"I got the news (that Liu was not 100 percent fit) before the preliminary, but there was no specific information revealing how bad his situation was," CCTV Olympic commentator Yang Jian told state run Global Times.
Since he knew that Liu, a mega star in Chinese sports was not fit, he kept four different scripts ready to report, which included a possibility that Liu would crash out of the race.
Yang's revelation triggered strong reactions among the public with several netizens averring that Liu knew he would not finish the race before it started, while some showing that ire on CCTV for hiding serious injury.
On Aug 7, Liu tumbled onto the track of the 110m hurdles when he tried to clear the first hurdle.
He sat on the track holding his right foot, then got up, hopped down the track, and kissed the final hurdle before being consoled by foreign competitors.
He was subsequently underwent an operation in London.
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"It strikes me that this news is nothing but cheating," Tan Fei, a famous Sina columnist, wrote on his Sina Weibo microblog commenting on the revelations that Liu, who had highest sponsorship running into millions of dollars was aware that he was not fit for game.
Earlier Sha Tong, head of the CCTV anchor team for the Olympic broadcast, said that anchor Yang had known about Liu's serious injury through unofficial channels before the race.
In the live broadcast, Yang cried while saying "Liu Xiang is a warrior".
Yang said even though he had prepared for Liu's possible fall, he could not control his feelings when he witnessed it.
"I couldn't accept that such an athlete who has brought us so much pride and glory in track and field events fell down," Yang said at the seminar on Wednesday.
"As a result, I appeared like that." MORE