China Olympic Hero Liu Xiang Quits Games
It's a huge heartbreak for Chinese fans and corporate sponsors, but marketers for the likes of Coke and Lenovo know it's risky to back single athletes


China's Xiang Liu retires from the first round of the men's 110m hurdles at the 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 18, 2008.

by Frederik Balfour

It was meant to be the crowning event of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Bird's Nest Stadium erupted in wild cheering when hometown hurdler Liu Xiang stepped onto the field. But the jubilation gave way to shock, disbelief, and heartbreak when, after an initial false start caused by another runner, Liu walked away from the field, unable to compete because of an injured Achilles tendon.

No other Chinese athlete felt more pressure coming into the games than Liu. Since winning the 110 hurdles in Athens in 2004, Liu become an overnight hero to Chinese fans and a darling of marketers, including Nike (NKE), Coca-Cola (KO), Visa (V), and McDonald's (MCD), not to mention more than a dozen Chinese brands (BusinessWeek.com, 8/8/07) ranging from tobacco company Baisha to Spring of Sudi, a real estate company. Last year, Liu's tie-ins with corporate sponsors, which also included General Motors (GM), earned him an estimated $15 million, placing him second in earnings only to Houston Rockets center Yao Ming among Chinese sports stars.

Now, as Chinese fans cope with their collective despair over Liu's tragic withdrawal from the Games, his sponsors (BusinessWeek.com, 7/31/08) are doing their best to put on a brave face. "We are still proud and honored to have him as a brand ambassador," says Keith Kaerhoeg, group communications director of Coca-Cola Pacific. "We will certainly continue our engagement with Liu Xiang and wish him a full and early recovery." Coke began working with Liu in 2003 before his Olympic win.

WILL SPONSORS STAND BY HIM?
Still, you can bet Coke is praying Liu will be back in competition soon. Coke's partnership with Liu Xiang has been one of China's most successful Olympic-related campaigns. According to data collected in May by market research firm Nielsen, 62% of those asked were able to recall a Coke ad in which he was featured. Despite his injury, he is still scheduled to make an appearance at Coke's pavilion on the Olympic green later this week.

How many of those lucrative sponsorship deals will continue after the Olympics is over remains to be seen. Hurdlers are among the most injury-prone athletes, and Liu had been plagued by difficulties since May. His teary-eyed coach, Feng Shuyong, told a press conference where Liu was not in attendance that "if his injury weren't so serious, he would never have quit," according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. That statement does not augur well at all for Liu's future in competition. He will be 30 for the next Olympics.

Of course, sponsoring individuals is always more chancy than backing entire teams or events. "From a marketing perspective, association with athletes carries special risks, from notoriety to injury," says Seth Grossman, communication planning director at Aegis Group subsidiary Carat China in Shanghai. "The future for Liu Xiang and those brands is anybody's guess, but this isn't the time where major brand decisions are made."

NOT ALL SPONSORSHIPS IN ONE BASKET
PC maker Lenovo says it's impossible to speculate on how Liu will reckon in its marketing plans going forward. As company spokesman Bob Page in Beijing points out, Liu Xiang was one of 15 athletes working with Lenovo; others include U.S. women's beach volleyball duo Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, and Australian women's swimming 50-meter freestyle world record-holder Libby Trickett. So while Liu's withdrawal from the games comes as a disappointment, the company didn't have everything riding on him alone. "These things happen," says Page, "Some athletes do extremely well and some don't, that's part of competing in the Olympic Games."

With Liu out of the competition, Cuban sensation Dayron Robles looks like a shoo-in for the 110 men's hurdles gold medal. If that's the case, you can be sure corporate sponsors will be beating down his door to sign deals.

Medals - Tuesday 19 August

There are 20 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (5)
Men's 1500 metre final:
1 Rashid Ramzi (Brn) 3:32.94 Gold
2 Asbel Kipruto Kiprop (Ken) 3:33.11 Silver
3 Nicholas Willis (Nzl) 3:34.16 Bronze
Women's 100 metre hurdles:
1 Dawn Harper (US) 12.54 Gold
2 Sally Mclellan (Aus) 12.64 Silver
3 Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Can) 12.64 Bronze
Men's discus final:
1 Gerd Kanter (Est) 68.82m Gold
2 Piotr Malachowski (Pol) 67.82m Silver
3 Virgilijus Alekna (Lit) 67.79m Bronze
Women's 400 metre final:
1. Christine Ohuruogu (GB) 49.62 seconds Gold
2. Shericka Williams (Jam) 49.69 Silver
3. Sanya Richards (US) 49.93 Bronze
Men's high jump final:
1. Andrey Silnov (Rus) 2.36 metres Gold
2. Germaine Mason (GB) 2.34 Silver
3. Yaroslav Rybakov (Rus) 2.34 Bronze
Cycling (3)
Women's sprint:
1 Victoria Pendleton (GB) Gold
2 Anna Meares (Aus) Silver
3 Shuang Guo (Chn) Bronze
Men's sprint:
1 Chris Hoy (GB) Gold
2 Jason Kenny (GB) Silver
3 Mickael Bourgain (Fra) Bronze
Men's madison:
1 Argentina (Curuchet/Perez) Gold
2 Spain (Llaneras/Tauler) Silver
3 Russia (Ignatyev/Markov) Bronze
Diving (1)
1330-1450: Men's 3m spring
Equestrian (1)
Dressage Individual final:
1. Anky van Grunsven (Ned) 78.680 Gold
2. Isabell Werth (Ger) 76.650 Silver
3. Heike Kemmer (Ger) 74.455 Bronze
Gymnastics (4)
Men's horizontal bar final:
1. Zou Kai (Chn) 16.200 points Gold
2. Jonathan Horton (US) 16.175 Silver
3. Fabian Hambuechen (Ger) 15.875 Bronze
Women's beam final:
1. Shawn Johnson (US) 16.225 points Gold
2. Nastia Liukin (US) 16.025 Silver
3. Cheng Fei (Chn) 15.950 Bronze
Men's parallel bars final:
1. Li Xiaopeng (Chn) 16.450 points Gold
2. Yoo Won Chul (Kor) 16.250 Silver
3. Anton Fokin (Uzb) 16.200 Bronze
Women's trampolining final:
1 He Wenna (Chn) 37.80 points Gold
2 Karen Cockburn (Can) 37.00 Silver
3 Ekaterina Khilko (Uzb) 36.90 Bronze
Sailing (2)
Men's laser medal race:
Paul Goodison (GB) Gold
Vasilij Zbogar (Slo) Silver
Diego Romero (Ita) Bronze
0600-1200: Women's laser medal race (postponed)
Triathlon (1)
Jan Frodeno (Ger) Gold
Simon Whitfield (Can) Silver
Bevan Docherty (NZ) Bronze
Weightlifting (1)
Men's +105kg final
1 Matthias Steiner (Ger) 461 kg Gold
2 Evgeny Chigishev (Rus) 460 Silver
3 Viktors Scerbatihs (Lat) 448 Bronze
Wrestling (2)
Men's 55kg freestyle final:
Henry Cejudo (US) Gold
Tomohiro Matsunaga (Jpn) Silver
Besik Kudukhov (Rus) Bronze
Radoslav Velikov (Bul) Bronze
Men's 60kg freestyle final:
Mavlet Batirov (Rus) Gold
Vasyl Fedoryshyn (Ukr) Silver
Kenichi Yumoto (Jpn) Bronze
Seyedmorad Mohammadi (Irn) Bronze

Medals - Wednesday 20 August

There are 11 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (3)
Women's hammer
1 Aksana Miankova (Bel) 76.34m Gold
2 Yipsi Moreno (Cub) 75.20 Silver
3 Zhang Wenxiu (Chn) 74.32 Bronze
Men's 200m final
1 Usain Bolt (Jam) 19.30 Gold WR
2 Churandy Martina (Nan) 19.82 Silver
3 Shawn Crawford (US) 19.96 Bronze
Women's 400m hurdles final
1 Melaine Walker (Jam) 52.64secs Gold OR
2 Sheena Tosta (US) 53.70 Silver
3 Tasha Danvers (GB) 53.84 Bronze
Sailing (2)
Men's RS: X final:
1 Tom Ashley (NZ) 52 points Gold
2 Julien Bontemps (Fra) 53 Silver
3 Shahar Zubari (Isr) 58 Bronze
Women's RS:X windsurfing:
1 Jian Yin (Chn) Gold
2 Alessandra Sensini (Ita) Silver
3 Bryony Shaw (GB) Bronze
Softball
Australia bronze
Swimming (1)
Women's 10km swim
Larisa Ilchenko (Rus) Gold
Keri-Anne Payne (GB) Silver
Cassie Patten (GB) Bronze
Synchronised swimming (1)
Synchronised swimming duet
1 Davydenko/Ermakova (Rus) 99.251 Gold
2 Fuentes/Mengual (Spa) 98.334 Silver
3 Harada/Suzuki (Jpn) 97.167 Bronze
Taekwondo (2)
Women's 49kg
Wu Jingyu (Chn) Gold
Buttree Puedpong (Tha) Silver
Daynellis Montejo (Cub) Bronze
Dalia Contreras Rivero (Ven) Bronze
Men's 58kg
Guillermo Perez (Mex) Gold
Yulis Gabriel Mercedes (Dom) Silver
Rohullah Nikpai (Afg) Bronze
Chu Mu-Yen (Tpe) Bronze
Wrestling (2)
Men's 66kg
Ramazan Shahin (Tur) Gold
Andriy Stadnik (Ukr) Silver
Otar Tushishvili (Geo) Bronze
Men's 74 kg
Buvaysa Saytiev (Rus) Gold
Soslan Tigiev (Uzb) Silver
Murad Gaidarov (Bel) Bronze
Kiril Terziev (Bul) Bronze

Medals - Thursday 21 August

There are 21 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (6)
Women's 20km walk
Olga Kaniskina (Rus) Gold
Kjersti Platzer (Nor) Silver
Elisa Rigaudo (Ita) Bronze
Women's 200m final
1 Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jam) 21.74secs Gold
2 Allyson Felix (US) 21.93 Silver
3 Kerron Stewart (Jam) 22.00 Bronze
Women's javelin final
1 Barbora Spotakova (Cze) 71.42m Gold
2 Maria Abakumova (Rus) 70.78 Silver
3 Christina Obergfoll (Ger) 66.13 Bronze
Men's 400m final:
1 Lashawn Merritt (US) 43.75 Gold
2 Jeremy Wariner (US) 44.74 Silver
3 David Neville (US) 44.80 Bronze
Men's triple jump final:
1 Nelson Evora (Por) 17.67metres Gold
2 Phillips Idowu (GB) 17.62 Silver
3 Leevan Sands (Bah) 17.59 Bronze
Men's 110m hurdles final
1 Dayron Robles (Cub) 12.93secs Gold
2 David Payne (US) 13.17 Silver
3 David Oliver (US) 13.18 Bronze
Beach volleyball (1)
Women's event
Kerri Walsh/Misty May-Treanor (US) Gold
Tian Jia/Wang Jie (Chn) Silver
Xue Chen/Zhang Xi (Chn) Bronze
Diving (1)
Women's 10m platform final
1 Chen Ruolin (Chn) 447.70 points Gold
2 Emilie Heymans (Can) 437.05 Silver
3 Wang Xin (Chn) 429.90 Bronze
Equestrian (1)
Individual jumping final:
1 Eric Lamaze (Can) 0 (0) Gold
2 Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Swe) 0 (4) Silver
3 Beezie Madden (US) 4 (0) Bronze
Football (1)
Women's
United States Gold
Brazil Silver
Germany Bronze
Men's modern pentathlon (1)
1 Andrey Moiseev (Rus) 5632 points Gold
2 Edvinas Krungolcas (Lit) 5548 Silver
3 Andrejus Zadneprovskis (Lit) 5524 Bronze
Sailing (2)
Tornado
Fernando Echavarri/Anton Paz (Spa) Gold
Darren Bundock/Glenn Ashby (Aus) Silver
Santiago Lange/Carlos Espinola (Arg) Bronze
Star
Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GB) Gold
Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (Brz) Silver
Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom (Swe) Bronze
Softball (1)
Japan Gold
United States Silver
Australia Bronze
Swimming (1)
Men's 10km open water
Maarten van der Weijden (Ned) Gold
David Davies (GB) Silver
Thomas Lurz (Ger) Bronze
Taekwondo (2)
Women's 57kg
Lim Su-jeong (Kor) Gold
Azize Tanrikulu (Tur) Silver
Diana Lopez (US) Bronze
Martina Zubcic (Cro) Bronze
Men's 68kg
Son Tae-jin (Kor) Gold
Mark Lopez (US) Silver
Servet Tazeguel (Tur) Bronze
Sung Yu-chi (Tpe) Bronze
Water polo (1)
Women's
Netherlands Gold
United States Silver
Australia Bronze
Wrestling (3)
Men's freestyle 84kg final
Revazi Mindorashvili (Geo) Gold
Yusup Abdusalomov (Tjk) Silver
Taras Danko (Ukr) Bronze
Georgy Ketoev (Rus) Bronze
Men's freestyle 96kg
Shirvani Muradov (Rus) Gold
Taimuraz Tigiyev (Kaz) Silver
George Gogshelidze (Geo) Bronze
Khetag Gazyumov (Aze) Bronze
Men's freestyle 120kg
Artur Taymazov (Uzb) Gold
Bakhtiyar Akhmedov (Rus) Silver
David Musulbes (Svk) Bronze
Marid Mutalimov (Kaz) Bronze

Medals - Friday 22 August

There are 20 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (7)
Men's 50km walk:
Alex Schwazer (Ita) Gold
Jared Tallent (Aus) Silver
Denis Nizhegorodov (Rus) Bronze
Women's long jump:
Maurren Higa Maggi (Brz) Gold
Tatyana Lebedeva (Rus) Silver
Blessing Okagbare (Ngr) Bronze
Men's pole vault:
Steve Hooker (Aus) Gold
Evgeny Lukyanenko (Rus) Silver
Denys Yurchenko (Ukr) Bronze
Women's 5000m:
Tirunesh Dibaba (Eth) Gold
Elvan Abeylegesse (Tur) Silver
Meseret Defar (Eth) Bronze
Women's 4x100m:
Russia Gold
Belgium Silver
Nigeria Bronze
Decathlon:
Andrei Krauchanka (Bel) Gold
Oleksiy Kasyanov (Ukr) Silver
Leonel Suarez (Cub) Bronze
Men's 4x100m:
Jamaica Gold
Trinidad and Tobago Silver
Japan Bronze
Beach volleyball (1)
Men's event:
Todd Rogers/Philip Dalhausser (US) Gold
Marcio Araujo/Fabio Luiz (Brz) Silver
Ricardo/Emanuel (Brz) Bronze
Canoeing (6)
Men's flatwater K1 1000m:
Tim Brabants (GB) Gold
Eirik Veraas Larsen (Nor) Silver
Ken Wallace (Aus) Bronze
Men's C1 canoe single 1000m final:
1 Attila Sandor Vajda (Hun) 3 mins 50.467 secs Gold
2 David Cal (Spa) 3:52.751 Silver
3 Thomas Hall (Can) 3:53.653 Bronze
Women's kayak K4 500m final:
1 Germany 1 minute 32.231 seconds Gold
2 Hungary 1:32.971 Silver
3 Australia 1:34.704 Bronze
Men's kayak K2 1000m final:
1 Martin Hollstein/Andreas Ihle (Ger) Gold
2 Kim Wraae Knudsen/Rene Holten Poulsen (Den) Silver
3 Andrea Facchin/Antonio Scaduto (Ita) Bronze
Men's canoe double C2 1000m final:
Andrei Bahdanovich/Aliaksandr Bahdanovich (Bel) Gold
Christian Gille/Thomasz Wylenzek (Ger) Silver
Gyorgy Kozmann/Tamas Kiss (Hun) Bronze
Men's kayak K4 1000m final:
Belarus Gold
Slovakia Silver
Germany Bronze
Cycling (3)
Men's BMX final:
Maris Strombergs (Lat) Gold
Mike Day (US) Silver
Donny Robinson (US) Bronze
Women's BMX final:
Anne-Caroline Chausson (Fra) Gold
Laetitia le Corguille (Fra) Silver
Jill Kinter (US) Bronze
Football
Men's bronze medal match:
Brazil Bronze
Hockey (1)
Women's hockey:
Netherlands Gold
China Silver
Argentina Bronze
Modern pentathlon (1)
Women's modern pentathlon:
Lena Schoneborn (Ger) 5792 pts Gold
Heather Fell (GB) 5752 pts Silver
Victoria Tereshchuk (Ukr) 5672 pts Bronze
Table tennis (1)
Women's singles
Yining Zhang (Chn) Gold
Nan Wang (Chn) Silver
Yue Guo (Chn)Bronze
Taekwondo (2)
Women's -67kg:
Kyungseon Hwang (Kor) Gold
Karine Sergerie (Can) Silver
Gwladys Patience Epangue (Fra) Bronze
Sandra Saric (Cro) Bronze
Men's -80kg:
Hadi Saei (Irn) Gold
Mauro Sarmiento (Ita) Silver
Steven Lopez (US) Bronze
Guo Zhu (Chn) Bronze

Medals - Saturday 23 August

There are 32 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (7)
Women's high jump:
Tia Hellebaut (Bel) Gold
Blanka Vlasic (Cro) Silver
Anna Chicherova (Rus) Bronze
Men's javelin:
Andreas Thorkildsen (Nor) OR Gold
Ainars Kovals (Lat) Silver
Tero Pitkamaki (Fin) Bronze
Men's 800m:
Wilfred Bungei (Ken) Gold
Ismail Ahmed Ismail (Sud) Silver
Alfred Kirwa Yego (Ken) Bronze
Women's 1500m:
Jebet Nancy Langat (Ken) Gold
Iryna Lishchynska (Ukr) Silver
Nataliya Tobias (Ukr) Bronze
Men's 5000m:
Kenenisa Bekele (Eth) Gold
Eliud Kipchoge (Ken) Silver
Edwin Cheruiyot Soi (Ken) Bronze
Women's 4x400m relay:
United States (Wineberg, Felix, Henderson, Richards) Gold
Russia (Gushchina, Litvinova, Firova, K'chinskaya) Silver
Jamaica (Williams, Lloyd, Whyte, Williams) Bronze
Men's 4x400m relay:
United States (Merritt, Taylor, Neville, Wariner) Gold
Bahamas (Bain, Mathieu, Williams, Brown) Silver
Russia (Dyldin, Frolov, Kokorin, Alexeev) Bronze
Baseball (1)
Men's event:
South Korea Gold
Cuba Silver
United States Bronze
Basketball (1)
Women's event:
United States Gold
Australia Silver
Russia Bronze
Boxing (5)
Men's flyweight (51kg):
Somjit Jongjohor (Tha) Gold
Andris Laffita Hernandez (Cub) Silver
Men's featherweight (57kg):
Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukr) Gold
Khedafi Djelkhir (Fra) Silver
Men's light welterweight (64kg):
Felix Diaz (Dom) Gold
Manus Boonjumnong (Tha) Silver
Men's middleweight (75kg):
James Degale (GB) Gold
Emilio Correa Bayeaux (Cub) Silver
Men's heavyweight (91kg):
Rakhim Chakhkiev (Rus) Gold
Clemente Russo (Ita) Silver
Canoeing (6)
Men's kayak single K1 500m:
Ken Wallace (Aus) Gold
Adam van Koeverden (Can) Silver
Tim Brabants (GB) Bronze
Men's canoe single C1 500m:
Maxim Opalev (Rus) Gold
David Cal (Spa) Silver
Iurii Cheban (Ukr) Bronze
Women's kayak single K1 500m:
Inna Osypenko-Radomska (Ukr) Gold
Josefa Idem (Ita) Silver
Katrin Wagner-Augustin (Ger) Bronze
Men's kayak double K2 500m:
Saul Craviotto/Carlos Perez (Spa) Gold
Ronald Rauhe/Tim Wieskotter (Ger) Silver
Raman Piatrushenka/Vadzim Makhneu (Bel) Bronze
Men's canoe double C2 500m:
Guanliang Meng/Wenjun Yang (Chn) Gold
Sergey Ulegin/Alexander Kostoglod (Rus) Silver
Christian Gille/Thomasz Wylenzek (Ger) Bronze
Women's kayak double K2 500m:
Katalin Kovacs/Natasa Janic (Hun) Gold
Beata Mikolajczyk/Aneta Konieczna (Pol) Silver
Marie Delattre/Anne-Laure Viard (Fra) Bronze
Cycling (2)
Women's mountain bike:
Sabine Spitz (Ger) Gold
Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) Silver
Irina Kalentyeva (Rus) Bronze
Men's mountain bike:
Julien Absalon (Fra) Gold
Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Silver
Nino Schurter (Swi) Bronze
Diving (1)
Men's 10m platform:
Matthew Mitcham (Aus) Gold
Luxin Zhou (Chn) Silver
Gleb Galperin (Rus) Bronze
Football (1)
Men's event:
Argentina Gold
Nigeria Silver
Brazil Bronze
Handball (1)
Women's event:
Norway Gold
Russia Silver
South Korea Bronze
Hockey (1)
Men's event:
Germany Gold
Spain Silver
Australia Bronze
Rhythmic gymnastics (1)
Individual all-around:
Evgeniya Kanaeva (Rus) Gold
Inna Zhukova (Blr) Silver
Anna Bessonova (Ukr) Bronze
Synchro swimming (1)
Team free routine:
Russia Gold
Spain Silver
China Bronze
Table tennis (1)
Men's singles:
Ma Lin (Chn) Gold
Wang Hao (Chn) Silver
Wang Liqin (Chn) Bronze
Taekwondo (2)
Women's 67kg:
Maria del Rosario Espinoza (Mex) Gold
Nina Solheim (Nor) Silver
Sarah Stevenson (GB) Bronze
Men's 80kg:
Cha Dong-ming (Kor) Gold
Alexandros Nikolaidis (Gre) Silver
Arman Chilmanov (Kaz) Bronze
Chika Chukwumerije (Nga) Bronze
Volleyball (1)
Women's indoor:
Brazil Gold
United States Silver
China Bronze

Medals - Sunday 24 August

There are 12 gold medals to be won today.

Athletics (1)
Men's marathon:
Samuel Wanjiru (Ken) Gold
Jaouad Gharib (Mor) Silver
Tsegay Kebede (Eth) Bronze
Basketball (1)
Men's event:
United States Gold
Spain Silver
Argentina Bronze
Boxing (6)
Light-flyweight (48kg):
Zou Shiming (Chn) Gold
Serdamba Purevdorj (Mgl) Silver
Bantamweight (54kg):
Badar-Uugan Enkhbat (Mgl) Gold
Yankiel Leon Alarcon (Cub) Silver
Lightweight (60kg):
Alexey Tishchenko (Rus) Gold
Daouda Sow (Fra) Silver
Welterweight (69kg):
Bakhyt Sarsekbayev (Kaz) Gold
Carlos Banteaux Suarez (Cub) Silver
Light heavyweight (81kg):
Xiaoping Zhang (Chn) Gold
Kenny Egan (Ire) Silver
Super heavyweight (+91kg) final:
Roberto Cammarelle (Ita) Gold
Zhilei Zhang (Chn) Silver
Handball (1)
Men's event:
France Gold
Iceland Silver
Spain Bronze
Rhythmic gymnastics (1)
Group all-around:
Russia Gold
China Silver
Belarus Bronze
Volleyball (1)
Men's indoor:
United States Gold
Brazil Silver
Russia Bronze
Water polo (1)
Hungary Gold
United States Silver
Serbia Bronze

I checked this forum to check the gold medal status everyday.
Impressed with it. Signed up here since I am doing graduation in history.
Thanks for the detailed update.

Nice to read you liked this thread. Is there any sports you do?