Liu Xiang was born in Shanghai in 1983, with his ancestral home in Xihe Village, Dafeng Caoyan Town, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province.
Chinese male track and field athlete has won one Olympic gold medal, six World Championships medals and three Asian Games gold medals
He is a two-time world champion and has broken the world record, and is the first Olympic champion in the history of the 110-meter hurdles to combine at the same time.
World Champion, world record in one, but also the first track and field athlete in the history of the Chinese National Games,
Known as the Hurdle King. Liu Xiang is a member of the 11th and 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Communist Party of China and the deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau. Graduated from East China Normal University.
On April 7, 2015, Liu Xiang announced his retirement through multiple media channels.
At the age of seven, Liu Xiang was discovered by Zhong Suogui, the coach of the school track and field team of Shanghai Guannong Primary School, where he studied, and was selected to join the school track and field team. In 1993, Liu Xiang was selected by Gu Baogang to enter the Shanghai Putuo District Junior Sports School, where he mainly practiced high jump and auxiliary 100-meter sprinting, and began his professional sports career. In 1995, in a 100-meter sprint in the city, he was favored by Fang Shuiquan, the second-team coach of the athletics team of the Shanghai Institute of Sport and Technical, and transferred him to study the 100-meter hurdles. However, his results were not as good as ideal. According to the convention, students who do not perform well are required to return to ordinary schools. In 1997, Liu Xiang transferred to Shanghai Yichuan Middle School. In February 1998, Liu Xiang's family moved to Room 502, No. 46 Haitang Garden, Putuo District, Shanghai. In 1999, with the full efforts of Sun Haiping, Liu Xiang returned to the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education and Technology to practice hurdles and entered the first team, which began Liu Xiang's career
In 2002, Liu Xiang broke the World Youth Record in the 110m Hurdles and the Asian Record in the 13.12 seconds at the IAAF Grand Prix. In the same year, he won the gold medal at the Busan Asian Games with a time of 13.27 seconds. The following year, he won the bronze medal in the men's 110m hurdles at the World Championships in Athletics.
On August 27, 2004, in the final of the men's 110-meter hurdles event at the Athens Olympic Games, Liu Xiang perfectly demonstrated his skills, crossing the finish line first with an advantage of nearly three meters, and finally won the gold medal with a time of 12.91 seconds, breaking the Olympic record, and equaling the world record set and maintained by Colin Jackson in 1993 and maintaining for 11 years, winning the first men's athletics Olympic gold medal for China. After the game, Yuan Weimin, head of the Chinese sports delegation, commented that the gold medal was won by the Chinese delegation at the Athens Olympic Games, and Liu Xiang became China's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.
At the Athens Olympics, Liu Xiang was the only Asian male athlete who was able to beat American and European athletes on an athletics track.
In 2005, Liu Xiang became the flag bearer of the Shanghai team of the National Games and the flag bearer of the Chinese team of the East Asian Games. In 2006, Liu Xiang won the Best Athlete of the Year Award at the CCTV Sports Personality Selection Ceremony sponsored by China Central Television, and became a star athlete with the same name as Yao Ming in the hearts of the Chinese people.
On July 11, 2006, Liu Xiang broke the world record that had been sealed for 13 years in 12.88 seconds in the men's 110m hurdles final of the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Lausanne. In the race, Liu Xiang took the lead from the beginning of the run, until the last step of the collision line. Liu Xiang said after the game that he did not expect to break the world record. [8] American Star Arnold also broke the original world record of 12.90 seconds in the race. Cuba's Daron Robles ran 13.04 seconds in the race, his best time at the time.
On August 31, 2007, Liu Xiang overcame the disadvantages of being divided into track 9 in the final of the men's 110m hurdles at the Osaka World Athletics Championships, and finally won the championship with a time of 12.95 seconds with a strong strength and good psychological quality, becoming the Olympic champion and world champion of the event.
On March 9, 2008, liu xiang won the championship in 7.46 seconds in the final of the 60m hurdles of the 12th World Indoor Athletics Championships in Valencia, Spain. This is Liu Xiang's first individual indoor world championship title and the first men's gold medal in the history of the World Championships in China's indoor athletics.
The first round of the men's 110m hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games took place on the morning of August 18, 2008, and Liu Xiang was assigned to start in the second lane of the sixth group. However, due to the recurrence of the injury, Liu Xiang finally withdrew from the game and failed to defend his title. The gold medal in the event was ultimately won by Dayron Robles.
If I hadn't been a last resort, I wouldn't have made the decision to quit. Liu Xiang said in an interview with CCTV that I will not easily lose, this is my character. I know I have strength, as long as my feet are good, because I feel good in all aspects now, even if this foot can't do it, don't say anything, I think one day I will get better. I feel like too many people are worried about me, and there are so many people who care about me and support me. I feel very sorry because I can't do it anymore, and when I do the preparation activity, I feel that my feet are not working. But today, I don't know how to do it, how it can be like this, I don't want to do this, I really can't stand it. If I survived, maybe my Achilles tendon... I really can't stand it! I also wanted to top it, so that time was really indescribable.
Coach Sun Haiping said on September 19, 2008, that there are two options for treating Liu Xiang's injuries, one is conservative treatment and the other is surgery. Now tend to choose a conservative treatment approach, at present Liu Xiang's injury has recovered 70% or 80%, running to 13 seconds without problems, it is expected that Liu Xiang can come back in June 2009. Subsequently, Liu Xiang ran a time of 13.70 seconds in the national athletics team test on September 10, 2009, reflecting that Liu Xiang's injuries had largely recovered, and on the same day, it was officially announced that Liu Xiang would officially return to the Shanghai International Athletics Golden Grand Prix held on September 20. The result of the race was that Liu Xiang and Trammell both ran 13.15 seconds, and later identified by electronic instruments, showing that Trammell's effective part crossed the finish line first, and Liu Xiang won the second place.
On the evening of October 24, 2009, in the 110-meter hurdles preliminary round of the Eleventh Games, Liu Xiang advanced second in the group of 13.75 seconds; in the final on the evening of October 25, Liu Xiang won the championship in 13.34 seconds, which was also his first championship after returning from injury. This also made him the first triple-time winner of the National Games, after which he finished in 13.51 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships in Guangzhou, following the National Games. He won the men's 110m hurdles final at the Hong Kong East Asian Games on 11 December with a time of 13.66 seconds.
On the evening of August 29, 2011, in the final of the 110m hurdles of the 13th World Championships in Athletics, Liu Xiang won the bronze medal in only 13.27 seconds due to the interference of opponent Dai Long Robles, Dai Long Robles won the championship in 13.14 seconds, and the runner-up was Jason Richardson of the United States with a time of 13.16 seconds. However, the Chinese delegation then appealed, and the IAAF cancelled Theron Robles' result, Jason Richardson won the championship, Liu Xiang's bronze medal became silver, and the original fourth place Britain's Andrew Turner was added to the third place, with a time of 13.44 seconds.
On the evening of May 19, 2012, in the final of the 110-meter hurdles of the IAAF Diamond League shanghai, Liu Xiang won the championship in 12.97 seconds, which was his first time since 2008 to run into 13 seconds, and set the world's best time that year.
On June 3, 2012, in the final of the 110m hurdles of the IAAF Diamond League Eugene, Liu Xiang won the championship in 12.87 seconds, and the record was not recognized because the wind speed exceeded the standard.
On August 7, 2012, in the sixth group of the 110m hurdles preliminary round of the men's track and field competition of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Liu Xiang accidentally fell in the first hurdles and failed to reach the semifinals. After the game, he was diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Liu Xiang has been plagued by injury problems before the game, and the situation has been repeated. After entering the Olympic Village, Liu Xiang was consulted and treated by the doctors of the Chinese delegation, and gave up the original planned training to rest and treatment
Coach Sun Haiping said that Liu Xiang mainly suffered two injuries, one was in the thigh and the other was in the heel. The thigh was injured in the first half of 2008 and has recovered after treatment. Another problem is at the heel, which is an old problem, which was injured before the Athens Olympics, and the situation has been repeated. Whenever he went through high-intensity training, he felt pain. Mr. Emanaxi (MRI) showed that his injuries were actually problematic in the calcaneal bone and the ends of the Achilles tendon. Liu Xiang's two heel bones are more prominent than those of ordinary people, easy to wear, forming a bubble, and after breaking, it forms a hard cocoon.
At the end of 2005, Liu Xiang accidentally sprained his foot. After a few months of recuperation, he broke the world record in July 2006 with a good time of 12.88 seconds. In May 2008, Liu Xiang injured his Achilles tendon again. However, the injury was not serious, but for safety reasons, Sun Haiping decided to let Liu Xiang withdraw from the 2008 New York Grand Prix. A few days later, at the Eugene Grand Prix, Liu Xiang was sent off for stealing steps, and has not participated in any official competition since then. Liu Xiang returned to Beijing for treatment. After 2 months of recuperation, Liu Xiang's condition is getting better and better. But before the Beijing Olympics, Liu Xiang's injuries suddenly worsened during training on August 16. Whenever Liu Xiang trained hard, he had a strong soreness, which eventually led to his withdrawal due to injury again.
In early April 2015, news in China that Liu Xiang was ready to announce his retirement, and Liu Xiang's mentor Sun Haiping also confirmed Liu Xiang's intention to retire. On April 7, Liu Xiang posted on his personal Weibo post titled My Runway! My bar! Article, announcing the end of 19 years of hurdle sports career, and issued a retirement speech. Liu Xiang mentioned in the article that after retiring from the army, he will complete the remaining studies to enrich himself, and do something beneficial to the development of Chinese youth sports and the improvement of the health and physique of the Chinese people, and strive to promote and promote the influence of Chinese athletics on the international stage. Liu Xiang also responded to the retirement in an interview with the media, saying that he would not serve as a coach and official after retiring.
On April 8, after Liu Xiang announced his retirement, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong presented Liu Xiang with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Award, and Yang Xiong called Liu Xiang the pride of Shanghai and the pride of China!