Former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang, one of China's best-known athletes, announced today he is getting a divorce after a nine-month marriage to actress Ge Tian.
Liu, who won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, made the announcement on his personal social media account. He cited incompatibility as the reason for the divorce.
"We are ending this marriage today," he wrote. "We hope we can each have a better life from now on. We bless each other."
The 31-year-old Shanghai native married Ge in September last year after a four-month courtship.
Within two hours of his announcement, there were about 100,000 comments on his account, mostly showing support for the former athlete.
Liu was one of China's biggest hopes going into the 2008 Beijing Games but had to withdraw from the heats with a foot injury. Four years later, he was injured again in the heats at the London Olympics.
He retired from athletics in April.
