The ticket sellers outside the Shanghai Stadium on Sunday cut straight to the chase in their efforts to attract passing trade for the impending Samsung Diamond League athletics meeting.

"Liu Xiang! Liu Xiang!" was their only shout.

For the 30,000 or so spectators who turned up, there was no doubt about the main attraction. They were there to see the local hero, Shanghai's favourite son, attempt to reclaim the territory he once occupied at the peak of the sport.

At 27, Liu Xiang is accustomed to large stadiums packed with home expectation. Having had it all as a high hurdler – Olympic and world titles, world record, the lot – he has also had the sensation of seeing it all go as an Achilles tendon injury proved to be a barrier he could not surmount.

His pained inability to carry through with an opening 110 metres hurdles heat at the 2008 Beijing Games provoked widespread dismay among the millions of his fellow Chinese who had come to expect nothing but success from their golden boy.

Many spectators at the Bird's Nest stadium were in tears afterwards, including Liu Xiang's coach as he apologised for the disappointment at a press conference.

Still uncertain about the extent of his recovery, Liu expressed limited ambitions on the eve of the last year's Shanghai meeting, where he was beaten not just by the American who had taken his place at the top of the event, David Oliver, but also by fellow Chinese athlete Dongpeng Li.

This time round, however, the dynamic was different at the pre-event press conference which brought Liu and Oliver together. Liu maintained that his main target would be to try and get as close to the American, whose unbeaten run outdoors stretched back to August 2009, and had "no expectation of overtaking him," adding that he wished Oliver could stay in Shanghai for longer so her could learn from him.

At which point the burly resident of Orlando, Florida, grew serious.

"Liu doesn't need to learn anything from me," Oliver said. "He's already been where I'm trying to go. He's got the gold medals and the world record. That's something I haven't achieved yet."

Then Liu, patting him on his mighty shoulder, insisted with a grin: "You will have them. Be patient!"

There was a sense that Liu was in control of the press conference, just as, the following day, he was to control his race from start to finish in clocking a world-leading time of 13.07sec which indicated that, if he was not yet back at his peak – his former world record stood at 12.88 – then he is well out of the foothills.

Before the last race of the night, the crowd had responded with enthusiasm on numerous occasions, notably – and strangely – in following the progress of the javelin throwers' warm-up efforts, roaring their appreciation as each practice effort soared and landed.

For a while it was reminiscent of the US spectators at the 1994 World Cup finals who whooped their appreciation of the distance gained by goalkeepers' drop kicks.

But when the gun went the quality of sound in the Shanghai Stadium altered to the point where it buzzed in the ear. There was that unmistakeable intensity about the race, a race where the home hope established his lead and, gloriously, floated home with a radiant smile as his powerful opponent laboured to keep in touch.


There was pandemonium in the aftermath as our hero was mobbed by blue-bibbed photographers who switched and turned to stay with him like a shoal of fish, occasionally knocking each other to the ground in their eagerness.

After an extended lap of honour, Liu's face was irradiated by TV lights as he gave the first of a series of animated interviews, finally disappearing from view with a wave which drew squeals of excitement from the many young female spectators who had crammed forward in the stand above him to catch every detail of his activities.

By the time Liu got to the post-race press conference much of that animation had worn down, although he was lively in comparison to the normally ebullient American who now sat rather grimly beside him.

It was not just a good night for Liu, but a bad night for Oliver – as both men were subsequently to maintain.

"I don't think David was at his best tonight," Liu said. "He seemed nervous. He wasn't relaxed. But for us we just try to enjoy the competition."

It may have been the translation, but it seemed almost as if Liu was still in competition, and still enjoying it.

Oliver will soon run much faster than he did on Sunday, and if he gets down to his best of 12.89, set during his unbeaten outdoor season last year, it is far from certain that Liu will be able to match him.

But competition is not all about times, as this marquee event demonstrated. Competition is also about minds.

Asked if he felt he could return to the Olympic podium in London 2012, Liu looked very thoughtful for a moment, before responding: "If the luck is with me."

He cannot control that – but it looks like he is doing a good job on all the things he can control.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames