Liu Hao

Liu Hao (; born 19 November 1968) is a Chinese former track and field athlete who competed in the men's shot put. His personal best for the event is , set in 1993.

He was among Asia's best shot putters in the 1990s. He was a two-time champion at the Asian Games and was the 1993 gold medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships. A five-time winner at the Chinese outdoor championships, he never represented his country on the global stage. He was the gold medallist at the 2001 East Asian Games.

Career Based in Beijing, Liu began to establish himself at national level in his early twenties. A personal best of in 1990 was followed by an improvement to in 1992 – a mark which ranked him second at the Chinese Athletics Championships to Ma Yongfeng and placed him within the top 100 globally that year. He had his breakthrough on the international scene the following year. He progressively improved his best over the 1993 season, culminating in a lifetime best throw of to win the title at the 7th National Games of China. After this first victory at national level, he was selected for the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships and won the gold medal there, beating runner-up Bilal Saad Mubarak by a margin of nearly 80 cm. His season's best placed him within the top forty in the world and made him the top ranked Asian shot putter for the year.

Liu continued to dominate both nationally and regionally into the 1994 season. He won for the first time at the Chinese Championships with a throw over nineteen metres, then outdid both national rival Xie Shengying and Uzbekistan's Sergey Rubtsov at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima to take another international gold medal. The winning throw of was an Asian Games record and the first time the winner had cleared nineteen metres (this mark stood until the 2006 edition). Rubtsov led the Asian rankings that year, but Liu was Asia's next best performer. He defended his national title in 1995 and 1996, as well as winning at the national indoor meet in the latter year.

He was deposed at the top of the Chinese circuit by Wen Jili in 1997, taking second to him at the 8th National Games of China and losing his three-year streak at the national championships. The 1998 season marked a revival in fortunes, starting with a silver medal performance behind Mubarak at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships. Despite this form, he faltered in 1999, trailing to Wen at the national championships and falling outside the world's top 100 as he failed to clear nineteen metres during the season. Neither was victorious at the 9th National Games of China later that year as Liu took second place to Wang Zhiyong, marking the emergence of a new generation of throwers. Liu was out of the top three at the Chinese Championships that year.

Liu's final years of competition came in 2002 and 2003. He was runner-up at the nationals in 2002 (Jia Peng took the honours) and had a marked decline in his final season, during which he failed to throw beyond eighteen metres and was out of the top ten nationally.

Personal bests Shot put (outdoor) – (1993) Shot put (indoor) – (1996)

National titles Chinese Athletics Championships: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000 National Games of China: 1993 Chinese Indoor Championships: 1996

International competitions