Flashes of Panic

Remember the biggest race of the Olympics? It just got a great deal smaller.

Liu’s been nursing a hamstring problem all spring. It’s why he didn’t run in New York in May and (some say deliberately) false started in Eugene in June. He tweaked it coming out of the blocks—ironically a false start—in his heat less than an hour ago. He hadn’t even stopped before stripping off his hip numbers. He limped back to the blocks and then back into the ready room.

After this spring’s earthquake, it feels a bit over dramatic to call this a national disaster. As someone else pointed out about Deena Kastor’s broken foot, it’s not like he had a heart attack and died. But it’s certainly the biggest disappointment of the Games for China.