There were 400m and 200m sprint heats this morning on the track. Jeremy Wariner cruised his 400m heat, Usain Bolt literally jogged his. However things weren’t so easy for the medal favourites in the 110m hurdles.

After new world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba won the opening heat, things began to go wrong. In the fifth heat Sydney and Athens silver medallist, the American Terrence Trammell pulled out before the second hurdle with what looked like a hamstring injury he’d obviously brought into the games. This though was just a warm-up for the major event.

Liu Xiang, China’s Olympic champion and great gold hope for these Beijing games, had the hopes of over one billion people on his shoulders. In the stadium the 91,000 fans were buzzing in anticipation of their superstar. Yet it wasn’t to be. Xiang limped his way out onto the track and was unable to jump a series of hurdles without pulling up. The weight of expectation had apparently caused his achilles to inflame.

A false start from another athlete didn’t help his cause so he sensibly withdrew from the race, aware he would be unable to complete it. China believed Xiang was destined for success in Beijing, unfortunately his lower leg had other ideas. Below are some thoughts on how to avoid a similar predicament.

Let’s consider the role of weight training in pre-conditioning, and the use of heavy weight eccentric calf raises as a means of combating Achilles tendon injury. This and similar exercises can be used by a coach to ‘shore up’ an athlete’s body before the main training programme and to reduce the risk of injury during training.

Tendinosis is the technical term for degeneration of Achilles tendon tissue, while achilles tendinitis refers to inflammation of the soft tissue. Most Achilles pain is now believed to be a consequence of the former, particularly in athletes like Xiang who are mature in training terms. Scientists discovered that heavy weight eccentric calf lowering exercises were a great treatment in research on two matched groups of 15 recreational athletes, both suffering from long-term Achilles tendinosis. The first group performed the heavy calf raises with an emphasis on the eccentric phase, while the other received ‘normal’ physiotherapy treatment. At the end of the 12-week training programme, the weight training group were able to run at pre-injury levels. By contrast, the controls did not respond to physiotherapy and ultimately needed surgical treatment. The eccentric calf exercise is basically a normal calf raise, with an emphasis on the lowering phase, when the athlete lowers the weights very slowly.

It’s a great shame that Trammell and more importantly Xiang are out of the 110m hurdles. It could have been the three-way sprint battle we were looking for after Bolt demolished any hope of that in the 100m final. Robles now looks a shoe-in for the title.

Learn how to treat and prevent Achilles tendinitis and save 33% on our special report.

Related links:

Achilles Therapy and Surgery