Liu Xiang en route to his Good Luck Beijing victory (© Getty Images)
As a dress rehearsal for the Olympics, it could hardly have gone better. Liu Xiang duly won the men’s 110m Hurdles in the National Stadium here tonight in the “Good Luck Beijing 2008 China Athletics Open”. In so doing, he recorded his fastest time of the season and the world’s third quickest of the year.
An estimated crowd of some 45,000 flocked to the 91,000 seat arena to see China’s poster boy for the Games. And the defending Olympic champion, world record holder and world champion proved himself equal to national expectation, albeit that the stakes will be considerably higher come the Games in August.
Nevertheless, the tension among spectators was palpable as the eight finalists went to their blocks. And Liu’s false start did nothing to calm the nerves. He put the field on a warning – just as he had in the semi-finals – but was still quickest away when a clean start followed at the second time of asking.
The four-day meeting is the official test event for the Olympics and, with this being the inaugural track and field programme to be staged at the venue, Liu was competing in the stadium for the first time. He dealt superbly with the demands upon him, leading over the first flight and never looking back.
Although he brushed hurdle two and wobbled hurdle nine, Liu won easing down while his closest challenger, Shi Dongpeng, who was fifth at the World Championships in Osaka last year, strained to get nearer to the national living legend. But it was never close.
Liu clocked 13.18, beating his year’s best time by one-hundredth, but still some way behind the world leading 12.95 by David Oliver, from the United States, who also has a 13.08 to his name.
Asked whether clocking a time three-tenths outside his world record (12.88) indicated that the track may not be conducive to fast times, Liu said: “I regarded this meeting only as training and I estimated a result around 13.18.”
After false starting in his semi-final, Liu had suggested that he did it deliberately to replicate the possibility of that happening in the Olympics. In the final, though, he admitted no intent.
“For the false start yesterday I did it because anything can happen,” said Lui, whose victory in Athens in 2004 was an historic first for China in Olympic athletics history. “Today I didn’t mean to do it,” he added. “This is only a detail related to the match - we should not attach importance to it. The most important thing is an athlete’s power and his technique.”
Speaking to spectators from the arena moments after his victory, Liu said: “The atmosphere is good. Thank you, thank you all. I spotted a few vacant seats today but I believe that, during the Olympics, all the seats will be filled!” Too right they will. Liu has endeared himself to the public even further by donating to the Sichuan earthquake appeal, a sum reported to be 3m yuan ($430,000).
Asked what he thought about the huge publicity he attracts in China, the 24-year-old Shanghai-based athlete said: “I just keep a balance mentally but I understand the masses’ enthusiasm and their expectation on me.” And did tonight’s victory boost his confidence? “Because this only a test event, it cannot be compared with the Olympic Games,” he replied. “The opponents will be more difficult.”
From here, Liu heads for races in the United States before returning to Beijing for training in the middle of June. After that, he is expected on the European circuit.
Zhang takes women’s Hammer Throw
The next best thing on the night to Liu’s victory was another Chinese triumph, this one from Zhang Wenxiu in the women’s Hammer. With a best throw of 70.56m, Zhang won by almost five metres. It was a performance that she described as “so so” after she had suffered a fever since the 73.52m she threw in Osaka two weeks ago, which ranks her third in the world this year.
Kenji Narisako, who came within one-hundredth of a second of qualifying for the final of the men’s 400m Hurdles at the 2007 World Championships, recorded one of the better marks of the meeting (48.87). China’s Meng Yan was runner-up in 49.85, with Brendan Cole, of Australia, third in 49.91.
Although Narisako still has to qualify through trials in June, he said: “My only goal is to win a medal in the Olympics. The level of 400m Hurdles in Asia is catching up with world level, so I will give it my best shot at the Olympics.”
China’s Li Yanxi won the men’s Triple Jump with 16.75 as the meeting heads for its final day tomorrow.
David Powell for the IAAF
