China’s biggest sports star next to basketball giant Yao Ming fires the flames of Olympic expectation even higher after a major victory in Japan:
Liu Xiang (刘翔) became the first man from China to win gold at the World Championships with a 110 metres hurdles victory that should mark the official start of the national hysteria that will accompany his every move before next year’s Olympics.
…Liu will be the face of the Beijing Games and such will be the pressure on him to deliver success that he will be fiercely protected between now and next August. [Full Text]
Liu is the world record holder in the 110m hurdles.
[Image: Front pages from the Chongqing Morning Post, the Beijing Evening News, Southern Metropolis Daily, Qingdao Morning Post and Fuzhou Evening News the day after Liu’s victory, via abbao.com]
