Birthday blues for Ku as Liu limps off

One of the most astonishing moments of the Olympics so far was seeing star hurdler Liu Xiang's pullout from the 110-metre hurdles on Monday due to a foot injury.

Among the witnesses at the National Stadium was singer Leo Ku Kui-kei, who flew to the capital especially to support the athlete, whom he had met at a performance at the Hong Kong Stadium after Liu (below right with Ku) won Olympic gold in the 110-metre hurdles in Athens four years ago.

On Monday, Ku was waiting at the finish line to interview Liu once China's biggest gold medal hope finished his first race, and had planned to celebrate his 36th birthday with Liu after his victory.

'When Liu appeared on the track, the entire stadium was cheering for him.

'However, when I saw him kneel down during the warm-up session, I knew there was something wrong. Was it because of his old injuries or was he just fixing his running shoes? I was asking myself these questions,' Ku recalled.

'Until the moment one of Liu's opponents had a false start and I saw Liu walk away from the track, I still wasn't sure what was happening. But then I heard the announcement that Liu had withdrawn from the event. The audience went silent in shock. It was just very sad.'

Ku also attended the news conference with Liu's coach, Sun Haiping, who broke down in tears explaining the intense pain that Liu was suffering.

'I believe he had insisted on competing until the very last minute. For an athlete, it was the toughest decision,' Sun said. 'But Liu is still young and there will be time for him to compete and to break the record again.'

Ku said he wished only that his hurdler friend would recover soon. On a personal note he said being able to celebrate his birthday at Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' stadium was memorable.