I will never forget the moment, in Athens Olympic Games 2004, when Liu Xiang, a Shanghai native, won an Olympic gold medal in athletics, and broke the Olympic record of the men’s 110m hurdles. Later in May, he was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year for his breakthrough performance at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
I still remember that I sat in front of the TV to watch the live show of this competition and I was deeply encouraged by his spirit and great ambition. I know that without hard training day in and day out, he can hardly achieve such a great accomplishment. He must have withstood a lot of difficulties and barrier in the previous time. His success does not stop at this point. Later, Liu set a new world record in the 110 meter hurdles, at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne on July 11, 2006, with a time of 12.88 seconds. What is more, On August 31, 2007 at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, Liu won gold in the 110 meter hurdles with 12.95 seconds to become the World Champion for the first time. Right now, I am becoming a total fan for Liu Xiang and starting to follow him. Never give up ---- that is the most important thing I have learned from him.
