China’s hurdling icon Liu salutes masters after meeting Germans
The former world record holder and 2004 Olympic champion had some nice things to say about us a couple weeks ago. Writing in his IAAF diary, Liu Xiang said: “During my training period in Dusseldorf, Germany, in March, I observed four older people training over several days. They were full of vigor, always starting with warm-ups and sometimes I noticed that they even wore spike shoes for starting blocks and sprints. This seemed very professional to me. When I asked their ages I was surprised by what I heard. They told me they were each over 70 years of age, with the oldest person being 82-years-old! They used to be European Masters Champions and competitors and were in the midst of preparing for the World Masters Championships.”
Liu joins M35 age group in July 2018. He's not that far away, folks!
He continued:
“Chinese Liu, we are fans of you. We love to watch you compete.” They gave me a newspaper as a gift. In it was a report about me, returning back to competition after my injury. Watching them train, I was moved. I admired their enthusiasm in Athletics. I thanked them for their concerns about me and told them that their encouragement will push me to work even harder to be faster, reach higher, and have a stronger resolve. I wish all the veterans the very best that they may enjoy happiness and health brought by our sport.”
Chinese are legendary for honoring their ancestors and elders.
Nice to see this apply to masters tracksters as well.
11 Responses
It is nice to hear that such a famous elite athlete has respectful and friendly attitude toward master (veteran) athletes. Obviously Liu is a nice, not selfish, person. He felt encouraged by the masters, and masters are encouraged by his attention.
He is a fan of masters, and we are fans of him (by the way, is there anybody here who will not wish him to win the 110mH at the Olympic Games this year?).
Nice! Now some Chinese over 70 wil start training for masters events, say some 10 million.
Many of the Olympians and the Olympic hopefuls appreciate the athletizism of the Masters. Willie Gualt trains in California with a group. I have had the priviledge in South Florida to work out next to Walter Dix. My good friend, Rudy Briscoe, has the same experience as the article when working out in Clermont, FL. The althetes we admire I believe admire us that continue to strive for a better live through the activities of Masters Track & Field!!! Stay young, train smart, enjoy the activities and friendships that we build.
Oh, Weia, the M/W 70+ I think are all good swimmers: I remember that in july 1966 a M73 was swimming in the Jangtze (butterfly? crawl?).
Tickled to see that Liu is running. It was awful to see him with that injury. I want him to be doing this for life. Smartty
Rick Riddle and I and a couple of others have the priviledge of working out on the same track with Doc Patton, Wallace Spearman, Jared Conaughton, Cordero Gray and some others. They are all very friendly and respect what we do and actually admire us as we do them. How blessed we are.
I’m rooting for David Oliver to take the Olympic gold in the hurdles, but Liu seems like a real stand up guy. Nice interview.
One of the many great things about our sport is that you can train side-by-side with -or compete with- some of the greatest athletes in the world if you are lucky enough to live in or be in the right city. At various times, UCLA, SMC, CU, UTA and Rice have all been open to the public, or hosted all-comer meets and it was not uncommon to find Olympians training or competing alongside normal folks.
By contrast, almost none of us have ever had the opportunity to practice with or play against the NY Giants, LA Raiders, Chicago Bulls, St. Louis Cardinals or Montreal Canadiens.
I have a dream that after each Olympic Games Organization, there will not only be the opportunity for Paralympical athletes to compete in those fantastic stadiums in their Paralympics, but also a candidacy to have the next world master championships in those venues. Liu is a great athlete, his come back after a severe injury like he had can only be saluted. I hope he will do well in London this year and will astonish people around the world with his future achievements. His salute to the German masters training in preparation for their world championships indoor is a great way to make masters athletes efforts more known to the world.
This great chinese Champion is obviously printed by Chinese culture and the respect and admiration they have for older people. We look forward seing him in the Master Family
Regarding the post #8 by JStone which said:
‘One of the many great things about our sport is that you can train side-by-side with -or compete with- some of the greatest athletes in the world if you are lucky enough to live in or be in the right city…’
I can certainly concur with and verify that.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and interacting (at length) with many Olympic-level track and field athletes by visiting (or even competing in) the meets they were competing in here in Vancouver, BC.
As well: I have run in the same heat (at local all-comers meets or the like) against 3 Olympians-at-the-time, who were then, beside being at the elite level of the sport, decades younger than myself.
Certainly couldn’t do that in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, or other ‘significant’ sports in North America, could you? If you’d even approached those guys to play catch, or equivalent, they’d tell you to get lost, or worse.
Is this a great sport or what!!
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