Liu Xiang pulls up short

Just saw Liu Xiang pull out of his heat in the 110-m hurdles. Sorry not to see him compete in the finals, that would have been quite a matchup against Dayron Robles (Cuba). They were given his first heat in the preliminaries full press here... following him throughout his stretches, showing scenes from a chopper over the stadium, etc. There were four CCTV commentators on splits screens talking as he lined up and set up his starting blocks. He seemed fine until he ran out for a practice hurdle from the blocks, then he started grimacing and grabbing his leg. I'm not sure what the nature of his injury is (serious? not serious?), but Liu Xiang was under enormous pressure. One man representing the aspirations of 1.3 billion people in a short sprint in front of 91,000 spectators is a lot of heat to handle. Fans dressed in face paint and waving flags were cheering loudly in the stadium. He lined up to race but it was clear he didn't feel alright. After a false start was called in the race, he turned away and pulled his stickers off, then walked inside and sat down alone. CCTV1 cut to commercial.