China's Olympic gold medal-winning hurdler Liu Xiang announced his retirement on Tuesday, ending a run in the sport marked by records and frustrated by successive late-career injuries。本周二，中国奥运冠军、跨栏选手刘翔宣布退役。他的职业生涯里收获了各项纪录，但在末期却被一系列伤病拖垮。

再见飞人：刘翔发微博宣布因伤退役

　　Liu, 31, became an icon in China after he won the country's first Olympic men's track and field gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles in Athens in 2004. He also won a world championship in 2007 and held the world record in 2006 with a time of 12.88 seconds。今年31岁的刘翔获得了2004年雅典奥运会110米栏冠军，这是中国有史以来第一块奥运会男子田径项目金牌，从此刘翔成为了中国的标志人物。此外他还获得了2007年的世锦赛冠军，并在2006年以12秒88的成绩打破世界纪录。

　　"I'm retiring. I want to start a new journey," Liu said in a message posted to his microblog, blaming injury for his decision. "Though I still have hot blood pumping through my heart, my leg has time and again told me no."刘翔发布了微博，宣布因伤退役。“我要‘退休’了，我要开始一段新的旅程。”“虽然我的心中仍有热血，但我的脚却一次次对我说不。”

　　One of China's most popular athletes, his gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics brought him fame and fortune rivalled only by basketball player Yao Ming but also made his life more like that of a rock star and placed a huge burden of expectation on him。作为中国最受欢迎的运动员，2004雅典奥运会冠军为他带来无数声誉和财富，只有篮球运动员姚明才能与他相比。这使他的生活变得更像摇滚明星，更多期望也加在他身上。

　　Liu's ambitions were checked when, despite being favourite to win his pet event in front of home fans at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was forced to pull out with an Achilles injury in his first-round heat。虽然主场参赛的刘翔是2008北京奥运会的热门，但他的雄心壮志却因第一轮热身中的跟腱拉伤退赛而终止。

　　At the 2012 Olympics in London, Liu was disappointed again by injury, crashing out of competition after stumbling on the first hurdle and ending his hopes of regaining the Olympic title.2012年伦敦奥运会，刘翔再次因伤病而倍感失望。他在第一栏摔倒后被淘汰，终结了他重夺奥运冠军的希望。

　　Liu's retirement makes him the latest world class Chinese athlete to sign off from competition in recent years, after the country's first grand slam tennis champion Li Na retired in September and former NBA basketball centre Yao Ming walked away from the sport in 2011.这些年离开赛场的中国世界级体育选手中，刘翔是距今最近的一位。2011年前NBA中锋姚明退役。去年9月，中国首位网球大满贯得主李娜也宣布挂拍。(来源：沪江英语)