Waiting for Air Liu's return

One of the defining images of the Beijing Games has to be that of Liu Xiang exiting the National Stadium before the 110-meter hurdles began on August 18. His countrymen hoped to see a repeat of his gold-winning performance during the Athens Games and were treated instead to the sight of their hero limping out of the Bird's Nest due to an old injury.

The silence in the stadium was palpable and Chinese reporters -- who thought they would be reporting one of the most celebrated moments in Chinese sports history -- had to choke back tears. “What happened?”, the public asked. Did their expectations weigh the young athlete down too much? Was there too much pressure on Liu Xiang?

Sports officials wanted to know what could have been done to prevent his injury. Liu Xiang had been training under his long-time coach Sun Haiping. Did he push too hard? Liu started preparing for the Beijing Olympics right after his Athens victory, for how often does an athlete get a chance to win an Olympic gold in front of a home crowd?

Or was it Liu Xiang's determination to triumph at all cost that pushed him to ignore the pain? What would it finally end up costing him?

In an article appearing in the the LA Times the day after the incident, Sun claimed that Liu was troubled by an old Achilles tendon injury on his right foot that flared up a few days before the Games. Liu was determined to run anyway.

“Liu Xiang persisted, but he honestly had no way to go on because the injury was right at the point of impact on his foot,” the paper quoted Sun as saying in August.

According to China.org.cn, on August 19, Nike took a full-page ad featuring Liu Xiang in newspapers. The message? "Love competition. Love to compete. Love to win it back. Love at any cost. Love honor as well as setbacks. Love sport even when it breaks your heart."

Since August, Liu had mostly kept a low-profile, doing strength training at the sports university in Beijing, a report in The Australian said. After flying to the US to get advice regarding his injury, he had decided to undergo surgery in Texas this month. Recovery time from the surgery will take six months.

Liu spoke about the Olympics for the first time during the World Athletics Gala recently held in Monaco. He said that he had been running in pain for three years, The Times UK said. “The pain always existed but I tried to ignore it. Before the Olympics, I felt more and more pain. I wanted to get through one or two races, but I could not stand the pain.”

After the Olympics, officials expressed concern that Liu Xiang would need psychological help to get over the episode, but his comments at the Gala seem to show otherwise.

“I watched the [Beijing] hurdles finals lying on my bed. It's my destiny. Sometimes you have to face things. Winning and losing – it's the same thing. It was not the saddest moment in my life. That was when my grandmother passed away. This is only a game,” The Times quoted him as saying.

So while it seems like Liu Xiang would have to sit out the World Championships in Berlin next August, his fans are rightly looking forward to a comeback, when the Flying Man, Air Liu, goes back to the track.

Read more about Liu Xiang.