A SOMBRE Liu Xiang has apologised to his adoring public for his shock withdrawal from the 110 metres hurdle as one of his biggest sponsors confronted the national disappointment with China's Olympic poster boy with full-page advertisements in Beijing and Shanghai.

Nike took out the back page of several Beijing newspapers yesterday with a portrait of a sombre Liu and the lines "Love Competition, Love risking your pride … Love sport even when it breaks your heart."

In Liu's home town of Shanghai, the Nike advertisement ran on the Oriental Morning Post 's front page under a headline "One day and ten years of a hero" pointing to an inside story of how Monday's tragedy happened and a retrospective of Liu's career.

The supportive tone of virtually all media was guaranteed after Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping telegraphed a message of sympathy for China's most famous track star. "We hope that after he recovers, he will continue to train hard and struggle harder for the national glory."

In his first appearance since the shock withdrawal, Liu apologised on the national broadcaster CCTV's Olympic channel. "I feel greatly sorry. There are so many people who worry about me, take care of me, care about me, and support me. Honestly, [I] could do nothing," the normally smiling 25-year-old star said on Monday night.

Liu confirmed that in recent training he had broken the 13-second mark, but Monday morning he could barely jog.

"I don't know why this happened, and this is not what I wanted to see. Really, it [the pain] was intolerable. If I withstood it, [the pain] my hamstring … really would not have been able to cope no matter how much I wanted it to."

Liu vowed to make a comeback, but without specifically mentioning the 2012 London Olympics.

"I have to be optimistic, not blaming anyone, keeping up my spirit. I will never easily give up, this is my character. I will make them see," he said.

Earlier, his coach Sun Haiping, who has trained Liu for the past 12 years, said Liu would miss this year's European season to recuperate.

Liu's previous school coach, Gu Baogang, blamed government officials for putting too much pressure on his protege saying his injuries were caused by the intensive training.