Liu takes Manhattan

Chinese Olympic star Liu Xiang poses for the press on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. AP

NEW YORK -- He stood 86 floors above the earth, staring down at lower Manhattan from a corner of the observation deck at the Empire State Building. Liu Xiang, the reigning gold medalist and world-record holder (12.88) in the 110-meter hurdles, had just completed a half hour of interviews with the broadcast press and had a minute to himself before a small army of print reporters met him. He turned his lanky body toward the fence, stretched his arms, and looked at the skyline below him.

"A very big city," Liu said through his interpreter, Jingwen Wang. "The financial capital of the world."

The man from Shanghai is no stranger to capitalism. China's most famous athlete not named Yao Ming has earned millions as a pitchman for Nike, Coca-Cola, Amwa, Kia, Visa, Yili Dairy, Baisha (a cigarette maker) and a half-dozen other companies, according to Business Week. The 24-year-old is one of the faces of new China, a symbol of the furious expansion from the world's fastest-growing major economy. By beating the West at an event it traditionally dominates, Liu changed perceptions about the Chinese track athlete. He also became a hero to a population of 1.3 billion.

"Before him, I think that many people thought it was difficult for Chinese people to be good at sprinting and hurdles," said Feng Shuyong, the head coach of China's athletics team. "His success has given us the belief that Chinese people can do well in these things."

At a morning press conference on the ground floor of the Empire State Building, Liu wore a yellow and black windbreaker (Nike, naturally), blue jeans and white sneakers with blue shoelaces. His features are much softer than what appear on billboards. Up close, it looked as if Liu were attempting to grow a bit of goatee. (Such prospects appeared dim.)

The organizers of the press conference had expected a handful of media. They ended up with close to 100. It was an interesting scene at one of America's most iconic buildings: Groups of schoolchildren passed along the side of Liu's press conference, blissfully unaware that the Chinese man in the white chair was one of the world's most famous athletes.

"I had never heard of him and I watch track and field," said an electrician for the Empire State Building who identified himself as Jake. "Is he a big deal?

The answer is yes, even if he has yet to penetrate the American market. Liu was asked about the changes in his life since he took gold in Athens. "I get a lot more attention," he said. "And I make a lot more money than I did three years ago."

Liu was in New York -- his fourth time visiting the financial capital -- to promote the Reebok Grand Prix, which takes place Saturday at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island, east of Manhattan. Among his competitors will be world championship silver medalist Terrence Trammell, who finished second to Liu in Athens. Last week Liu won the 110-meter hurdles in an Olympic test event at the Bird's Nest National Stadium in China, the site of the track and field competition.

"I like the experience very much," said Liu. "The track is very good and the audience was enthusiastic."

Liu said he will race twice prior to the Olympics. Next month's Prefontaine meeting in Oregon would be his only other competitive race before the Games.

"I still don't know what makes me so fast and so successful," he said. "I know that when I see a hurdle in front of me I just go and attack it."

The twin spires of expectations and pressure always come up when Liu speaks with the Western press. Has any athlete ever had more pressure on him? The answer here is no.

"All of them [Chinese people] expect him to win the gold medal, which is pressure, but at the same time it is encouragement," said Feng.

Asked if if he did any kind of psychological training, Liu joked, "I feel I am my best therapist."

Liu said he has spoken with Yao Ming -- his brother in adulation and expectation -- about handing the intensity prior to the Games. Yao told him "to treat [the build-up] like everyday life."

Liu trains in both his hometown of Shanghai and the national training center in Beijing, but Feng said Liu cannot escape his fame in either city. "If he needs to get a haircut, we need to send somebody with him," Feng said. "Sometimes I think he is a poor boy because he cannot do what he wants."

Indeed, Liu was mobbed after his race last week by hundreds of Chinese reporters. In an area designed to let reporters talk with athletes, Liu climbed over several barriers to escape. How does he deal with the pressure? "I see myself as an average person," said Liu. "I try to do my best and try to do my job. I have to be calm to be able to face the pressure. I don't see myself as a superstar. That is how I deal with it."

If Liu's coaches have a worry about the event he has dominated over the past two years, it is the start of the race. "I feel in previous years I was not very good at the start," Liu said. "This year my training has been focused on the start. My second half of the race I am normally pretty good at. Now it's about putting those two together."

Away from the track, Liu likes bowling, computers, golf, snooker, and is supposedly a very good karaoke singer. He said he would like to continue until the 2012 Games with a possible post-track career in social work. When asked if there were any American athlete he admired, Liu's eyes suddenly got wide. "Michael Jordan," Liu said in perfect English. He then made a motion with his hand as if he were shooting a basketball.