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Liu Xiang wants more time and privacy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-06 01:48
After last year's Athens Olympic Games, Liu Xiang's name has been a common
one in headlines across the Chinese media.
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| Liu Xiang was surrounded by reporters while attending the
China-Japan Athletics Duel Meet at Tianjin Sadium on March 1.
[newsphoto] | His fame has grown to the point that
his story, the story of an Olympic gold medal on the 110-metre hurdles, will be
course material for students in 40 elementary schools in his native Shanghai.
A 900-Chinese character story on his Olympic victory, entitled "Leaping into
the new century" appeared in the newly-updated text book for Grade Five
students.
"Since Liu's heroic deeds inspired people long after the Olympic Games, we
changed the original editing plan a little bit and added his story into the
textbook," said one of the editors of the book. "We hope Liu will be a positive
example for students."
While experts are wondering whether the 21-year-old athlete can shoulder the
heavy responsibility of such widespread fame, Liu has already been facing the
price of fame.
For China's biggest star of athletics, track hurdles are not the major
obstacles testing him. Instead, being endlessly in the spotlight is proving the
hardest to overcome. Freedom and private space are what he needs the most right
now.
"I'm still a young man," said Liu, the joint world record holder. "Besides
running, I still have other things to do, so I'm eager for more freedom and
private time."
After taking the crown for the 110m hurdles at the Athens Olympic Games last
year, the life of this 21-year-old young Shanghainese has changed. Whether it is
appearing in front of the public, training or competing, reporters, cameras and
flashes are ever-present.
"Compared with life before, I experienced more things after the Olympics and
they have taught me a lot about behaving and conducting myself," said Liu. "But,
honestly speaking, I'm afraid of taking part in competitions right now, not the
competing itself, but the over-attention I draw both on and off the track."
His coach is anxious about it as well.
"Our life before the Olympics was very simple, just training, recovering and
competing," said Sun Haiping, Liu's coach. "But now everything has been changed.
The time for recovery after daily training is often occupied by all kinds of
social activities. If the situation doesn't let up, we may consider going abroad
for a quieter environment."
While attending the Asian Indoor Athletics Open Tournament & China-Japan
Athletics Duel Meet in Tianjin on Tuesday, Liu was the centre of media and
spectator attention.
Whether he was doing warm-up exercises or simply standing on the starting
line, he was relentlessly followed by a pack of photographers and enthusiastic
fans. The disturbance caused by the following has also raised concerns among
athletics officials.
"We should be thankful for the attention Liu draws from all, but we hope
people will give more free and relaxed space for him to develop," said Feng
Shuyong, vice-director of China Athletics Administrative Centre. "If we want to
see Liu achieve better results, we should guard him from outside interruptions."
Fortunately, the media pressure did not undermine his performance and he won
the race comfortably by 7.50 seconds.
Following his disqualification for a false start in his first indoor meeting
of the season in Shanghai 10 days earlier, Liu was careful not to repeat that
mistake. He crushed his opponents easily and won by a huge margin of 0.38
seconds. His winning time of 7.50 in the 60m hurdles was his third best ever,
only the semi-final and final at last year's Budapest World Indoor Championships
were faster.
"I'm very satisfied with Liu's opening result this year since the 60m hurdles
is not our key event in training and he achieved the time against no strong
opposition this time," commented coach Sun.
Just five days before Liu's first final this year, the young French hurdler
Ladji Doucoure, who clocked 13.06 seconds in the 110m hurdles semi-final at
Athens Olympics, threw down the gauntlet to Liu with his season opening result
of 7.43 at the France Indoor Athletics Meeting 60m hurdles race.
But in spite of the potential challenge from abroad, Liu and Sun remain
confident.
"Doucoure is Liu's main rival right now and he still can run faster," said
Sun. "But Liu has the space to raise his time as well and what we need to do is
to improve Liu's technique, step by step, and do our best in the competitions.
We will go on to train and compete at our own pace."
With the time of 7.50 seconds, Liu ranks joint third alongside Stanislav
Olijar from Latvia in the world season indoor lists behind Doucoure's 7.43 and
Allen Johnson's 7.49.
Besides all the stops of the Golden League, this year's World Championships
title is what the young national hero wants the most.
The frequency of events between July and September this year will pose the
biggest challenge for Liu, suggested Feng. But since Liu is an athlete who
usually rises to the occasion when faced with strong opposition, he should be
able to manage those high-level competitions well.
"Liu and his coach have found an effective way to combine training and
competitions," said Feng. "Liu can control himself well and he knows his own
value. I believe he will do better and better."
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