Olympic hurdling champ Liu Xiang retires
奥运跨栏冠军刘翔退役

One of China's most beloved athletes is saying goodbye to the sport he loves. Liu Xiang, the Olympic Hurdling Champion from the 2004 Athens Games is retiring. The athlete announcing his decision on his Weibo account, Chinese version of twitter, and there will be no official press conference for the retirement.

In the statement, the Chinese super star said it is time to say goodbye to his professional career. He's looked at the ups and downs in his career and has put a lot of his success down to his fans support. The sprinter says he wants to continue working within sports in the near future, and also has plans for starting a family. The sprinter is also coming off an achilles injury and I am sure that also influenced his decision to walk away.