As Chinese people are expecting their sports icon Liu Xiang to defend his Olympic crown at home 16 days away, hamstring injury, the Achilles' heel of a sprinter, could seriously threaten that he is no longer the unquestioned favorite.

"Liu's current condition is not good for his Olympic performance," Sun Haiping, Liu's coach said in a CCTV interview two weeks ago.

"The injury is still there. I hope it can get better in the next two weeks," Liu told CCTV as he immensed himself in the final stage of the Olympic gear-up.

The "flying man", after one-month medical recovery from the fatal injury, which forced him out of the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on May 31, came back to hurdles and finished a complete 110 meters sprint hurdle last week in a close door trial, and clocked 13.18 seconds.

This is the best performance so far this year for him, China's only hope for a gold medal in track and field, which equals the time he run at the Bird's Nest debut in May, the only outdoor race he took this season.

This result ranks him only the 13th in the world arena this year.

Apparently, Liu is not in his best condition, and the situation was made even worse by his Reebok GP pullout and the disqualification from the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon for a second false start. He missed the only two matches planned before the Beijing Games.

"His challengers, however, are in very good shapes," said his coach Sun.

Dayron Robles from Cuba just set a new world record by shaving a hundredth of a second off Liu's 12.88 seconds record in the Czech Republic last month.

David Oliver, another championship challenger from the United States, ran 12.89 seconds in the US Olympic trials. And Terrence Trammell, a two-time Olympic silver medalist who has run 12.95 seconds, won the Reebok Grand Prix in 13.11 seconds, his best result of the year.

"Although he has strong rivals, the real enemy is himself," said Sun.

For a sprinter, hamstrings failure, is nothing but a catastrophe. It is very difficult to get rid of, and could result in permanent injuries or even terminate the athlete's entire career life.

It takes more than a month's recovery before Liu finished his first 110-meter hurdle after he came back from New York. This gives some clue about the severity of his injury.

Liu has to make hard decisions. It would be fantastic to win a second Olympic gold, but the price is too high probably his entire sports life.

Liu Xiang once talked about his record setting performance in Athens Games: "It changes the opinion that Asian countries don't get good results in sprint races. I want to prove to the whole world that Asians can run very fast."

Sure he did it. But now, four years later, it seems unrealistic for the 25-year-old Shanghai native, struggling with terrifying wounds, to refresh the world record or even just to finish with a time less than 12.95 seconds.

As some insiders have pointed out, it would be quite satisfactory if he could finish the Olympic 110 meters sprint hurdle race with a time between 12.95 and 13 seconds.

And even this result is not secured. It depends on whether Liu is able to recover completely from the injury, avoid any psychological disruptions, and regain his best form quickly.

As a national hero who had changed the way people look at the Chinese or even Asian track athletes, Liu has learned to get along with all kinds of distractions of being a celebrity. Also, he is dealing with the most pressure than any athlete ever has.

"I do not see it as defending my championship," Liu said through an interpreter at a news media event in advance of the Reebok GP. "I do not feel a lot of pressure. The Olympics is just another race in my life."

Maybe the Chinese people should learn to accept the idea that you do not need always to be the winner in the competing games. Losing or winning are all part of fun of the game. All Chinese Olympic athletes, especially athletes like Liu Xiang, who is suffering from injuries, should be granted the right to lose.

"There is little room for further technical improvements. What I can do is to adjust my form to leave the best for the Games. I believe in myself," Liu said.

Famous for his mental toughness, Liu can always survive from harsh situations. If a more relaxing environment is offered to him and he could manage to get rid of the unnecessary mental pressure, who could decline the possibility of a miracle?

Hey, you never know!

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2008)