Most Chinese see hurdler Liu as star of Games: poll

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Ask a Chinese sports fan to name their Olympic idol and the majority will pick world champion hurdler Liu Xiang with basketball player Yao Ming falling way behind, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The survey conducted by market research company Synovate for Reuters found that 67 percent of 322 respondents expected Liu, 25, to be the best performer at Beijing after his dash to glory in Athens made him China's first male track gold medalist.

"There's a lot of pressure on Liu Xiang ... he's been beaten a number of times recently but still two-thirds of Chinese people expect he will deliver the greatest glory to China of all Chinese athletes," said Kelvin Gin, director of Synovate China.

Only nine percent said Yao Ming, the 7ft 6in Houston Rockets centre, would be the star of the August 8-24 Games. Yao has said that the Beijing Games will be his last Olympics.

Seven percent opted for table tennis player Zhang Yining.

In terms of international athletes, the online survey found that 18 percent of the Chinese respondents expected U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps to be the star athlete with 15 percent opting for U.S. basketball player Kobe Bryant.

Also mentioned were Russian pole vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles, and Argentine footballer Lionel Messi.

The survey found that 59 percent of Chinese expect their own country to come top of the medal tally while 40 percent expected the United States to lead the field. The other one percent opted for Russia to take home most gold.

The majority of Chinese, or 95 percent, will be following news about the Games which opens on August 8 with 86 percent expecting to watch the event on television, on the Internet or live at Olympic venues.

Athletics was voted the glamour event, with 19 percent saying that it would be their preferred sport to watch if cost and ticket availability not an issue.

Next choices were basketball and diving, both with 15 percent support, and football with 11 percent.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)