Name: Liu Xiang

Sport: 110m hurdles

Date of birth: July 13, 1983

Home: Shanghai

Height: 189 cm

Weight: 74 kg

Other favorite sports: Ping-Pong, billiards

Favorite athletes: Michael Jordan, Gabriel Omar Batistuta

Favorite pastime: Singing at KTV

Experience

1990: Selected for track & field training by Zhong Suogui, the track & field coach from Shanghai Guannong Primary School

1993: Selected by teacher Gu Baogang to the Junior Sports School in Putuo District, Shanghai

1995: At Shanghai Sports School #2, selected by track coach Sun Haiping to run the hurdles

Major Achievements

2001 World University Games: Winner, 110m hurdles; China's first athletics gold medal at the World University Games, Liu Xiang's first world championship

2003 World Indoor Athletics Championships, Birmingham: Third, men's 60-meter hurdles; his time of 7.55 breaks the Asian indoor record

2004 Athens Olympics: Gold medal, men's 110-meter hurdles; his time of 12.91 ties the world record, creates a new Olympic record; his gold medal is the first in track and field for a male Chinese athlete

2006 Super Grand Prix, Lausanne: Winner, men's 110-meter hurdles; his time of 12.88 breaks the 13-year-old world record of 12.91 by the British runner Colin Jackson

2007 World Athletics Championships, Osaka: Champion, men's 110-meter hurdles; became the first male Chinese athlete to get the athletics triple crown of world record holder, world champion and Olympic champion

2008 World Indoor Athletics Championships, Valencia: Champion, men's 60-meter hurdles

2008 Osaka Grand Prix: Winner, men's 110-meter hurdles

2008 Good Luck Beijing China Athletics Open: Winner, men's 110-meter hurdles

Liu Xiang is one of the biggest sports stars in China. He won the gold medal in dramatic fashion at the 2004 Athens Olympics, tying the world record. His performance captivated the people of China, who have high hopes for their favorite son. In 2006, at a Grand Prix event in Lausanne, he ran a time of 12.88, shattering the world record. At the Beijing Games, he hopes to add another victory to an already impressive career.

(china.org.cn June 19, 2008)