Does Anyone Expect the Chinese Inquisition?

After this past weekend's Prefontaine Classic I'm excited to announce that Liu Xiang is back! Xiang, unable to compete in the 2008 Olympics in his home country China due to injury, is back in a big way winning the 110 meter high hurdles at the Prefontaine Classic in 12.87 seconds! That time equals the world record held by Cuba's Dayron Robles, but due to the 2.4 meter per second tail wind the time is ineligible to qualify for world records. In track and field when wind assistance (tail winds) exceed 2.0 meters per second, then records of any type cannot be broken. However, despite the wind behind him, Xiang looked amazing. I love his emotion following the race, too!
 

 Xiang's current form has him in very good shape for the upcoming Olympic games held in London this year. The China man formerly held the world record in the event at 12.88 seconds before Robles broke, running 12.87. Robles also won the gold in the high hurdles in 2008 without competing against Xiang. If Xiang and Robles can stay healthy there could be one hell of a 110 meter hurdle final at the Olympics this year! Xiang and Robles met at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea where Robles was disqualified for disrupting Xiang in the final stages of the race. I think that had Xiang not been interfered with, he would have taken the gold. Regardless of whether the contact by Robles on Xiang was intentional or not, slight contact like that throws off the rhythm of a hurdler greatly and can make you run a 13.27 (as if that's bad).

 Winner of the high hurdles in the 2004 Olympics, Xiang is an experienced hurdler who, when healthy, simply dominates. Look for Xiang to disregard the fact that anyone else has the right to win this race in London and cruelly punish his opponents. For thirteen months spanning from 2009 to 2011 Xiang was unable to compete, but he's back in a big way!

In general, the high hurdles should be a great and exciting event to watch at this year's Olympics. Xiang and Robles will be joined by many other talented high hurdlers which most likely will include Americans David Oliver, Jason Richardson, and Aries Merritt (pending Olympic trials).

Feel free to post any comments related to the Olympics, high hurdles, or Xiang below (I'm not expecting any, but I have to try!) Toninho's prediction: Look for Liu Xiang to reclaim gold at the 2012 Olympics. I hope he shatters the World Record, too!

Liu for the win