China’s greatest track and field athlete Liu Xiang announced his retirement yesterday, with the injury-plagued Athens 2004 gold medal winner saying he had “no choice” but to bring down the curtain on his trail-blazing career.
“From today, I will end my life as a professional athlete and retire formally,” the 110m hurdles star said in an online post.
“This is a decision made after long deliberation. I am deeply reluctant and feel pained, but I have no choice,” he added, on his verified account on Chinese microblogging Web site Sina Weibo.
Photo: AFP
The 31-year-old’s retirement is likely to spark an outpouring of emotion from Chinese sports fans, despite the news being widely expected, particularly after reports last week that an announcement was imminent.
The Shanghai-born athlete has become loved for his heartbreaking setbacks, as well as his achievements after he burst onto the scene in Athens to claim China’s first men’s track and field gold.
Following that victory, Liu was hotly tipped for gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but limped out of the first heat, shocking tearful home fans at the Bird’s Nest stadium.
Liu suffered another agonizing exit at London 2012, clattering into the first hurdle in his opening heat. After being helped up, he hopped the length of the track before symbolically kissing the last barrier and exiting the Olympic arena.
Liu will be remembered in China as the man who proved that Asian athletes can compete with the world’s best in sprint sports, particularly when he was on world-beating form ahead of Beijing 2008.
He arrived at the Olympic Games after breaking the world record with a time of 12.88 seconds in 2006, and winning the world title in 2007.
His coach, Sun Haiping, was quoted in Chinese media last week that he was “preparing” to retire, fueling speculation that he would finally draw the curtain on a remarkable career.
In his retirement statement, Liu looked back with “reluctance” to the pivotal Beijing Olympics, when his career began to be severely affected by a right Achilles tendon injury.
“I dreamed about raising the [Chinese] flag,” he said. “But the injuries started to torture me just before the race.”
“Why did I let the Chinese people down?” he added.
His withdrawal in 2008 sparked widespread debate in China, with many observers accusing him at the time of letting his country down, while others said he had been pushed too hard by the country’s strict state sports system.
However, his pioneering exploits in athletics have been widely praised by many sports fans in China, and his retirement yesterday was the biggest topic on Weibo, with 11.5 million people reposting the news within an hour of the announcement.
“You are the pride of China,” one netizen said.
“Our national hero brought the Asian people glory,” another added.
Liu’s retirement follows China’s first tennis Grand Slam winner Li Na calling it a day last year, and hugely-popular former NBA star Yao Ming signing off in 2011. Many Chinese netizens compared the trio as they saluted Liu’s achievements.
“China’s three biggest sports stars have retired,” one said. “Although this is sad, I look forward to more sports stars replacing them in the future.”
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS