Absolutely unthinkable turn of events. My thoughts echo that of a commentator: “We thought we had considered all the possibilities—that Liu Xiang would win, that Liu Xiang would lose—but we never thought that he wouldn’t compete.”

I wonder what will happen to all of his endorsements in the coming years. He is on all those billboards and commercials because he won in Athens. What will not competing in Beijing mean for him? And what will the name Liu Xiang stand for now?

So frustrating. So so so embarrassing for China… paying the expensive ticket just to watch him like that. Totally unacceptable.

He might as well don’t enter the stadium. Just cannot wait for his explanation. Injured… just unacceptable too. Billions hoping to see him competing… so frustrating and I am not even a Chinese and not from China. Grrrrrrrr.

give him a freakin break. i mean all you guys can do is talk talk and talk about what happened. think about how he is feeling, he has to cop all this crap from EVERYONE including you, his coach, family, MEDIA.. i mean having to deal with all the emotional stress leading up to this day, and now… all this?
just give him a break.

it takes a lot of strength and courage to even get up to a moment like this, and i’m pretty sure that if he thought that he could’ve gone on and “try” to compete… he probaly would’ve. no one wants to lose by just walking away. given the choice, i’m sure he would’ve thought of any other way to try and pull through the race. but obviously couldn’t, so why can’t people accept his decision and instead of being angry and all…stand by him like loyal fans are supposed to?

we shouldn’t be ashamed of what he did today. We shouldn’t be ashamed of him at all. Being an athlete there will always be a time where they will dissapoint their fans, but as fans… we are should support him no matter what.

I commend him on what he did today, even having the courage to do what he did. Because there is no bigger dissapointment or pain that you feel… than your own.

This goes out to papajoneh.

Firstly, I highly presume you’re not an athlete as any athlete would not have poorly criticized liuxiang based on such petty reasons. “Paying an expensive ticket”? Who the hell are you to say that you own Liuxiang and expect him to perform just based on “your money’s worth”?

ANY athlete, including myself, suffer injuries at times and they are inevitable. It’s not like he got into some fight and sustained his injury or did some injustice to receive it.

Some athletes still try to compete despite their injuries, and if they manage to pull it off, the satisfaction is immense. then again, even if they don’t manage to, it shows how much they really want to compete and isn’t that what the Olympic Spirit is about? So please don’t come round giving your two bits worth especially when it isn’t thought of properly.