BEIJING — Liu Xiang, China’s great hope for track glory at the Beijing Games, said he was sorry for his dramatic withdrawal from the Olympics but that he had no choice because pain from a foot injury became unbearable.
“There’s so many people concerned about me and who support me. I feel very sorry. But there’s really nothing I could do,” a downcast, disconsolate Liu told China Central Television in an interview aired Tuesday.
A day earlier, Liu withdrew from his heat in the 110-meter hurdles, shocking and disappointing millions of Chinese who wanted to see him defend his Olympic title at home.
Liu appeared pale and tired, wearing a plain white T-shirt rather than the flashy red that has characterized the uniform of China’s athletes at the games. A drop of perspiration clung to the corner of his left eyebrow as he spoke in a steady voice inside what appeared to be a white tent.
The official Xinhua News Agency said CCTV recorded the interview Monday night and showed parts of it Tuesday for the first time.
Liu, 25, won China’s first Olympic gold medal on the track in Athens four years ago, and became a superstar to rival NBA hero Yao Ming at home and a posterboy worth millions for the Beijing Games. His surprise withdrawal on Monday shocked China. His coach was among those who wept openly.
China’s communist leaders sent a message of support to Liu and his team that was printed Tuesday on the front page of Chinese newspapers — a sign of recognition of the athlete’s popularity in China.
“I didn’t feel right when I was warming up before the race,” Liu said, in Xinhua’s translation of his comments. “I knew my foot would fail me. I felt painful when I was just jogging.”
He talked about running a competitive time just two weeks ago.
“I didn’t know why things turned out this way,” he said, in the Xinhua translation. “I wanted to hang on. But I couldn’t. It was unbearable. If I had finished the race, I would have risked my tendon. I could not describe my feeling at that moment.”
Speculation swirled for weeks that Liu was suffering a leg injury, and he trained in seclusion before he first appeared in the Bird’s Nest stadium on Monday.
In his warmup, Liu grimaced through clenched teeth and limped gingerly after clearing two hurdles, but took to the blocks anyway for the first heat of the event for which he was clear favorite.
When the starter’s gun fired, Liu launched out of the blocks but started hobbling immediately after the gun fired again to signal a false start by a different hurdler. Rather than head back to the blocks, he headed inside the stadium for the change room.
Liu signaled he feared doing more damage to his damaged tendon, but vowed he would return to competition.
“I know I have the ability, once my foot recovered,” Liu said, according to a translation of the interview by The Associated Press. “Now the most important thing is to heal my injury. I still have a chance next year, after all I’m still at the peak. I must be optimistic, and I shouldn’t blame everyone and everything but not myself. I will not easily give up.”
Vice President Xi Jinping, the most-senior Communist Party leader overseeing the games, sent a message to the General Administration of Sport on Monday to express sympathy and encouragement for Liu and his coach. Xi is widely viewed as the heir to President Hu Jintao.
The country’s leaders are paying attention to Liu’s injury, and hope he is able to quickly return to health, said the message, which was printed on the front page of the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, as well as other papers.
“We all understand that Liu quit the race due to injury,” Xi said. “We hope he will relax and focus on recovery. We hope that after he recovers, he will continue to train hard and struggle harder for the national glory.”
Liu’s sponsors also signaled full support for their star athlete, taking out full-page ads in English- and Chinese-language papers and running spots on television.
“Love the glory. Love the pain. Love sport even when it breaks your heart,” said part of one Nike ad, over a photo portrait of a clear-eyed, unsmiling Liu looking directly into the camera lens.
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