Within minutes after Liu Xiang crashed out of the men’s 110 hurdles at the London games, Chinese netizens swarmed the country’s largest microblogging site with comments about the star.
One blogger praised Liu despite the failure, saying "Liu Xiang has tried his best. Now is the time to nurture his injuries. And we will never forget his gold-medal performance in Athens."
Others were less accommodating, claiming he must have faked the fall with comments such as, “Liu’s problem is that he is too afraid of failure. He doesn’t want to quit the games, so he faked the fall to save face."
And some showed sympathy for Liu. Another blogger named Tiger Li Xiao said he "hopes one day Liu Xiang won’t feel so much pressure, and can decide for himself whether he’s fit to compete."