 Off Track ..... Liu admits Robles hot on his heels
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-11 08:37
It seems like a long time ago that Liu Xiang had to look up to a rival in the 110m hurdles. It has been just about four years since Liu won gold at the Athens Olympics, back when he described himself as "a chaser" behind his idol, four-time world champion Allen Johnson. But since his Athens gold and the world record he set in 2006, Liu has established himself as one of the world's fastest hurdlers and has shrugged off challenges from opponents. But his attitudes has changed significantly since Cuba's Dayron Robles broke his world record earlier this summer. The always-confident Liu has admitted that 21-year-old Robles is actually the stronger racer and will give Liu a run for his money in Beijing.
"He is really a tough opponent. From an overall comparison, he is stronger than me," Liu told Sina.com. "It is clear he is the best hurdler out of everyone coming to the Beijing Games." The 25-year-old reigning champion is facing intense pressure from the expectations of billions of people who consider him to be China's major track and field gold hopeful. For his part, Robles is running as well as he ever has, clocking some of his best times in the past few months, including the world record he set in June by running 12.87 sec, a hundredth of a second faster than Liu's old world record. Since then, Robles has won seven out of eight championships. Liu, on the other hand, has battled a sore hamstring and spent most of his time training rather than competing. Liu's coach Sun Haiping knows Liu has to work hard if he wants to get back on track. "Liu has had to train intensively these days to compensate for what he lost by not competing much before the Olympics," Sun said. China Daily (China Daily 08/11/2008 page6) |
