Liu Xiang

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For other uses, see Liu Xiang (disambiguation).

This is a Chinese name; the family name is 劉 (Liu)

Liu Xiang

Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
Gold	2004 Athens	110m hurdles

Liu Xiang (Simplified Chinese: 刘翔; Traditional Chinese: 劉翔; pinyin: Liú Xiáng) (born July 13, 1983 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese hurdling athlete and Olympic gold medalist who holds the current world record in the 110 metres hurdles with a time of 12.88 seconds. [1]

1 Career
2 Major achievements
- 2.1 2001
- 2.2 2002
- 2.3 2003
- 2.4 2004
- 2.5 2005
- 2.6 2006
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Career

In 2002, Liu launched his professional career by winning his first IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne with a World Junior and Asian record time of 13.12 seconds (+1.6 m/s tail wind) in the 110 metres hurdles. Afterward, Liu chased down one of his heroes Allen Johnson, then the world number 1 sprint hurdler, for an autograph. When interviewed about the Athens Olympic Games two years later, Liu said he would be satisfied if he qualified for the finals.

Liu is also the world junior indoor record holder in the 60m Hurdles with a time of 7.55s. While enroute to a longer race Liu also set the world junior indoor record in the 50m Hurdles with a time of 6.52s. These records are not officially recognized by the IAAF.

He has since made the finals at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics (twice); two of the three cases has seen American hurdling great Allen Johnson take the major prize. In May 2004 at an IAAF race in Osaka Japan, Liu managed to beat Johnson with an Asian-record time of 13.06 seconds. Liu had become his hero's equal just before the Athens Olympic Games.

Still young, Liu had improved steadily, and won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 110 meters hurdles event. In the final, he equaled Colin Jackson's 1993 world record of 12.91 seconds. The wind assistance for Colin's race was +0.5 m/s whereas Liu's wind assistance was +0.3 m/s. This was the first time an athlete of non-African descent had reached under 13 seconds for the 110 metres hurdles.

In 2005, Liu was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year.

Liu set a new world record in the 110 metres hurdles, at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne on July 11, 2006, with a time of 12.88 seconds (+1.1 m/s tail wind). The record was ratified by the IAAF. [2] In the same race, the American Dominique Arnold also beat the previous record with a time of 12.90s.[3]