Liu Xiang, Chinese Olympic hurdler
He
already holds the world record in the 110-meter hurdles, and he came
home from the 2004 Athens Olympics with China’s first gold medal in
men’s track and field. At this summer’s Beijing Games, expect
24-year-old Liu, who just insured his legs for $13 million, to be a
crowd favorite—China Central Television named him Sportsman of the Year
for 2007—as China sprints for gold.
Emmanuel Jal, Sudanese hip-hop star
At the age of 7, Jal was handed an AK-47 and sent to the front lines of
Sudan’s bloody civil war. Two decades later, he’s one of Africa’s
hottest hip-hop stars, rapping about his lost childhood and the need
for peace. When Jal’s not testifying to the U.S. Senate about Darfur,
he’s putting the finishing touches on his new album, War Child, and a
feature-length documentary about his life, both due out this year.
Marion Cotillard, French Oscar hopeful
If the Academy ignores the buzz and denies Cotillard the best actress
award on February 24, she’ll have been robbed. Her transformation into
legendary French songstress Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose
was the breakout performance of 2007. With or without Oscar,
Cotillard’s phone is already ringing off the hook, so expect to see
much more of this leading mademoiselle.
Jack Ma, Chinese tech guru
He runs the biggest dot-com you’ve never heard...
