Odd Man Out?

Then. Arms and legs ahead of the field.

Olympic champions in men's 110 m hurdles
1896: Thomas Curtis | 1900: Alvin Kraenzlein | 1904: Frederick Schule | 1904: Robert Leavitt | 1908: Forrest Smithson | 1912: Frederick Kelly | 1920: Earl Thomson | 1924: Daniel Kinsey | 1928: Sydney Atkinson | 1932: George Saling | 1936: Forrest Towns | 1948: William Porter | 1952: Harrison Dillard | 1956: Lee Calhoun | 1960: Lee Calhoun | 1964: Hayes Jones | 1968: Willie Davenport | 1972: Rod Milburn | 1976: Guy Drut | 1980: Thomas Munkelt | 1984: Roger Kingdom | 1988: Roger Kingdom | 1992: Mark McKoy | 1996: Allen Johnson | 2000: Anier García | 2004: Liu Xiang

I was reminded once again of this 'Asian Hero' by my ChinaDaily newsletter this morning.
This great phenomenon caught the world by surprise and me in awe and bewilderment during the last Olympics. And capturing that moment, this is classic reporting from Time Magazine, when he achieved the feat;

"As Liu Xiang raced to victory in the 110-meter hurdles at the Athens Olympics, his legs pumping with flawless precision to clock a world record-tying time of 12.91 sec., the panic creeping into sports announcers' voices was almost palpable. Even though China had touted the 21-year-old Shanghai native as a medal hopeful, few in the West knew that China had a decent hurdler, much less a record-making one. Stunned by the victory, a Greek TV announcer stammered: "In first place, it's ... it's a Chinese man." Foiled by the X in Liu's given name, the broadcaster sidestepped the problem: "He is Mr. Liu. Congratulations to Mr. Liu from China."

This self driven young man has a great future as a big "brand' as he keeps winning the world championships and even more await him as China stirrs for the 2008 Summer Olympics. If he wins the event in Beijing, he will be the third person after Lee Calhoun and Roger Kingdom to do so but he will be the first Asian, first non-Afro American, first Chinese. So odd this man....
Now. Preparing for Doha Asian Games in South Guangdong Province.