China’s Liu Xiang kisses the last hurdle in his lane after knocking over the first hurdle and rupturing his Achilles tendon during the 110-m-hurdles Round 1 heat on Aug. 7, 2012. It was a case of history repeating for one of China’s great hopes as, for the second Olympics in a row, Liu failed to make the final, let alone win a medal. His scant consolation was receiving rapturous applause from the crowd of 80,000 painfully aware of the star athlete’s plight.