Liu suffers Olympic KO

Home favourite and defending champion Liu Xiang suffered Olympic heartache when he was forced to pull out of the 110m hurdles.

The Chinese superstar was clearly distressed by what was later described as an Achilles injury while warming up, but decided to run in his first-round heat.

However, after a false start, he was forced to withdraw and looked close to tears as he made his way back inside the Bird's Nest stadium.

Liu's coach Sun Haiping explained: "We arrived in the Olympic village on August 16 and took an MRI and the problem was in his tendon.''

Feng Shouyong, head of the Chinese team, added: "Since Athens his main goal was to achieve gold in Beijing.

"Today's result was not perfect for all of us and especially Liu Xiang. He has been under great pressure and expectations from all of us.''