When Nike asked us to create the special edition packaging for the LX Collection, we didn’t know much about Liu Xiang. We knew he was an iconic athlete. We knew he had won a gold medal in Athens. But we didn’t know how hard he fought to win it… or how badly he wanted to win it back.
Unfortunately his quest for a repeat gold medal ended today in London much like it did four years ago in Beijing: in frailty, frustration and failure.
He fell at the first hurdle. But unlike in Beijing, he insisted on finishing the race. He picked himself up and hopped the remaining 100m to the finish line.
It was that kind of spirit that inspired our thinking behind the LX Collection packaging. Paying tribute to his tenacity in the face of great obstacles – both on the track and in life – we crafted a box in bamboo, which represents strength, grace and resilience in Chinese culture. It was accompanied by a poem written in his honour.
Harsh winds blow,
but you bend without breaking.
They cut you down,
and you grow back stronger.
You know your worth,
yet remain always humble.
Be like bamboo:
be tough, be light,
and just grow.
Get well soon Liu Xiang!
Derek Redmond did it first!