The two most memorable moments of star hurdler Liu Xiang's debut at the Bird's Nest last week had little to do with him crossing the finish line. They were his problems leaving the starting blocks.
(Photo: Xinhua)
But despite his two false starts (one in the semifinal and another in the final), Liu claimed an easy victory in the final, finishing in 13.18 seconds, the world's third fastest result so far this year.
The relaxed world record holder and Olympic champion said his first false start was a deliberate attempt to amuse the spectators. But the second one, during the final race, may be cause for concern in Liu's gold-medal quest in August.
"I didn't mean to do it," Liu admitted after the race on Saturday. "I just wanted to start with the gun, but I started out a bit too early."
At the Indoor World Championships earlier this year, Liu had the fastest reaction time in winning his first indoor world title. He was off the blocks so quickly that it confused Cuba's Dayron Robles, Liu's toughest competitor who was in the next lane. Robles thought Liu made a false start and was slow to follow, forcing him to settle for last place in the final.
Slow gun
Liu's coach Sun Haiping said a slow gun was to blame for Lui's second false start in the test event, which he said was a sort of gamble on Liu's part.
"International race starters are different than the Chinese ones when it comes to firing the starting pistol," Sun said. "The international officials are quick on the trigger, while the Chinese are a little bit slow."
That may create problems for Liu at the Beijing Olympic since Chinese officials will start the races.
"This incident sounded alarm bells for us. We are going to have to arrange something in training to counteract this so he can get used to the Chinese way and avoid any problems at the Olympics," Sun said.