Liu Xiang,.. oh Liu Xiang!

The fellow dropped out on accuount of injury.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/18/liuxiang

Sad stuff really,.. i sure was looking forward to a show down between him and the Cuban machine.

90000 plus fans all waiting to see u do wonders while nursing a humstring injury is no easy burden....he is strong he came out to the field....i would have left that nest at  nite never to return if i was him...i saw a woman weep.....i was shocked...yao ming too is under alot of pressure...he is wishing he was a taxi driver ... with an nba salary....more money more problems!....yao knows now more than ever diddy  was right.....

This whole Liu Xiang business is sad, i watched the press conference yesterday afternoon where his coach wept more than he answered questions. I gotta admit I felt sorry for the old guy,... heck i felt sorry for Liu Xiang too!

But then again, one wonders why they let him out on the track in the first place, why didn't they announce his injury earlier and saved every one the dissapointment and embarrasment of having him pack up his stuff and walk away from the expectations of the 90 000 Chinese folk who had packed the Bird's Nest specifically for him?

Apparently the 'managers' were well aware of an impending disaster as late as Saturday but hesitantly gave out this information. I think this was silly, but more importantly I feel it raises suspicions. It's almost as if through a deliberate trickling of information about Liu's condition they were preparing an alibi to explain away any poor performance on his part. This is not helped by the fact that Liu Xiang only left the stadium after a false start. One wonders what would have happened had there been no false start.

Methinks conspiracy theorists are going to find the Liu Xiang 'debacle' a treasure chest.

....they expected him to run but it was clear looking at his face he was in pain....the chinese sure were disapointed but no one was more disapointed than liu xiang....u could see its something he really wanted to do but his injury ruled the day....he lived to fight another day...ope the chinese will be easy on the dude....no matter how bad they felt...he tried.