FACTBOX: Five facts about Liu Xiang

(Reuters) - Five facts about China's Olympic and world 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang who failed to start his first-round heat in the 110 meters hurdles on Monday because of injury:

* Liu became the first Chinese athlete to achieve a "triple crown" of athletics when he added the 2007 110m hurdles world championship title to his Olympic gold of 2004 and his world record of 12.88 seconds set in 2006 - a mark bettered this year by Cuban Dayron Robles.

* As part of its sponsorship of the Chinese athletics team, China Insurance volunteered to donate a policy worth $13,300,000 to protect Liu's legs in the lead up to the 2008 Games. Liu replied that they were priceless.

* Chinese sport officials said last year that Liu's achievements would be rendered "meaningless" if he failed to win Olympic gold in Beijing, according to his coach Sun Haiping. "Officials from the State General Administration of Sports once told us if Liu could not win a gold in Beijing, all of his previous achievements would become meaningless," China Daily quoted Sun as saying in November.

* A natural showman, Liu once sang live in a concert after a track meet in Shanghai and filmed a music video with South Korean pop star Se7en in Shanghai Stadium. In one television commercial, the hurdler chases a kangaroo across the Australian outback.

* Liu has taken part in three Olympic torch relays. He was a torch bearer during the Beijing leg of the 2004 Athens Games relay, ran in the 2006 Winter Olympics relay in Florence, Italy and brought the torch to Tiananmen in March this year.

(Compiled by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Keith Weir)

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