Hurdler Liu Xiang Casts Himself As Underdog for Olympics
hinese world record hurdler Liu Xiang has a message for his rivals: Don't chase me, I'll chase you.
Liu and coach Sun Haiping say they view other top hurdlers as targets to be caught and beaten, rather than challengers to be kept at bay.
``The preparation time is like when I was chasing rivals before the 2004 Athens Games,'' Liu was quoted as saying in an interview published in Tuesday's English-langauage China Daily.
``I would like to take everything like right from the start,'' Liu said.
Sun said Liu had to return to his original mind-set and keep focussed to hold off strong rivals at next year's Beijing Summer Olympics. Liu's race is expected to be one of Games' marquee events.
``We will start from zero, like we have never won anything,'' Sun said. ``We will take every rival seriously and try to beat them,'' he said.
Liu, who won China's first-ever Olympic sprint gold in his breakout performance at Athens, is on winter break in his hometown of Shanghai. It wasn't clear when the interview was conducted.
Sun said mental toughness was key to Liu winning next year, but added that he was tailoring the 24-year-old's training to avoid injury or ill health.
``All the efforts will be in vain if Liu gets injured,'' Sun said.
Liu followed up his Olympics win by setting a world record of 12.88 seconds last year, and in August won his first world 110-meter hurdle title in Japan.
Yet, despite dominating his event, Liu still faces tough competition. At last month's Golden Grand Prix in Shanghai, Cuba's Dayron Robles snatched the hurdles gold in 13.01 seconds.
Liu fell behind after the second hurdle and managed a third-place finish in 13.21. The meet marked his last major race at home before next year's Beijing Olympic Games.
Sun said when training resumes, he will focus on bringing Liu's time down to 13 seconds. Liu's first race of the new season is at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at Valencia, Spain in March.
hinese world record hurdler Liu Xiang has a message for his rivals: Don't chase me, I'll chase you.