LONDON England — In scenes reminiscent of Beijing 2008 when he was the host city’s big hope for an athletics gold medal, Athens 2004 gold medalist, Liu Xiang, crashed out of the men’s 110m hurdles at the very first barrier in his heat at the Olympic Stadium.Related storyLiu Xiang crashes out of 110m hurdles

Lin had a good start but drove straight into the first hurdle with his left foot and fell badly, injuring his right ankle in the process.

He then hopped the length of the home straight, to protect his injured achilles tendon, before finding a wheelchair and seeking medical attention.

It was a sign of the respect that the Olympic record holder and former world record holder Liu has among the other exponents of his discipline that most of the rest of the men in his race were waiting for him by the finish line and, when Liu’s arm was held aloft by Hungary’s Balazs Baji, it drew a sympathetic round of applause from the almost capacity crowd.

With Liu out, the 2012 world indoor championships 60m hurdles gold medallist USA’s Aries Merritt is the clear favourite.

Merritt confirmed his status with a run of 13.07 seconds, the fastest time ever run in the first round of the event at any Olympic Games and the seventh fastest time ever. The 2008 Olympic champion and world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba also won his heat, but in a more modest 13.33.