Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang crashed out of the Olympic Games on Tuesday morning, in an agonising echo of his withdrawal from the Beijing games four years ago.
Liu, the 2004 Olympic 110m hurdles champion, hit the first hurdle in his heat and fell. It became clear he had hurt his right leg, but he proceeded to hop on the other limb along the track and kissed the last hurdle in his lane.
The 29-year-old’s fall was his second successive Olympic calamity. At Beijing in 2008 he was the nation’s poster boy as one of the favourites for the 110m hurdles, but had to withdraw in his heat without clearing a hurdle because of a foot injury that later required surgery.