ˇˇBy Sportswriter Cao Jianjie
DOHA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- As a shoo-in for the men's 110m hurdles, Chinese Olympic champion Liu Xiang might make bigger news by clipping a hurdle or missing a step in Tuesday's final.
A Chinese photographer was told by his boss to catch every hurdle that the 23-year-old celebrity would clear or clip. "My boss told me that I couldn't avoid missing a photo if Liu stumbled in heats," said Li Yue.
Liu, world record holder and one of the brightest stars in the Asian Games, cruised home in the first heat at Khalifa Stadium Monday morning.
He turned off after he cleared the last hurdle and virtually walked across the finish line.
His time of 13.74 seconds was 0.86 seconds off the world record he set in July 2006 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In a more competitive second heat, Japanese Masato Naito clocked 13.70 and Chinese Shi Dongpeng timed 13.71.
"I'm tired and dizzy after getting up so early at 5:40 this morning, and failed to make a fine start after another sprinter of my heat committed a false start and then started ahead of the signal gun buzzed," Liu said.
"But it's no big deal. I made the final and everything will be OK," he added.
The defending champion Liu, who won the IAAF Performance of the Year Award last month, is looking to round off his sizzling season in style with a second Asian Games gold.
Four years ago in Busan, Liu scored a runaway victory with a games record of 13.27, bettering compatriot Li Tong's 1994 mark of13.30.
Shi Dongpeng, unhappy with living and running under Liu's shadow, vowed to give the more heralded teammate a hard fight.
"I won't let him win easily," Shi said.
As the closest rival to Liu in China and Asia, Shi has pushed the Olympic champion, who had previously planned to take it easy, to change his mind and pull out his best in domestic competitions and last year's East Asian Games.
As one of the top two celebrity athletes in China (the other is NBA center Yao Ming), Liu has felt the weight of being famous since his Olympic triumph.
Liu's coach Sun Haiping has appeared on Chinese televisions several times to ask overzealous supporters to leave the runner alone.
"We are very grateful to our supporters," Sun once said on television. "But overzealous fans disrupt his training and distract him from the ultimate goal: the 2008 Olympic Games."
Since his arrival in Doha last week, Liu has avoided the attention, although in a news conference on Saturday, he said he would remain based in China despite his globe-trotting schedule.
Sun said earlier Liu would peak in the 2008 Olympics.
"He still has potential to improve, not much though," Sun said."We hope to save the best for the 2008 Olympic Games."
