When Liu Xiang stood at the starting line, it was 2:30 in the afternoon in China.
The commentator for this preliminary heat was Yang Jian.
"Alright, the third heat of the first-round preliminaries is about to begin, and the cameras are now on Liu Xiang."
"In the second heat that just ended, Dudley Dorival from Haiti took first in his group with a time of 13.39 seconds."
"Here comes Liu Xiang. As a seeded athlete, he's in lane four. Beside him in lane five is his main competitor for this heat, Charles Allen from Canada."
"But we all know that at this year's Osaka Grand Prix, Liu Xiang ran a personal best of 12.93 seconds. That's absolutely a gold-medal-contending time, so I don't believe Charles Allen poses much of a threat to him."
"But this is just a preliminary heat, so Liu Xiang's goal should be clear: play it safe, advance, and conserve energy for the races to come."
Next, Yang Jian briefly introduced the athletes in the other lanes.
