Ten days after his shock withdrawal from the Olympic 110-meters hurdles, Liu Xiang has re-appeared in public for the first time.

On Tuesday afternoon, the hurdler, wearing the official uniform of the Chinese Olympic Athletics team, and still hobbling from the foot injury that forced him to pull out of the Games, was pictured in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, where a post-Games meeting of the Chinese Olympic Team was being held, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency.

Liu Xiang (L, front) walks into the Great Hall of the People to attend a post Olympics meeting of the Chinese Athletics Team, Aug. 26, 2008.

Liu Xiang at a banquet following a meeting of the Chinese Athletics Team in the Great Hall of the People. [Liao Wenjing/CNS]

The report said that Liu avoided reporters and mingled with the other athletes.

When a television journalist approached Liu Xiang with a video camera, Liu didn't acknowledge the lens pointed at him, but continued signing autographs for fans and chatting with his fellow athletes. A staff member told the cameraman to "please go and film the gold medalists, and other medal winners; thank you for your cooperation."

Liu Xiang sat next to his coach Sun Haiping at the post-meeting banquet. He seemed thoughtful and taciturn, very far from the extrovert character the public has seen in previous news coverage.

But the easy smile, not seen by Chinese people for a long time, shone again on Liu Xiang's face when his fellow Shanghai native, Wu Minxia, Olympic champion in 3m synchronized diving, asked him to pose for a photo with her. Facing the cameras, Liu Xiang spread his arms like a giant bird in flight.

Liu Xiang poses for a photo with weightlifting gold medalist Zhang Xiangxiang. [Liao Wenjing/CNS]

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting August 27, 2008)