By Sportswriter Wang Zijiang

    ATHENS, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Liu Xiang won it and a new chapter of history has been turned.

    The 21-year-old Chinese stormed to the men's 110m hurdles gold medal before a capacity crowd of 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium in the 28th Olympic Games here on Friday.

    He clocked a stunning 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain's Collin Jackson in 1993.

    Terrence Trammell of the United States, silver medalist at boththe Sydney Olympics and last year's world championships, won the silver in 13.18, with defending champion Anier Garcia of Cuba taking the bronze in 13.20.

    Liu's time could be regarded as better than that of Jackson as the wind was 0.3 in the Olympic final to the 0.5 when Jackson set it in the 1993 world championships.

    "I never expected that I could run inside 13 seconds," Liu said.

    "I am very, very excited," he added, before breaking into tears.

    Trammell, who once again had to be content with second place, said: "He (Liu) is just consistent. Consistency is the key to hurdling."

    Liu's coach said his student delivered his best and overcame his poor start.

    "He was usually fast in the later part of the race but he wasn't so good for start," said Sun Haiping. "But tonight he showed his advantage and overcame his weakness."

    "The gold medal didn't surprise me. His performance stunned me," he added.

    It is China's first ever men's athletics gold in its Olympic history.

    "Liu Xiang is a hero, a super hero. He is the pride of China," said Luo Chaoyi, president of the Chinese Athletics Administration.

    Collin Jackson, who was watching the race while working as a commentator for the BBC, was surprised with Xiang's effort.

    "We always talked about him possibly doing that, but I thought it would need Allen Johnson in the race for the world record," said the former 110m hurdles world champion.

    "He got out really fast and I was really impressed with the wayhe took the race on. "It was a phenomenal performance here at the Olympic Games. I am chuffed. Good job."

    China has won over 100 Olympic gold medals since 1984 but its male athletes had only got one medal from the Olympics' most popular sport. That was Zhu Jianhua's high jump bronze in the 1984Los Angeles Games.

    The Shanghai native, with his father a truck driver and mother an out-of-work housewife, loved sports when he was very young.

    "He kept running and jumping everyday and never sat there quietly," his mother Ji Fenhua recalled.

    As a fourth grader, Liu was selected to Junior Sports School of Putuo District of Shanghai to practice high jump. But after a bone test that showed he would not be tall enough as high jumper, Liu was asked to give up sports one year later, although he had won the national championship at that level.

    His parents wanted him to study computer engineering or some other professions, but Liu decided to go on.

    "I told my mother that I wanted to compete in the Olympics," Liu said.

    The year of 1998 was a turning point for Liu's career, when he attracted coach Sun Haiping's attention as a 15-year-old jumper.

    Sun was a well known hurdles coach who had nurtured Asian champion Chen Yanhao and he believed a star was born at the first sight of Liu. He visited Liu's parents several times and finally persuaded them to let Liu run the 110m hurdles.

    After only three years, Liu launched his career in style in the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne in 2001 by breaking the world youth and Asian record with a time of 13.12.

    And in the next two years leading to the Olympic Games, he had won titles at the Asian championships, the World University Games and the Asian Games.

    But the first warning he sent to the world was his bronze-winning finish at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, England, last year.

    He went on to capture the bronze in the world outdoor championships in Paris to record a surprise season in 2003.

    In 2004, Liu came back stronger and more confident. He won the silver in the world indoor championships in Budapest in March.

    Two months later, he proved the winner in a race against American great Allen Johnson in the IAAF Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, where he clocked a new Asian record and world's season besttime of 13.06 seconds.

    He went on to win two Johnson-absent races in Lille, France, onJune 26 and Zagreb, Croatia, three days later. He put up an exciting show at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on July 3, when he and Johnson clocked an identical time of 13.11. Race officials hadto examine a photo finish to declare Johnson the winner.

    Liu did a better job of clearing the hurdles than Johnson, but Johnson's stronger start ended up making the difference.

    The race boosted Liu's optimism for the Olympics, although Johnson bettered his season best by 0.01 second in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 6.

    The world has put the Olympics a Johsnon-Liu duel but surprisingly Johnson crashed out of the Games after falling at theninth hurdle at round 2.

    "My victory has proved that Asian athletes can run fast too," said Liu Xiang.

    "This is a miracle, but I believe there will be a lot more miracles taking place in China." Enditem