A screen cut of the video posted by Liu Xiang on his social media

 

Former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang has refuted rumors about his emigration to the US in a video he recently posted on his personal social media.  The topic has been trending on China's social media platforms on Friday. 
 
In the video titled "Ending 2025 with a Trip" that he posted on China's lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, Liu shared clips from his trip to Southwest China's Yunnan Province and said that "recently, there's been a rumor that I've emigrated. Who said that? Come forward—I promise I won't hit you! I'm a patriotic, passionate young guy—me, emigrate? To where?"

"I'm Chinese, I love China—remember that!" said Liu at the end of the video. 

At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, then 21-year-old Liu won the men's 110m hurdles in record time. He made history by securing China's first gold medal in an Olympic sprint event and became a national hero and a symbol of China's athletics breakthrough. He went on to win silver at the 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland and again at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea before injuries forced his retirement.