Asia’s biggest star athlete Liu Xiang of China officially announced his retirement ( Tuesday, 7th may) from professional athletics. The injury-plagued Athens 2004 Olympic gold medal winner said he had “no choice” but to bring down the curtain on his trailblazing career.
Liu made World to take notice of Asian athletics with his super hurdling. Liu is still an inspiration to thousands of young athletes in Asia and around the World.
Liu became China’s first Olympic men’s champion in athletics when he won in Athens, equalling what was then the world record of 12.91.
He then improved the world record to 12.88 in Lausanne, Switzerland, in July 2006 and won the gold medal over the barriers at the 2007 IAAF World Championships.
Liu, one of his nation’s highest profile sports stars, is one of the official ambassadors for the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 and will now be spending his time in the next few months helping to promote the championships.
“I’m retiring. I want to start a new journey,” Liu said in a message posted to his blog, blaming injury for his decision. Liu hopes now to contribute to Chinese sports development and help increase China’s influence within the athletics world. (IAAF and AFP)
