Liu Xiang: After Tragic Injury, Still Grandma's Pride & China's Olympic Hero?

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25-year old Liu Xiang:
The Reigning Gold Medal Champion in the 110 Meter Hurdles.
The first non African to run that event in less than 13 seconds.
And now at the Beijing Games, the favorite to win GOLD again.
Liu is a role model in China for the way he exudes public modesty, serves his nation and honors his family.
The son of a truck driver and pastry chef, Liu scored good grades and his mom wanted him to stay in school. But his dad felt sports training would teach him good discipline.
His parents worked full time, so Liu's grandmother raised him, cooking his favorite dish of braised pork in brown sauce -- a dish she said would give him energy to sprint down a track and leap over hurdles. That plus chocolates she would sneak into his bag.
Liu loved his grandmother so much that when she was stricken with cancer, the 18 year old teen was inspired to win his first major event. He rushed to his grandmother at the hospital and gave his medal to her, as she beamed with pride.
Two months later, she died, and Liu vowed he would repay her love by always aiming for gold.
Such stories, says Liu's coach, explain why "Girls like him, Old ladies like him, even men."

Wherever he goes in public, Liu is mobbed. As for girlfriends, Liu says he has no time, but when he does, he says she need not be beautiful, just smart, virtuous, and kind to my parents."

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Sports

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