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BEIJING, CHINA - CHINESE athletics hero Liu Xiang has apologised to his fans for pulling out of the 110m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics, but said the pain from his injured foot was 'unbearable'.
'To see so many people out there to support, I just feel so sorry. Because there were so many people supporting me, I told myself I had to run, but I just couldn't do it,' the China Sports Daily Tuesday quoted Liu as saying.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted Liu as saying in another interview that the pain from a tendon injury in his right foot was simply too much, forcing him to pull out of Monday's first heat.
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'I never quit easily. I am not that type of person.'
The 25-year-old sought to reassure his fans that they had not seen the last of him on the track.
'I believe I will come back,' he said.
Liu's shock withdrawal from the heat deprived China's 1.3 billion people of what they had widely expected to be one of the most memorable moments of the Games - gold in one of the high-profile track events.
Liu became a national hero after becoming the first Chinese man to win an athletics gold with his victory in the 110m hurdles at the Athens Olympics.
He is one of the most marketable personalities in China, and his pull-out after just a few strides in his heat stunned the whole nation as well as the 91,000 people who packed into the National Stadium to watch him. -- AFP
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