Beijing  - The fans came early this time around, ran to their seats even three hours before the race, and the concourse outside the Bird's Nest was soon completely deserted.

Inside, the 400 metres heats, with world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, and the 200m heats, with 100m champion and world record holder Usain Bolt, served as a support act for the grand start into the second week for high-flying Olympic hosts China.

The 91,000-strong crowd grew more and more silent as the 110m hurdles heats approached. Soon you could have heard a pin drop, the only sound coming from the Olympic flame as it flickered high into the summer sky from the cauldron.

World record holder Dayron Robles received polite applause before, five heats later, the man himself arrived: Liu Xiang, the world and Olympic champion, destined it seemed for a gold medal to become the biggest star of the host team and the Beijing Games.

There was so much anticipation that the roar for him was not earth-shattering. There were a few ohs and ahs as he pulled off his t-shirt, and then dead silence for the start.

A false start it was, caused by Qatar's Mohammed Al-Thawadi, who was next to Liu in lane three.

Liu came out of the blocks, made two or three strides and then limped to the first hurdle. He grimaced, turned around, walked back, but past his starting block, off the track and back into the call room where he sat down on the ground.

That's when those in the stadium and those glued to their TVs realized that something was horribly wrong.

Olympic time stood still for a second or two - just like it did when Hicham El Guerrouj was beaten by Noah Ngeny in the 1,500m in Sydney, or Sergei Bubka missed the opening qualifying pole vault height in Barcelona.

Then the clock ticked on again, the heat got under way on the second start, but it was no longer the same Olympics.

Forgotten were China's record haul of 35 golds after just nine days of competition and the country's much criticised human rights record.

This was only about Liu, the hero and symbol of 1.3 billion people, the Olympic poster boy, the face you couldn't avoid seeing on the streets on billboards and elsewhere.

Tears started flowing, among the fans who filed out quickly, the volunteers in the mixed zone, Chinese reporters and, half an hour later, from the face of Liu's coach, Sun Haipeng, who revealed that Liu had also cried.

The news conference was broadcast live across China and drew more reporters than Bolt's after his astonishing 100m triumph Saturday.

Sun explained that Liu had cured a hamstring injury but that an old Achilles tendon problem resurfaced at the worst possible moment.

Clasping his hands before his face several times as the tears streamed down his face, Sun tried to explain that "Liu Xiang had been trying his best after he arrived in the warm-up area", and that "whenever he stood up he fell down."

Soon Sun was so overcome with emotion that athletics team coach Feng Shouyong continued.

Liu must have been in extreme pain but he seemingly didn't want to let the fans and the nation down, maybe himself as well.

"Liu shivered due to the pain," said Feng as specialist doctors tried in vain to ease the pain.

"He wanted to compete. He couldn't imagine the pain he was suffering. Let me repeat, Liu Xiang will not withdraw unless the pain is unbearable," said Feng.

Liu finally realized that in the starting block; the troubled heel was that of his right foot with which he pushes himself out of the block.

Feng admitted that a lot of pressure was on Liu but that he could handle it like no other athlete. He expressed his confidence that "all the Chinese people will understand this situation and encourage him to come back and run good races again."

Student Xu Lianping, who was in the stadium, probably spoke for many Chinese when she insisted that "Liu Xiang will still be our hero."

But it may remain a mystery forever whether it was really the injury or the weight of 1.3 billion people that was simply too much for Liu.

"An Achilles tendon problem can be an indication of too much pressure, that includes psychological pressure," German athletics team doctor Uwe Wegner once said.