Sports

Liu Xiang's leg injury was fake, he was the only one that didn't cry

by Milieunet | August 20, 2008 at 12:22 am

2448 views | 5 Recommendations | 6 comments

The Gazzetta dello Sport published an article about the leg injury of Liu Xiang. Was he really injured or was this a faked injury.

Why should Liu Xiang do that? The reason is simple. It's about insurance money. Not so much, but 13 million dollars is a lot of money in China. The story is that Liu Xiang sufferd a long time from an older injury. In fact he was not in top condition when he had to start for his promised magic race. His coach told at a press-conference: even ice-packs and prayers had no result.

Of course that was about the old injury and nobody should hear that. So the Chinese did what the always do. Cut the lines out the interview and nobody knows. Well officially not, but now we know.

There is no confirmation of this story and i don't expect it will ever come. But when you look to all pictures and videos of this "unexpected injury" of The Pride of China, mr Liu Xiang you can see that he is very busy to show everybody that he has a lot of pain. His coach is crying and crying, all Chines are crying and are in a deep shcok. The whole nation is in a shock, teras go everywhere, but Liu Xiang isn't crying at all. You can't see any frustration on his face. He is doing his best to look good to the camera's, his face shows some pain.

After that he told the press that he wouldn't take any risk. That is also strange when you trained for many years and you are the expected gold medal winner. That pressure was big. Too big, specially when you are still injured, not recoverd from that and not in topcondition. Than you have to decide to take the gamble to go for gold. Finally Liu Xiang decided to go for the money.

So he can stay in the memories of all Chinese as the man who should certainly grab gold, but he hadn;t the chanse to proof that because of a nasty and not expected injury. Liu Xiang told already that he shall be faster then before. He is plannning a come-back after a good recovery form his injury.

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Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:00 on August 20th, 2008

Milieunet, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Still it can be real! Some will never cry no matter the pain!

vs (not verified)

at 23:04 on August 20th, 2008

liu was really hurt ,he did'nt cry that doesnt mean that he was'nt in pain.

No athelete would ever drop out of an olympics without any serious problem.He is an athelete not an actor.

ms N.B

at 00:28 on August 21st, 2008

thanks for this story

Lora (not verified)

at 21:17 on August 24th, 2008

Actually he did cry. If you watched the footage, he sat in the running area directly after he left the track. Sat down with ice on his leg. Stared blankly at his coaches, then sobbed for a half an hour with a jacket for a tissue. He left the track so he didn't show that to the audience, but he was still filmed. As a runner, I've seen that a flared up Achilles tendon is a terrifying sort of pain. It's one thing to walk, but it's a whole new story when you have to push off the starting blocks with all your weight, then leap over hurdles for any length.

Liu Xiang made that show because he wanted to try for his nation, even if the pain had to come. He doesn't need the money, because if you know anything of him, he has countless ad contracts and so on. It's very sad that so many people are calling him fake just for displaying his injury in a place where there's a camera every two feet.

jim5 (not verified)

at 09:12 on April 8th, 2009

I had leg muscle injury with muscle pulled. You don't know how it look like....I can't walk normally for few weeks. When I try to run the pain is back again. It's like a shock. So don't talk me you can see it from camera!!! that's stupid talk man!!!

Mikel Mikel (not verified)

at 21:31 on August 17th, 2009

Liu Xiang worked hard for four years and in front of a home crowd to get a gold medal but it was very unfortunate that he had an injury. I highly doubt it was faked because he didn't cry.... not everyone cries because they are in pain. Don't be talking about him faking injuries when you never even felt the pain.