Liu Xiang (刘翔)NEVER False Starts! The 2004 Athens Olympic champion has always been the epitome of cool. Since the time I watched Liu dominate the 2002 Asian Games 110m high hurdles final, I’ve been one of his biggest supporters. Never have I seen him bungle a start.
The Stockholm 2012 XL Galan took a bizarre twist. Aside from the fact that he was up against an injured Dayron Robles (who pulled out of the ongoing World Indoor Championships in Istanbul) for the second time since Daegu, the event was practically pressure free. At the set position, Liu didn’t just flinch – he ran out of the starting blocks in a seemingly deliberate fashion.
Although he shrugged this off as an accident, referring to it as a “mistake in competition.” In an IAAF interview, Liu said : “It [the disqualification] doesn’t really mean so much to me, more importantly for me [what is more pressing] is how to face it, accept it, pay attention to it, deal with it and let it go.”
Was Liu trying out mind games on Robles? Or did he just have a bad start? One can only speculate. Whatever the reason, it is best to take Liu’s word for it.
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