What killed Liu Xiang's Olympic ambitions?

Wikipedia On the side of Liu Xiang's dramatic retreat, yesterday at the Beijing Olympics, an interesting debate is developing on what the reasons are behind this sudden end at Liu's Olympic ambitions. Not surprisingly, in Beijing almost instantly conspiracy theories emerged and, well, when you have insured your legs for a nine million euro's even that is only one solid basis from a stream of theories.
His first coach blamed from Shanghai, in The Telegraph, China's educational system:

"I am saddened by Liu Xiang's exit," Mr Gu said at his office in Shanghai. "I think it is because of the intense training. If he had been more relaxed the injury might not have been so bad.
"I have experienced in the past the great pressure that government officials exert on the athletes as well as the coach, and that they demand a gold medal, otherwise it is meaningless. Liu Xiang is still a young boy and he has been put under a bit too much expectation."

I had just been watching a both beautiful and gruesome documentary on the Shanghai Acrobats School, where little boys and girls were pushed not to but also over their limits by their teachers. As an illustration of China's educational system it showed both its beauty and pretty sadistic mistreatment of youngsters. My Chinese friends enjoyed the documentary, although in a different way then I did. They recalled their own education and showed envy: their teachers and parents had never been that strict with them and they applauded the methods of the Shanghainese teachers.
China's educational system might be part of all this, but I have seen similar documentaries about other Olympic stars, not from China, who underwent similar shocking treatment. Today the New York Times added a fresh angle as they described what Liu Xiang's retreat meant for the massive marketing events that were on its way. With Yao Ming Liu Xiang has been plastered on posters all over China, an unbelievable number of events had been planned. Those marketing effects seem to be ready for a write-off.
In the New York Times, sponsors kept up a brave face

“Our advertising will continue as planned,” Derek Kent, a Nike spokesman, said Monday afternoon. “Liu Xiang is an inspiration to the country. So he’ll continue to be featured on all our platforms.”
Other global brands say he will still remain a star endorser.
“We started supporting him in 2003 and we’ll continue to support him. This won’t change anything,” said Kenth Kaerhoeg, a spokesman for Coca-Cola.

Meanwhile the Chinese government had to order their media to put a positive angle on Liu Xiang's failure, going partly against the trend among many of his former fans, as reported by China Smack. It quotes a poll by Baidu.com where almost a quarter of the former fans say they do not like their former Olympic hero anymore, although a majority is slight nicer for him.
At CNReview:

After my cousin grabbed some tissues and sat back down on the couch, I asked her why it was so emotional for her. She sighed, “I was really looking forward to it. One minute, I heard the race was about to start, and then he pulled out so suddenly”. She also added, choking up some more, “we shouldn’t blame him. We knew it would be hard for him to win again, but we just wanted to see him run.”

The crazyness of all this is caused by the heavy burden put on Liu Xiang. Of course, he is partly to blame himself, but the huge marketing interest have certainly played also a major role.

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The role of sport in China's society is the key subject of Rowan Simons, one of our speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, do get in touch. Additional speakers on contemporary issues, you can find here.