Liu Xiang is faking.

Yep, and his teammate set it up perfectly with a brazen false start that compromised the whole field. Gets to keep his appearance fee and everything.

And here I was believing that even greats like Xiang and Wariner lose races or screw up here and there.

Yes, and there you are thinking that alone. Anyway, the 2 mile is on...

That makes a lot of sense seeing as he only traveled from China which is not that far from Eugene.

"mind games" Genius, if you ask me.

Yes. Coming all the way from China to play mind games probably will pay more dividends in the long run than staying home and training hard.

As strange as it seems, it was my first though too. I was at the meet, and just the way he acted after being DQ'ed made me feel like something iffy was going on.

if by iffy you mean he was kind of relieved to know that he was for sure going home at least somewhat healthy, then I agree.

I'll be suspicious and disappointed if he pulls out of the Olympics. You know, Greek sprinter style.

asdfasdrr wrote:

I'll be suspicious and disappointed if he pulls out of the Olympics. You know, Greek sprinter style.

Just watch.

I think that false start was a little to close to the actual start to be intentional.

I don't know who started this post but you might possibly have the WORST understanding of track and field I've ever heard of. The man's been hurt and needed a solid, injury free, race under his belt to assure hismelf he's ready for the olympics within the next few months. To fly all the way to Eugene to play mind games would be ridiculous, come on use some common sense.

i'm not sure what everyone is thinking here... if it's because he's chinese, you all need to drop the racism pretty quick.

Racism? What's wrong with you?

I'm back. Hey guys, I could be wrong, but if so, it would have nothing to do with my having the worst understanding of athletics (as I like to call it) ever heard of. It is not unheard of for these things to happen.

Believe it or not, people DO intentionally false start. People DO feign injury and non-injury alike. Also, it's really not that big a deal to hop on a plane, cross the Pacific, to get some face time in the good ol' U.S. of A (where most of his main rivals are).

Also, for the record, I'm not saying he came "all the way" to Eugene to play mind games. I'm saying he came all the way to the U.S. to play mind games. Do you think he had any intentions of running at the Reebok meet, either?

I have a secret for you: this IS no secret on the Chinese language boards at all. The thing is, I'm not even dissing Liu in the least. Just pointing out that this is the way he - more likely his handlers - has chosen to put himself out there in his build-up to the Games.

I wish him well, he's an animal. But how are people going to react after he rolls everyone convincingly in the Olympic final, after such a relatively short period of time? "Wow! To come back from injury and do THIS! Amazing!"

Again, I wish him well. If he really is injured or whatever, I hope he gets well in time for the Games. I just don't think it's as serious as being portrayed, and his camp is milking it for all they can.

pressure smesher, c.astrid salome freeman never played mind games.

RACISM????

HHHhhhmmmm ...........Takes one, to know one.

I bet you're Asian.

Seemed fairly clear he was injured - at least enough to put considerable uncertainty into the prospect of running any sort of intense race - especially one that requires the flexibility and snap of the hurdles.

I say the false starts as reflective of acting out on his fear - he in a sense looked relieved. The winner ran near 13 flat - he had to know what kind of performance would have been required. He will have a difficult time this summer - the pressure on him is intense. I wish him well.