(XINHUA)

China's track and field star Liu Xiang again saw his gold-medal hopes dashed prematurely when he crashed into the first barrier in the opening heat of the 110-meter hurdles at the London Olympic Games on August 7.

Liu received a rousing ovation from the crowd of 80,000 as he hopped down the track to symbolically cross the finish line, kissing the last hurdle.

It was the second time Liu failed in the first round of Olympic Games. Four years ago, he was forced to withdraw due to a tendon injury at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Liu was diagnosed with an achilles tendon fracture this time and will undergo surgery in Britain.

Liu, 29, is one of the world's best athletes in 110-meter hurdles. He started training for track and field in 1990, and went on to win gold in the 110-meter hurdles with a 12.91-second finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, tying the 11-year record of Britain's Colin Jackson. Liu's historic victory in Athens made him the first Asian man to win gold in track and field, a popular sport around the world.

Though China took 51 gold medals to top the tally in Beijing, it lags behind the rest of the world on the track and therefore regards Liu as a national treasure. In 2006, Liu set a new 110-meter hurdles world record in a time of 12.88 seconds in Lausanne, breaking the record that had stood for 13 years.