Liu Xiang

Every August of the last three years I have written an entry about the Chinese track-and-field star Liu Xiang.  Here are the earlier such entries:

2008
2009
2010 

Here is a trip down memory lane from the China Herald, their thoughts back in 2008 about "what killed Liu Xiang's Olympic ambitions?"

There is some news about Liu.  This year he is expected to be the PRC's star in the IAAF World Championships, to be held in Daegu, from August 28 to September 4.  The IAAF, by the way, the the International Association of Athletics Federations, and Daegu is the fourth-largest city in the Republic of Korea.

Apparently, in the hurdles, Liu has adopted a new technique since his injury, approaching the first hurdle in seven strides instead of -- as in his earlier days --  in eight.  Here is a discussion from China's Xinhua News Agency.

In that event Liu will face tough competition in the 110 meter hurdles from a US star, David Oliver, who has a season best in this event of 12.94 seconds. Liu's season best is 13 seconds flat.

Here's an Oliver biography.

Due respect to Oliver, but this blog has adopted Liu as its track-and-field fav, and we'll be cheering him on.  Besides, it's a good bet he won't be suffering from jet lag the way Oliver might be at the Daegu competition!

And there's London next year, i.e. the 2012 Olympics.  I'm psyched already.