A hushed panic as flags come to a standstill in the 'Bird's Nest'

Silence spoke volumes and time seemed to stand still just before noon yesterday in the 'Bird's Nest'.

Moments before, the stadium had erupted with a deafening roar as the people's hero emerged, gladiator-like, from a tunnel.

Beijing's own coliseum was packed to its steel-lattice edges with flag-waving fans, many with smaller ones plastered to perspiring cheeks and one hand over a thumping heart.

They had gathered for the moment of their lives with one collective expectancy and all with a single name on their lips: Liu Xiang .

The starter's gun popped - and another roar was let out but quickly faded. A false start by a competitor meant a recall to the starting block.

But Liu pulled up, lame.

Fans with binoculars refocused; those without craned forward or looked up wide-eyed at the giant screen.