Liu on way back after tripping up on own success, says coach

Superstar hurdler Liu Xiang's stunning success at the Athens Olympics has turned out to be a double-edged sword, according to his coach, Sun Haiping.

'The gold medal has brought Liu a lot of fame, but at the same time he has also been roped into far too many commercial commitments. This has really impacted his performance on the track,' Sun said yesterday in Shanghai, where the 22-year-old Liu is preparing for tomorrow's Golden Grand Prix meeting.

'Liu has been spending far too much time endorsing products and not nearly enough in training. There is also a lot of pressure on him to compete in events around the world. So far this season, he has already competed at more than 20 meetings. That's too many, particularly if you are hoping to set fast times,' added Sun.

Liu stunned the world when he won the gold medal at last year's Olympic Games in a world record-equalling time of 12.91 seconds. Since then, however, Liu's times have been more modest and he has been overtaken by veteran American Allen Johnson as the world's top-ranked hurdler.

Sun, though, believes his charge will soon be back on top, starting with tomorrow's meeting where Liu will take on Johnson and highly rated Dominique Arnold of the US.

There is added pressure on Liu as he will be competing in front of his hometown fans, who are expecting great things from their hero.

But Liu appeared unfazed yesterday. 'I haven't really prepared much for this meeting but of course I am aware of the expectations and will definitely do my best,' he said.