A senior medical official has said Chinese athletes and coaches must pay much more attention to minor injuries if they want to be in peak condition for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"For the athletes who have to stick to a tough training schedule, I suggest they don't try to ignore niggling injuries and instead take lots of rest," said Li Guoping, chief medical officer of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and also president of Sports Medicine Hospital. 

Due to heavy training and competition schedules, a growing list of athletes have seen their careers stalled by injuries.

At this year's French Open, Zheng Jie, women's doubles champion at last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon, complained of a painful left ankle at Roland Garros. The injury caused her to lose in the first rounds of both the singles and doubles.

"When Zheng had just injured her ankle, I told her to have a good rest and wait for a full recovery, but she was too anxious to practice and play," Li said.

According to Li, Zheng is not the only victim of heavy training. Women's volleyball players Feng Kun and Zhao Ruirui have suffered similar problems.

"The training for the women's volleyball team is always hard and as well as Feng and Zhao, who have just returned from operations in the United States, some younger players have suffered injuries as well," Li said. "Since the competition within the team is so fierce, most of them insist on training and competing despite their injuries, which will do harm to their future career and health."

Li suggested more scientific training methods and giving athletes extra time for recovery.

"Excessive and intensive training is not good for athletes," Li said. "Our coaches have to work out a more scientific training plan, which should be more relaxed but more efficient."

He said Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang is a good example.

Liu suffered an ankle injury after a training session last February. Although doctors said there was no bone or ligament damage, Liu's coach Sun gave his protege nearly two months to nurse an injury that is usually ignored by coaches.

Due to his rehabilitation, Liu missed several international competitions, such as a national indoor meet in Shanghai and a Moscow indoor meet.

"Liu's injury only needed about one month for a normal people to recover from, but Liu rested for about two months," said Li. "Although he was sidelined for a long time and missed several competitions, he recovered fully, which made it well worth it. He maybe missed a few medals now but there will be more room for him to improve his performance in the future."

Liu's long rest was initially criticized, but his good form on return proved the doubters wrong.

Later in the year, Liu set the new world record in men's 110m hurdles with a time of 12.88 at a Grand Prix meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"I'm happy to see that national team coaches are beginning to pay more attention to doctors' advice and give athletes more time to recover. It will benefit them in the long run," Li said.

To ensure smooth preparations for the Beijing Games, sports officials have started to take notice of the importance of injury treatment, and a series of measures have been taken to prevent them.

"As soon as Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, a medical care team for the athletes was set up to ensure injuries could be treated properly in time," said Li. "The team consists of senior doctors from major hospitals in Beijing. They were also sent abroad for better training for the treatment of sports injuries."

According to Li, the team has inspected national teams across China and nearly one million yuan ($130,000) has been raised to support the project.

As the Beijing Games is approaching, the medical care for athletes has become more professional through cooperation with professional organizations.

In late July, the Beijing Achieve Vision Center will open in the Training Bureau of the State General Administration of Sports.

Jointly established by the bureau and Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, official partner of the 2008 Chinese Olympic team and official partner of COC, the center will offer emergency treatment, regular examinations, daily eye care services and 'visual training' for Chinese athletes.

(China Daily June 13, 2007)