Chinese Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang was awarded the 2005 Laureus World Newcomer of the Year at the annual Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony in Portugal. The following are the comments made by Laureus World Sports Awards Committee: “Liu Xiang became the first Chinese man to win a track athletics gold medal in Olympic history when he won the 110-meter hurdles in Athens, a victory which caused huge excitement in China. He has instantly become one of the most famous sporting faces in China and is now one of the host nation's emblems for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Never having broken 13 seconds before, he clocked a stunning 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain's Colin Jackson in 1993.”              

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中国奥运金牌得主刘翔在葡萄牙一年一度的劳伦斯世界体育大奖颁奖礼上获得2005年度劳伦斯世界体育大奖最佳新人奖。以下是该奖委员会的评语：“刘翔在雅典夺得110米栏冠军，成为首位在奥运会上摘得金牌的中国男子田径运动员，他让整个中国欣喜若狂。奥运会后刘翔立刻成为中国最著名的体育明星之一，也成为2008年北京奥运会具有代表性的运动员之一。雅典奥运会前刘翔从来没有跑进过13秒，但是他在雅典跑道上的表现极具震撼力，跑出了12秒91的成绩，平了英国名将科林·杰克逊1993年创造的世界记录。”