Background

Liu Xiang shot to fame in 2002 by breaking Renaldo Nehemiah’s 24-year-old World Junior Record, and two years later was #1 in the world. In winning Olympic gold while equaling Colin Jackson’s 1993 World Record, Liu soared to mega-stardom in China as the first male track-and-field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for his country. A national sensation, he donated the spikes he wore in his gold-medal race to a Shanghai project to build schools; the auction began at $1.2 million US. He says that because his busy schedule prevents him from doing as much hands-on charity work as he would like, donating his racing shoes and uniforms is a good way to help.

Ranked in the Top 5 on the Forbes “2006 Chinese Top Celebrities” list, Liu crushed the World Record in 2006, and was named China’s Sportsman of the Year. Mobbed like a rock star everywhere he goes, it’s fitting that Liu counts singing as a hobby and he has appeared in at least one music video. With Beijing hosting the next Olympics, Liu is poised to become the face of the 2008 Games.