Liu Xiang is a Pig

Not in that way. In a 1984-way. All Chinese athletes are equal, but some are more equal than others:

Liu is exempted from having to run qualifying times to ensure his place on the team. His preparations are deemed more important. He is tended by a special team of coaches, doctors and gofers. They train him, feed him, supervise him and drive him around. In Beijing, he shares a two-bedroom apartment in an athletic dormitory with his hurdling coach, Sun Haiping.

That's from a NYT magazine profile. It's a good background look at the man expected to be one of the top stories of the Olympics.

Chinese Sports Culture

A very good op-ed in the New York Times. Interesting quote:

But for the most part, Chinese athletes perform best in sports that few Chinese care about. This is a country without private guns but with crack sharpshooters. With few public pools but the best divers. Fencing, canoeing, women’s softball — China excels at these despite the fact that very few Chinese show an interest in them.