11 years before.

This was a new Olympic record and was almost three tenths of a second faster than the runner-up Terrence Trammell.

The performance had Liu the sixth man to run under 13 seconds for the event and was China's first men's Olympic gold medal in a track and field event.

On top of this, it defied the traditional thinking that Asian athletes could not compete in sprint events at the top level.

He said that his gold medal "changes the opinion that Asian countries don't get good results in sprint races. I want to prove to all the world that Asians can run very fast."

Liu, a 21-year-old East China Normal University student at the time of victory in Athens, became the target of a bidding war among commercial sponsors.

The Chinese Track and Field Association limited him to four such deals.

Liu finished the season with four of the year's ten fastest clockings.

Reaching 17 finals in the 60-metre indoor and 110-metre outdoor hurdles, he lost just two, both to American Allen Johnson.

Off track, in May, Liu was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year for his breakthrough performance at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

In August 2005, Liu won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland, finishing 13.08 seconds, 0.01 second after champion Ladji Doucouré from France.

In November 2005, he won at East Asian Games in Macau, China, with 13.21 seconds.

On July 11, 2006, Liu set a new world record in the 110 metre hurdles at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds (+1.1 m/s tailwind).

The record was ratified by the IAAF.

In that same race, American Dominique Arnold had also beaten the previous record with a time of 12.90 seconds.

In September, he won gold at IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany, with 12.93 seconds.

On August 31, 2007, at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, Liu won gold in the 110-metre hurdles with 12.95 seconds to become World Champion.

On May 23, Liu participated in a test event at the Beijing National Stadium.

He pulled out of the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on May 31, citing hamstring problems.

On June 8, he false-started at the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene, Oregon.

Liu skipped the entire European circuit, preferring to train for the Olympics in China instead.

Leading up to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Liu bore national expectations of a repeat victory on home soil.

On August 18, Liu withdrew from the Olympic 110 metre hurdles.

He walked off the track after a false start by another runner in his first-round heat, leaving the crowd at the Beijing National Stadium in stunned silence, confusion, and tears.

On April 7, 2015, he announced his retirement on Sina Weibo.