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The Olympics are about sport, about country but most importantly they are about the human spirit. While we marvel at some of the champions of the Olympics like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt sometimes the best stories come from those who don’t walk away with the gold medal.

This is one of those stories. Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110m hurdler. He won gold in Sydney in the event in 2004. In 2008 he hurt his Achilles and had to drop out of the games in his home country. He worked hard to get back for London and today he was ready to compete in the Olympics again.

He was ready to go when the race started and got out of the blocks fine, until he reached the first hurdle.

Liu’s Achilles was aggravated during the start. He was obviously frustrated with the situation

And he had some problems getting up off the track.

When he did get up he hopped off the track, right past the wheelchair offered to him. He started to leave the track in obvious disappointment.

Then Liu stopped.

And he turned around and headed back to the track.

He hopped all the way down the track,

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stopping at the last hurdle to give it a kiss.

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When he crossed the finish line his competitors were there to lend him a hand.

This was obviously one of those stories that will resonate from the London games. You can see the whole video of the event at the bottom of this page.

This is one of the many reasons we get excited for the Olympics every four years.