Liu Xiang's career started as a high jumper. Mr. Sun Haiping encouraged him to move up to hurdles². Without him, Liu's career would have come to a halt as his parents had withdrawn³ him from the sports school.

刘翔最开始是一名跳高运动员。他后来的教练孙海平鼓励他转跑跨栏。如果不是孙教练，刘翔的职业生涯可能会就此中断，因为他的父母当时已经让他从体校退学。

In 2001, Liu won his first world championship at World University Games in Beijing.

Gold in 110m hurdles at 2002 Busan Asian Games is the first one of Liu's three consecutive⁴ titles of Asian Games.

The acme⁵ of his career came in the summer of 2004. Liu became the first ever Chinese man to win a gold medal in track events at Olympics.

In 2006, Liu set a new world record at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds.

He raced to victory in the 60m hurdles at 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. It is his first and only title at World Indoor Championships.

Liu suffered injury in his right Achilles tendon, and withdrew from the 110m hurdles at Beijing Olympic Games.

Recovering from injury, Liu won at the Prefontaine Classic with a time of 12.87 seconds, matching the world record albeit⁶ with wind-assistance of 2.4m/s. Unfortunately, no result can be registered as a record with wind-assistance more than 2m/s.

In the 110 meter hurdles at 2012 Olympics, Liu pulled his Achilles tendon and fell down. He kissed the last hurdle¹, left the track, and participated no more competitions.

On April 7, 2015, China's flying man announced retirement⁷.