The biggest surprise to come from last week’s 110m hurdles event at IAAF World Championships wasn’t the disqualification of the Olympic champion and world record holder, or the performance of upstart 19-year-old American Jason Richardson—it was the discovery that Liu Xiang might actually be sort of a funny guy.
If you follow Chinese sports, you already know how Liu’s race went in Daegu, Korea. He crossed the finish line third, but was upgraded to second after Dayron Robles was disqualified for jostling Liu as the two cleared the last few hurdles. The DQ decision came after the Chinese delegation complained, and although Robles might have been on to something when he told the AP, “If I were from another country that had more power, that wouldn’t have happened,” it’s pretty clear that Robles affected Liu’s finish (video at Universal Sports).
On returning home to Beijing, Liu joked about the controversial race, saying: “Setting a new world record is one of my goals. And the current world record is held by the guy with whom I ran hand-in-hand.”
Okay, so he’s no Jackie Chan or even Yao Ming, but this is the funniest thing I can recall Liu ever saying. Between this and that misguided hairstyle he tried out last year, I’m sure the guy has more personality than we know:
Liu’s comeback is one of few bright spots in athletics for China, which finished a quiet 7th in the medal standings with one gold and four overall medals.
The lone gold medalist was Li Yanfeng, women’s discus champion.
Image: Sohu.com