'Flying man' to land at 'Bird's Nest'

(BEIJING, May 7) -- Between May 22 and May 25, the "Good Luck Beijing" track and field sporting event will take place at the National Stadium, according to Wen Hui Daily. This is the only opportunity for China's "flying man" to test out the "Bird's Nest" before the Olympics. However, Liu Xiang has expressed indifference about the competition grounds, stating that no matter what the track is like, if others can run there, he can, too.

The 2008"Good Luck Beijing" track and field event's competition arrangement will be executed very similarly to the Beijing Olympics in August.

Highest on Liu Xiang's mind, however, is not the conditions at the "Bird's Nest." The runner is thinking about whether or not he will have the strength to compete in races in America that are scheduled to take place soon after the "Good Luck Beijing" event.

Sun Haiping, Liu's coach, is the one that is most concerned about the competition conditions. The trainer sees this opportunity to go trough a trial run at the National Stadium as very important, as he believes that wind conditions, lighting, and even surrounding colors, among other factors, have an effect on runners. According to Sun, Liu goes through warm-ups approximately half an hour before the race begins. At the moment, the duo doesn't even know how far of a walk it is from the warm-up room to the race track. This is highly important, says Sun, as, if the distance is a long one, Liu must arrange his time and level of warm-ups accordingly so as to stay as limber as possible before the gun goes off.