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My heart broke on behalf of Liu Xiang, the Chinese 110m hurdler first thrust into the spotlight after winning gold in Athens, as he limped out of the Bird’s Nest a few days ago. His right foot which has bothered him for quite some time didn’t allow him to even finish more than two hurdles during a practice run. But I wasn’t the only one sad…His coach sobbed; Chinese media shed tears; Spectators in the Bird’s Nest cried while the nation mourned. The legs of one man which were insured for $13 million would not be running the race they were destined to run.

Because Chinese Olympians tend to focus more on the individual sports rather than the team sports, the pressure on individual athletes is tremendous. I think it’s just unfair that one man like Liu Xiang should have to carry the burden that is usually shared by a team.

An ad campaign run in China by Adidas paints the picture perfectly. I personally love it because it has a way of building pride within the hearts of the Chinese while allowing the western mind to get a glimpse of what it means to be a Chinese athlete. Here you see a billboard depicting one of the women’s basketball players playing on a sea of Chinese citizens shooting toward a basket held by the people:

The fact that there is only one player from the team depicted in this advertisement speaks volumes for me: even in a team sport there is pressure on the individual. Here you can get a sense of how the regular Chinese citizen feels a part of the achievements of its athletes in a way that very few other countries do, especially in the western world. In the same way the athletes are adored by 1.3 billion people for their success, they face the possibility of disappointing each one of them if they fail. This, I believe, is a burden too heavy for any one person or team to bear.