Olympic champ Liu Xiang complains of media frenzy
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-21 19:12

Olympic gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang says the media frenzy in China that followed his Athens triumph has left him feeling penned in and naked.

Liu, who won the 110m hurdles at the China National Games Thursday in 13.10 seconds, has been hounded by adoring fans and a hungry media pack ever since his Olympic win.

"Before I won the Olympic championship only a few journalists followed me around, now I feel like I have been stripped naked and surrounded," he said.

"The one thing I don't like is telling people that I'm not going to sit for photos or sign autographs."

Since the National Games officially opened last week, Liu has been the main attraction with constant chatter about him in the press. Billboards of his image are plastered all over the city.

While no more than 5,000 fans showed up in the early days of the track and field competition, around 40,000 were at the Nanjing Olympic Center to watch Liu run his race and retain the title he won four years ago.

Shi Dongpeng was second and Cheng Ming third.

Liu, whose 12.91 seconds in the Athens final matched Colin Jackson's world record, is China's first-ever men's athlete to win a sprint race at the Olympic level. He vowed to repeat the feat at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

"This was an ordinary race, the time was not important, what was important was to win," Liu told 500 baying journalists.

"The track was very slippery... I didn't put everything I had into the race because it was more important to stay safe and steady, I knew I wouldn't be able to break 13 seconds."

Liu said he enjoyed fans chanting his name and women screaming when he takes off his track suit, but said his commercial activities were tedious.

To avoid the media he has stayed in six different hotels in Nanjing and trains at a different venue every day.

"When I'm in China I also have a lot of commercial activities, which I don't really like, but I try not to let it influence the race," Liu said.

"I like meetings outside of China. International meetings are very open and comfortable."

With his star on the rise it is unlikely the media spotlight will dim in the run up to the 2008 Olympics, and he said he will get used to it.

"At the Beijing Olympics, I'm not going to be bothered by these things and I will put everything I have into the race," he said.