China's top athlete pulls out of hurdles heat

BEIJING - Chinese 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, perhaps the most celebrated athlete in China, pulled out of the event Monday morning, suffering from a strained right Achilles tendon. His withdrawal left the sold-out, hyped up Bird's Nest in stunned silence.

Liu Xiang ices his Achilles under the stadium after pulling out of the 110m hurdles. There were rumors all morning that Liu Xiang might not run. It wasn't clear if anyone in the crowd knew this, though many Chinese fans surely knew that he was suffering, as his Web site announced the fact yesterday.

Still, Liu laced up his shoes and emerged for the start of his qualifying heat, the fifth and final of the morning. As he took his warm-up hurdles, he appeared hobbled, at one point dropping to the track and appearing to stretch his legs. Still, he got up and walked back to the starting blocks to take his place. The race began with a false start, but Liu pulled up in obvious pain before the first hurdle. He was done.

That false start disqualified no one, but Liu hobbled off the track and into the tunnel. The huge crowd, which just moments before had reverberated with flag-waving and chants of "Zhong Guo Jia Yo," was silent. The heat went off without him but was an absolute afterthought.

Terrence Trammell, the American favorite running in the heat immediately before Liu, pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury and did not finish.

For four years, Liu's 110m hurdles was anticipated as the event of these Olympic Games throughout China.

In warm-ups Monday under the stadium, Liu grimaced often as he attempted strides over a set of two hurdles. After several tries, he removed his number, grabbed his backpack in disgust and shook his head at officials. He then repeatedly kicked a wall.

Liu has competed rarely this year and in June saw his world record fall to Cuba's Dayron Robles. Robles easily advanced to the second round, winning his Monday heat.

Other track and field news

Their most accomplished hurdler went down, their best sprinter went out. Instead of racking up medals, the Americans entered the fourth day of the Olympic track meet a grand disappointment in the making.

Then up stepped Stephanie Brown Trafton. Then Jenn Stuczynski. Then a trio of hurdlers.

Suddenly, a U.S. team that entered Monday with four medals and no golds had nine medals, two of them gold.

In the 400-meter hurdles, the last event of the evening, Angelo Taylor led a U.S. sweep — the first by any country since 1960. Winning silver and bronze were Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson.

Moments before, Stuczynski was assured of a pole vault silver. She then watched as Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva went higher and higher, culminating in a world record.

Those medals were not huge surprises.

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