So he has pulled out...

08/08/2008: "All" Chinese were (well, at least I was told all Chinese were) cheering for the Opening of Beijing Olympics.

18/08/2008: "All" Chinese were (again, I was told the entire nation was) mourning for LIU Xiang's withdrawal from the 110 Hurdles race.

But wait a minute... after all, isn't that just another athlete who has to quit a race because of injury? Don't we have quite a few athletes who had no choice but to do the same in every Olympic game? Did Allen Johnson, who was Liu's primary rivalry, not crash himself into a hurdle and fell in the second round in the 2004 Athens Olympics? And on the 5th heat today, did the 2-time silver medalist (Sydney and Athens) Terrence Trammell also hurt his leg at start and needed to pull out? I don't recall the entire nation of USA mourning for their heroes...

Don't get me wrong. I too feel very bad for Liu, and any other athlete, who put so much time and efforts preparing for an important race but ended up having to pull out in such a reluctant and disappointing way. It is a pity, without a doubt. His fans will be saddened, no question.

Yet as important as it is, Olympics is just one of many important races that Liu has run. Pulling himself out of this race does not equal to the finish of his career.

A race car driver will need to stop his car if there is a mechanical failure. An equestrian will need to pull out of a race if her horse is sick. A singer will need to cancel a concert if he loses his voice. As a hurdles runner, it makes a lot of sense for Liu to pull out of a race if his leg was hurt. As a matter of fact, it would have made even more sense if Liu has announced earlier that he could not compete because of the injury.

What doesn’t make sense was the release of footage by CCTV a few days ago which stated that Liu was practicing in good spirit and had clocked 12.98 seconds in a practice run.

And when he has made such a decision, neither Liu nor anyone should need to justify for his decision.

But first we heard that he needed to be cared for by 3 doctors this morning.

Then the coach said Liu actually had injuries all over his body.

Then the coach went on to tell us that Liu has been persevering through the injury on his ankle for at least 6-7 years. (That would mean Liu was also in pain when he won the gold medal in Athens and broke the world record in Lausanne.)

All these were said almost to sound like that “despite he has had the injury for 6-7 years, and he had other injuries all over his body, and he had been seen by 3 doctors this morning, Liu really should have given that a try, but we are really sorry that he couldn’t…”

Give him a break…

Liu has not betrayed his country. He has not disappointed his fans. He is just doing something that is sensible and responsible. Nobody needs to make it sounds like he has dropped the ball.

No he hasn’t. The ball was not in his hands, not quite yet.