Liu Xiang of China reacts after the men's 110 meters hurdles final at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, on Aug 29, 2011. Liu Xiang got the silver medal in 13.27 seconds. Cui Meng / China Daily

Chinese track star Liu Xiang proved this summer he's over the injury that afflicted him for three years - now he's free to focus on the fun stuff, like the 2012 Olympics, Lei Lei writes.

Liu Xiang stormed back onto the world stage with a silver medal at the Daegu World Championships in August, and now the star hurdler is hoping for a return to Olympic glory next year in London.

"I'm not feeling any pressure or being pressed for time en route to the London Games, since everything is going smoothly in training," said the 28-year-old Liu, whose career was sidetracked for three years due to an Achilles tendon injury.

"I have recovered to almost my peak times. As an athlete, you have to improve your weak points through daily training and the results at competitions depend on how we perform on the spot. I hope I can perform well at the London Olympics," he said.

At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Liu claimed China's first gold medal in the men's 110m hurdles in 12.91 seconds, equalling the world record at that time.

After that, Liu was burdened with public expectations as the nation's track hero.

The Shanghainese didn't let his fans down, as he continued to create one breakthrough after another. He set a new world record of 12.88 at the 2006 Lausanne Grand Prix meet and was crowned world champion the following year.

But all the glory seemed to have come to an end when he surprisingly withdrew from the first round of the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games due to the injury.

For three years, he went through numerous ups and downs, but always knew he would return to the track.

In Daegu, Liu showed the world he was back - eventually leaving with the silver after a controversial finish.

Liu crossed the finish line in third place, but the IAAF awarded him the silver after Cuba's Dayron Robles was stripped of the gold for impeding him.

With Liu and Robles in adjoining lanes, Liu was in the lead after the final hurdle.

But he stumbled after making contact with Robles' flailing arm, and finished in 13.27, behind Robles' 13.14.

The title was given to Jason Richardson of the United States, who crossed the finish line in second place in 13.16 seconds.

Although it was a fair way off his personal best of 12.88, the experience was enough to boost Liu's confidence.

"I have won Olympic and world championship titles, so I have nothing to prove now," he said. "The Olympics is once every four years, so all the athletes want to do well. I hope I can be competitive on the track in London and put on an eye-catching performance for the audience."

Liu plans to train in Shanghai until the Spring Festival and then plans to go abroad to avoid all the attention at home.

"We will go to Europe for two indoor events in February and he will run at the World Indoor Championships in March. Then, we will go back to Shanghai," Liu's coach, Sun Haiping, said.

"The training over the latter half of this year has been very satisfactory. Liu's capabilities in the second half of the race has returned to the level before the injury. He still has to improve his start, since he just adopted a new technique - using seven steps instead of eight to approach the first hurdle."

Liu and his coach refuse to make any bold proclamations about London.

"I have to be able to finish near 13 seconds. Then, the result still has to depend on many other factors, such as the weather, the venue, as well as my form at that time," Liu said. "The only thing I need to do right now is to further improve my capability."

For the coach, 13 seconds is not enough to win.

"To finish between 12.90 seconds and 12.95 in the final will most likely secure top places at the London Games," Sun said. "The task is still very challenging for us, since it's very difficult to reach 12.90 in such big events. I hope Liu's results can be improved to that level next year."