Four to Watch in 2008

They aren't household names yet, but give them a year. FP nominates four who will be big in 2008.

Liu Xiang, Chinese Olympic hurdler

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 of. Last November, Alibaba.com, an e-commerce search engine that matches Chinese manufacturers with buyers around the world, had the biggest technology IPO since Google went public. Today, Ma’s Alibaba is the second-largest Internet company in Asia, putting the outspoken 43-year-old former English teacher at the crossroads of China’s red-hot manufacturing sector and its booming Web market.

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