China’s Liu set a world record in 110-meter hurdles

Liu was a high jumper back in fifth grade when he was advised to give up sports after a bone test revealed he would remain too short to become a world-class athlete. He became China's first sprint Olympic gold medalist in Athens, and topped the mark he shared with Jackson, who ran 12.91 in Stuttgart, Germany, in August 1993.

Photo: China’s Liu set a world record in 110-meter hurdles

Liu, who switched from the high jump to hurdles in 1998, has always done well on this Pontaise track.

On this track in 2002, running in the B race for lack of space in a star-studded main event that included Jackson, four-time world champion Allen Johnson, and then-Olympic champion Anier Garcia, Liu clocked 13.12, toppling Renaldo Nehemiah's junior mark that stood since 1978.

The following year, he won a bronze medal at the world championships, establishing himself as a medal contender for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, though perhaps not for the gold, the AP reports.