Liu Xiang at the IAAF Media Training (© IAAF)
World record holder and Olympic champion Liu Xiang attended an intensive 2-hour Media Training session yesterday in Stuttgart, an initiative which aims at improving the communications skills of the world’s best athletes and is the latest example of concrete projects that have been developed by the IAAF Athletics World Plan.
Managed by the IAAF and presented by a UK-based company called Premier Cru, Media Training includes tips on how to respond to magazine style and news interviews, body language techniques and ways to counter more difficult questions, in ways that always project the real personality and character of the athlete.
The undisputed hero of Chinese Athletics, Liu Xiang has been at the forefront of the sport since he set a World Junior record of 13.12 in Lausanne in 2002. The 23-year-old has since won the Athens Olympic gold medal in 2004 and set an astonishing World Senior record of 12.88 at last year’s Lausanne meeting.
All in all, Liu Xiang knows how to handle the media and yet his intensive Media Training proved to be an excellent exercise.
“The three main points that I will remember from today are to always look into the eyes of the interviewer and use my body language to give a positive message; to use my charming smile, which the teacher described as my best weapon and finally to give shorter answer so as to give a chance to the translator to relay my exact words,” said Liu Xiang.
The Chinese delegation was headed by Dr. Feng, Vice President of the Chinese Athletics Federation. Shi Donpeng, who was seventh at 110m Hurdles at the 2003 World Championships in Paris was also offered the IAAF Media Training.
In thanking the IAAF for their initiative, Dr Feng declared that he would “go back to China and tell all our other athletes about all the tips we were taught today. Usually, Chinese athletes are more conservative and shy compared to western athletes so they don’t do very well at press conferences and interviews. All we’ve learned today will be very precious to us.”
The IAAF was represented on site by IAAF Vice President Helmut Digel, who also leads the IAAF Athletics World Plan task force devoted to improving Recognition of Athletics around the world. He said: “I believe it is really important to give our heroes and superstars the chance to be trained, always having in mind that how they are presented in the Media is not only to their own advantage but also a good promotion for athletics.”
“Liu Xiang is a real talent not only because he is an excellent athlete but he also has talent as an actor and people undoubtedly like him. This media training project will give our top athletes the opportunity to be better equipped to deal with the demands of modern athletics.”
Liu Xiang was in Stuttgart, Germany preparing to compete in the Sparkassen Indoor meeting tomorrow night.