Liu Xiang quits games, but never out

Liu Xiang, the defending Olympic champion of men's 110m hurdles and icon of Chinese sport, limped out of the Bird's Nest stadium after just managing a few awkward steps in his opening heat Monday morning.

Even before he got into his crouch, his painful expression and tottering steps had raise an ominous feeling. He limped out of the block at the starting gun, then pulled up when the second gun sounded to signal a false start. His next move shocked the huge crowd at the stadium into silence. He tore the paper with his number off his leg and walked gingerly towards the tunnel, obviously being troubled by a foot injury.

An overwhelming hush and worry soon enveloped the 91,000-seat stadium.
"His Achilles' tendon in right foot was seriously hurt again this morning before the race," a tearful coach Sun Haiping said in a post-race press conference where Liu could not show up.

"With the bad injury," Sun said, "Liu shivered when receiving immediate medical treatment of three sports doctors."

"He is a fighter," added Sun, "He has been keeping fighting and fighting until the last moment."

"It's just impossible for him to run, but he still doesn't want to give up," said Sun, praising his pupil's extraordinarily strong mentality and sportsmanship.