Two weeks ago, people asked: What Will Happen If Liu Xiang Does Not Win The Gold Medal?
Yesterday at around 11:50am, Liu Xiang withdrew from the Olympics.
Most Chinese were very disappointed. Some were very sad. Some were very angry. Many Chinese people at the Bird’s Nest immediately stood up and left the stadium. Many other people cried.
Originally, I was not sure if I wanted to post about this so I did not. I thought many other news and websites already write so much. But thousands of BBS forum topics were created about Liu Xiang and about what happened. Chinese people throughout China talked about how they felt. There were a lot of upset people criticizing Liu Xiang but there were also a lot of people defending him and supporting him. Almost every topic was about Liu Xiang.
Liu Xiang’s coach, Sun Haiping, cried at a press conference.
This morning, all posts criticizing Liu Xiang were removed from the Chinese internet. But maybe these pictures are enough.
CCTV had an interview with Liu Xiang (Sohu or Ku6).
Baidu has a poll that was on their tieba.baidu.com front page:
Liu Xiang withdraws from competition, what is your view?
On the morning of August 18, an audience of 90,000 people gathered in the “Bird’s Nest” stadium, prepared to watch Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang’s performance. But, after the starter’s pistol went off, on Liu Xiang’s face, they saw a pained expression. He left the field lame and in low-spirits. Liu Xiang withdrew from the competition match. What do you think of this? If you have other opinions, please post.
Can understand
188339(23.8%)
Cannot understand
32568(4.1%)
Feel very disappointed
Still support him
No longer like him
Wish him a fast recovery
Not sure
577,303 people participated in this poll (as of ~6:00pm).
These pictures come from some Mop, KDS, and the Strong Nation Forum at 163.com.
- A Strong Nation post with many links to other posts about Liu Xiang (Chinese).
- “China reeling after loss of Liu Xiang” from Yahoo.
- “Liu: Unbearable pain forced me out of Olympics” from Yahoo.
- “Liu Xiang speaks back” from China Daily.
- “Liu Xiang says he feels sorry, vowing to come back” from Xinhua.
- Liu XIang’s official website (Chinese).
“I want to let them see. I can still do it.”
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What Will Happen If Liu Xiang Does Not Win The Gold Medal? 
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That was shocking. I’m really surprised at the 23% in the poll who “no longer like him”. That is something I would like to hear an explanation for! Why? I really don’t understand that.
What happened to Liu Xiang, tragic as it was, is probably karma for all the cheating and lying the Chinese government (via its National Olympic Committee) have committed in the name of national pride. China had a great opportunity to show the world what sportsmanship and the Olympic ideals are about, but instead it failed utterly and miserably. I’m much more saddened and disappointed by China’s failure than I am by Liu Xiang’s.
Liu Xiang will still be a hero. Let’s give him a break. :)
I find it funny that the fans left and/or cried about this.
China is retarded.
Some of my friends tell me that Nike might be involved. Don’t know if this could possibly be true though – 刘翔退赛真相（一切皆在计划）—来自NIKE的消息！（绝非标题党) : http://snurl.com/3hw0m
Kieran is fuck retarded
i like china, i like liuxiang
My bunch has a belief. We were saying like 4 years ago he had already received a gold medal, so perhaps fear overcame stress. The question still came back as it is: What if Liu Xiang never wins this time? Some of us questioned about the professionalism about it all. We had seen people leaping to the finish line in the past. But then again, if it really is a serious injury in which one cannot continue with the race because it’s really IMPOSSIBLE to do so, rather than giving up because one cannot perform and get a gold medal, then we wish him all the best.
Oh yeah? Nike involved in what?? Let’s blame the Americans!! How would Nike benefit from anything but a great show from him? He is one of their key to this market.
I tend to agree with IAN. Most of the fans, aren’t fans f the sport…just fans because a Chinese was winning. As soon as he can’t win, he will be discarded…along with the sports.
@ilovechina – The correct way to say that would be “Kieran is fucking retarded”. You need the “ing” after fuck because you must use an adjective to modify “retarded”. Fuck can be a verb as in “Kieran likes to fuck sheep” or a noun as in “Kieran is a stupid fuck”. Adding the “ing” makes it an adjective.
have no idea why they are crying about……like their parents are dead or something…..
i am a chinese but i still cannot understand this
withdrawing due to injury, can’t be any more normal.
what the fuck.
and those who got angry, they really pissed me off.
as many western media described, it was truly a national calamity, but not because of liu’s withdrawing, but people’s reaction…..
shame!
as those word left previously, i totally agree with that….china is fucking retarded. a country that cannot tolerate failure of its people, a country have to gain fame through sports while leave its own people in poverty…..a country discriminate its own people……
PS. and Ian, stop connecting liu with china’s govt. it’s not funny……athletes get injury and quite games all around the world…..
in the past 50 years, China has NOT changed
despite apparently a better economy, China is no different to north Korea
China’s way too proud to lose. It all has to be picture-perfect isn’t it, for the love of this country or just its Party?
A true patriot is one who raises questions and expresses concerns.
To those who no longer supports Liu, well, he is not a chip on the Ma-Jiong table. Liu Xiang is a human being, an athlete, who runs for a living. He HAS the right to choose; and deserves respect; just like we all do.
He is not injured, this is just a govt. plan to not lose face. I have more respect for liu xiang and no respect for the powers that be and for Chinese fair weather fans. Look at what happens when a little girl is not “beautiful” enough. What did you think would happen.
BTW, the crocodile tears from coach Sun were what sealed the fact that I knew this was fake. Chinese are the worst actors.
Come on, the guy is a pussy. He either chickened out at the last moment cuz he knew he would lose, or he lied for 3 plus months about how hurt he was, keeping more qualified people from the Chinese team out of the Olympics, oh right, people don’t actually compete for spots in the Chinese Olympic Team, they are assigned them by the democratically elected CCP. You Ch***s deserve the government you have. Period. Say helloing to Hiteler in hell my sino friends.
I am a former hurdler… i ran i high school and college and competed at the USATF Junior Nationals. I know how tough it is to stay on top and how injuries can derail a season. One thing i will say, and always have is… “Why didn’t we know about this sooner?” I originally though.. hmmm maybe its a “doping” scandal that they were afraid would be revealed after the competition was over and they didn’t want him to have to be tested??? With all that’s gone on in this sport over the last 4 to 5yrs its highly likely! But one thing is for sure… if the Silver medalist from the last 2 Olympic games, Terrance Trammell, hadn’t flopped out that day too and the Cuban & other top American all made the final… WOW… that’s a lot of pressure and uncertainty that Liu Xiang might not even have placed in the medals at these Beijing Olympic games!!! Either way its is odd and sad that they never made this public prior and i also think that from what i saw… it didn’t look like a legitimate injury… he walked into the tunnel JUST FINE… after he pulled out… sorry…Im just stating the obvious!!!
I will never understand why people like “China realist” (this includes both people in China as well as out who think like this person does because we all have this type amongst us) have as much hate as they do. It pisses me off, to be sure, but I’m mostly confused as to where that comes from.
I suspect that China realist is either: very young and thus doesn’t know better or not very bright/educated. I’m not saying that as a slam. I mean it literally. To take your anger at the dumb things the Chinese government does and extrapolate it into a racist rant against a whole nation shows a lack of thought.
I’ve lived in many places around the world and traveled to many more and have found that people are basically decent. Chinese are no exception (probably the least decent people I have met in the world were in parts of Russia and parts of the rural southern United States but that is another issue).
@ fuck Da Lu Ren: “He is not injured, this is just a govt. plan to not lose face.”
Wow, that plan totally worked out! This way nobody lost any face. What a great plan.
It doesn’t take much of an injury to knock you out of competition–at the Olympics, the level of competition is so high than even a tiny little injury can put you out of the running. Liu Xiang probably knows more about his body’s limits than most, and if he didn’t think he could run it, he probably couldn’t.
I doubt he chickened out. More likely the other way around–he probably shouldn’t have been on the track at all, but forced himself out there.
I watched this on TV. The level of nationalism in China is almost on par with some religious fundamentalism in the USA (the only other place of comparison for me). It is dogmatic, it is brainless and for most people it has more to do with exposure than reason. This is true of any nationalism, but in China it seems to have a specially strong delusional quality.
It is near impossible to have a conversation with most Chinese people about faults in Chinese society because their minds just shut down in light of information that goes against their love of China. I have experienced this shutting down many times across a wide range of situations and topics (not just nationalism). When confronted with a situation or idea that does not fit into their pre-programed matrix, they get confused and stop.
I know the above might cause offense, and I realize not everyone in China is like this, but majority seem this way.
In any case, the reaction of the Chinese fans is hardly surprising given the immense pride they have in being from China, and the vicarious joy(and distraction) they get from seeing their countrymen win… and conversely the terrible blow they receive when the symbol is tarnished. But it is bat crazy like Bible thumpers and Love it or Leave mentality.
And by the way, I’m getting sick of seeing on CCTV and in the newspapers that this is a national tragedy. Wipe the blinding tears of patriotism from your eyes and give a hand with the reconstruction of Sichuan towns and villages; the true national tragedy.
“It is near impossible to have a conversation with most Chinese people about faults in Chinese society because their minds just shut down in light of information that goes against their love of China.”
Or maybe they just don’t like it when you criticise their country and expect them to join in.
This stuff reminds me of England before the last few big competitions- David Beckham or Rooney gets injured and the whole nation holds its breath. When we crash and burn out of a competition there are plenty of over the top news headlines and photos of women + kids crying.
Workmates of mine were telling me he was injured before the games started- apparently he missed a pre-Olympics competition to give himself a better chance of recovery.
Occam’s razor applies in China too- what’s more likely: a government conspiracy and forcing their most famous athlete to take a dive to avoid some imagined outcome, or an athlete having an injury?
he knew he would lose, so he quit. it’s the communist way. why is anyone surprised?
To Gao Shan,
Undereducated? maybe you should take a look at the majority of your own countrymen. Anyone with half a brain here is in another country really learning (or spying). The truth of the matter is that the majority of us here who rant, do so because we have experienced “the Great China” mentality for years and are tired of hearing about it from a people with a made up history and mentally deranged self confidence crisis.
The truth is, you are a developing nation who has a lot of good qualities but has a lot to learn and a long way to grow. Hopefully you will, but I doubt it
“Or maybe they just don’t like it when you criticise their country and expect them to join in.”
I think maybe you missed the 2nd half of what I wrote:
“I have experienced this shutting down many times across a wide range of situations and topics (not just nationalism).”
Your assumption that I “criticise” and expect them to join in makes it sound like I go looking for these confrontations. I can assure you I don’t. They come looking for me. Most are very curious why foreigners and foreign newspapers has so many negative things to say about China. Others ask what I like and dislike about China.
I answer truthfully, and I get blind patriotic reactions from something as simple as littering to issues as extreme as Tibet (which they also ask about… and on the last point I am very careful what I say about that situation).
The point is the way they think about and handle these issues.
On the 2nd issue:
Occam Razor: Look at the opening ceremony, look at the vinyl facades around Beijing, look how they kicked out, consider how they shut down construction around Beijing, consider how they only allow half the cars on the road on an given day during the Olympics, consider how there was an official announcement that there would be no dancing in Beijing during the Olympics (not enforced), and think about how important face is in China… does Occam Razor take into account culture and or human irrational behavior.
It wouldn’t be surprising if it was faked, consider what’s worse:
Liu Xiang breaks the hearts of Chinese people by not placing or medaling (his ‘fault’ his ability)
or
Liu Xiang breaks the heart of Chinese people because he is injured (not his ‘fault’ not his ability)
Liu Xiang will be back in a few at the next competition.
China Realist
You fucking racist. It looks like you have win a ticket to join Hitler’ party in hell.
Gents, you really don’t want to get into a discussion about the governments involvement in this fiasco do you? He is injured but he HAD to come out.
One has to look no farther than the ages of the Female gymnastics team to see that the rules mean nothing, that face is the driving precedent in this Olympics. Here is a government official’s answer to the age questions.
According to the Reuters story, investigations by the United States media show online registration records that say Yang Yilin was 14. This is on the heels of two teammates, He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan, being accused of being underage as well.
Bela Karolyi, the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics coach, is furious, indicating what China has done is to slap the world in the face.
It really isn’t surprising what China has done since their logic is pretty much “the ends justify the means.” What is amazing are their responses. Even though state-run China Central Television (CCTV) said Yang Yilin was 14, when queried, China just said the television report was wrong.
However, for true backwards thinking, consider this statement by an unnamed Chinese official, according to Reuters: “(Yang’s age) is not an issue at all since the gymnastics team is already staying in the Olympic Village. That indicates all our gymnasts are eligible.” That is like saying because you’re sitting in a car, you have a drivers’ license.
Ok let me pose this question?
If Liu has been hurt this past year why have we not seen an MRI, XRay, or an attempt to have some corrective surgery? (Of course maybe he used the tride and true method of pouring bai jiu on it and lighting it on fire)
Also, prior reports suggested that it was his hamstring, but suddenly it became his achieles, which by the way if was damaged he could barely even walk.
Therefore, I propose again that this is the governments way to protect their face by lies and denial (just like with gymnastics and several other events I SAW in person)
But you know, its not just the government, the people are no better. They boo Americans and only Cheer for china even when China is not competing. They are in fact, insecure little babies.
Don’t count 08 as a real Olympics. Oh and btw, find the article about how they are having internment camps in Beijing for the “undesirables” FCUK the IOC for being pansies
Obviously I am wrong. I am so young and uneducated, or maybe I have spent too many years in China and witenssed too much BS with my own eyes. And NK, maybe you should take some more English courses before you weigh in with your informed opinion. Here is a government worth supporting! 70 year old dissidents! The fact is the CCP sucks big time, and Chinese people who support them wihtout question are responsible for the CCP screwing up the country even more. And the western apologists of the CCP deserve a special place in hell when the bill for this house of cards comes due. A country where a businessman is laughed at if he doesn’t cheat and steal has quite a few problems and doesn’t deserve all this fawning western media attention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?bl=&ei=5087&en=920506ca2f959545&ex=1219464000&pagewanted=print
Oh yeah, the anti- African campaign on the streets of Beijing. The restaurants being told that they should ‘discourage’ the ‘dark ones’ from frequenting their premises.
Now I read that there are actually camps that they have been placed in, alongside other undesireables…Mongolian prostitutes, Anhui illegal ah yis, migrant workers, street urchins, Xinjiang meat kebab guys etc (insert stereotypical non Han-ren here).
Once these olympics is over the rest of the world is going to start hearing about the massive travesty that was perpetrated in the name of patriotism.
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/sports/beijing-olympics-liu-xiang-3107.html
Why cry? It’s not as if crying would get Liu Xiang to come back and compete. @_@ And those who were angry… we should just ignore. xD
Prior to the Olympics, Liu withdrew from two earlier competitions in the US due to a hamstring injury. He was missing from the opening ceremony. I doubt he was faking injuries on that dramatic day. The criticism lies in the immense pressure placed on him by the government, media and public.
Ian: The Epoch Times/Falun Gong/New Tang Dynasty TV media conglomerate is funded by the US government for the purpose of smear campaigns and creating irrational hatred toward China. It seems to have succeeded.
Generalizing a whole population as being a certain way is a major indicator your argument is ludicrous in the first place.
Living with HATE is the way to go!!
He was too arrogant. serve him right!