China's former Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang announced on June 25 that he was divorcing his actress wife Ge Tian, just nine months following their marriage.

 "Ge Tian and I fell in love in May 2014 and tied the knot in September," Liu Xiang, 32, wrote on his Sina Weibo microblog.

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"We have not been getting along well due to incompatible personalities and ended our marriage today. We wish each other a better life ahead," Liu Xiang's divorce announcement said.

Just an hour following Liu Xiang's divorce announcement on Weibo, it was reposted over 60,000 times in. Most of his fans and followers sent the Shanghai athlete their best wishes.

Since the couple surprised fans with their marriage, the couple had been rarely seen together in public.

Rumors of Ge Tian and Liu Xiang's divorce have started circulating back in April after Liu attended the Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai without his wife.

On May 17, Liu also announced his retirement in public but without Ge at his side.

When Liu announced his retirement at the IAAF Diamond League at the Shanghai Stadium, he thanked several people including the China Athletics Association, his fans and his sponsors, but no mention of his wife was heard.

Another rumor that could have led to their divorce was that Ge faked a pregnancy to be able to marry the Olympic star. Since finding out about the fake pregnancy, it was speculated that the two started living separately, according to the Shanghaiist.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu had been forced to pull out due to an Achilles injury. Four years later, at the London Olympics, his hopes of regaining his title was squashed following a stumble at the first hurdle, according to Shanghai Daily.

Aside from the fake pregnancy rumors, the Ge Tian and Liu Xiang's divorce could also have resulted from another scandal involving Ge Tian. She played a woman in a vulgar anti-Japanese war TV drama that transported a grenade placed in her crotch. She was also seen in the drama flirting in prison and using dirty words, reported Sina.

The only time the couple was seen together in public was on September 11 last year during a charity activity for visually challenged children. This was reportedly four days following their wedding.

Since rumors of the Ge Tian and Liu Xiang divorce came out, Liu had lived in Shanghai, while Ge remained in Beijing.

When Liu went to Beijing in February, reports said he stayed in a hotel rather than with Ge at her residence. Both insisted, however, that they had been seeing each other in private.

It appears that this time the Ge Tian and Liu Xiang divorce rumors are no longer rumors, and the couple has finally split.

Another confirmation to this fact is when Sina.com phoned Ge to confirm the Liu Xiang divorce news.

"What Liu says is the fact," said a seemingly crying Ge.

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