Beijing: 

End of the road: China's 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang has been ruled out with injuries. pic/AFP

His face was everywhere - on billboard hoardings for brands like Visa, Coke and Nike, across the TV and in almost every piece of literature associated with the Beijing Games. That's how aggressively China used the popularity of their first track and field Olympic gold medallist (in the 110m hurdles in Athens), Liu Xiang.

Negative effect

However, all of it seems to have had a negative effect on the 25-year-old world champion. Xiang pulled out of the 110m hurdles event here citing a leg injury much to the disappointment of thousands of home supporters, who had come to watch their most prominent athletic face in action.

However, Xiang's failure, it seems, was scripted quite some time ago. Ever since he won China its first track and field gold, there was a countrywide revolution in athletics. The media blew him into an instant hero and the 1.3 billion-plus population began looking at athletics as a promising avenue for their children.

Xiang's superstar status meant that he had to train in seclusion, just like the Sachin Tendulkars and Sania Mirzas of India. The only difference being that Xiang was China's FIRST athletics hero, so obviously he had the huge responsibility of setting a precedent.

Add to this the fact that the subsequent Olympics were to be held in China and the pressure on Xiang to repeat his Athens feat only doubled.

The Chinese are always known to be secretive about their planning and preparations in all aspects. And Xiang was to be their biggest 'weapon' here. So, they kept him away from the international media. Even big foreign media representatives, who are normally not used to being refused interviews, were kept at bay. But Xiang's seclusion only added to the pressure on him, which eventually unfolded at the Birds Nest Stadium yesterday.

Great expectations

Feng Shouyong, head coach of China's athletics team confirmed. "Four years after Athens his main goal was a gold at Beijing. There was great expectation and great pressure from all," he said.

A weeping coach of the star hurdler, Sun Haiping revealed the player came to Beijing with a host of injuries: "He has two injuries - one to the leg and one to the foot. The one to the leg was an accumulative injury for years but it was cured. The major problem for his withdrawal is his heel. Xiang's heel bone is different from that of other people. It is more protruding and has developed into a hard bump."

However, Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie summed up Xiang's problem the best. "It is painful for him (Xiang) but the pain is not in his leg. Where is the pain? It is up here (pointing to his head)," he said.