Ladji Doucoure of France beat Olympic champion Liu Xiang of China in the final meters to claim the title of the men’s 110 meters hurdles at the 10th world championships in Helsinki on Friday.
Doucoure, who led the world this season with 12.97 seconds, over took the Chinese to win the race in 13.07 seconds. Liu was second in 13.08. Four-time world champion Allen Johnson of the United States took the third in 13.10.
The 22-year-old Doucoure said after the race, “ I can not tell you just how long I have been dreaming of this. This victory is the result of a lot of hard work, and also a lot of support from people who have believed in me. I had a bad start, touched a few hurdles, but after the 4th hurdle I picked up my race and went straight to the finish line.”
Liu, who won the Olympic gold with a world record-tying time of 12.91 seconds, said, “I’m very satisfied with the second place. The result could have been worse. I felt quite well and did my best. I’ m not tired, I had some clearance problems at the start, so I should practice that some mor. Finally, I didn’t lose by much, only by a little bit, but I did think I could win it.”
Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping said on Friday he was content with Liu’s performance.
“ Liu Xiang was quite good during his reaction period, but he was a little bit slow in the middle and he finally caught up during the last two hurdles,” Sun told Xinhua.
Although satisfied with the silver medal and the clocking of 13.08 seconds, Sun said Liu might have added the world title to the Olympic championship if Liu had run the track neighboring his major (对手) of Doucoure Ladji or Allen Johnson.
“ If he had run next to Ladji Doucoure or Allen Johnson, Liu could have kept pace with them and then sprinted(疾跑) at the last stage. In this case, he could grab the gold,” said Sun, who had become a household name for coaching China’s first men’s Olympic champion in the track.
小题1:This passage probably appears_________.A．in a story bookB．in a text bookC．in a newspaperD．in a fashion magazine小题2:The following statements about Doucoure are true EXCEPT_______.A．He won the gold medal in the men’s 110m hurdles in Helsinki.B．He led the world in the men’s 110m hurdles with 12.97 seconds this season.C．He did a lot of hard practice before the race in Helsinki.D．He won the world champion title four times.小题3:Which of the following can be used to replace the underlined phrase“picked up my race”in Paragraph 3?A．gathered speedB．stood upC．make up my mindD．became better in health小题4:According to Sun Haiping, Liu Xiang might have won the gold if ______.A．he had done better during his reaction periodB．he had run the track next to Ladji Doucoure of Allen JohnsonC．he had practiced clearance more before that raceD．he hadn’t touched a few hurdles in the race