Chinese weightlifting team has paid more attention to the lifters' psychological condition while cutting daily training to some extent as there are only 10 days left for the Olympics.
As China, a traditional weightlifting powerhouse, may probably get its first gold at the Beijing Olympics from the weightlifting events, the weightlifting team takes psychological consultation as an important part of the preparation for upcoming events.
Ma Wenguang, director of China's Weightlifting, Wrestling and Judo Administrative Center, said coaches began to watch weightlifters more carefully after the list of athletes for Olympics was announced on July 26.
The 10 strongmen and women, who will participate in nine categories events at the Olympics, acted with no difference as usual, Ma said.
However, "they will feel certain pressure after moving into the Olympic Village and feeling the Olympic atmosphere," he said.
He said certain extent of pressure will help athletes to be prepared for the competitions, however, "if we find someone is over-pressured, we will offer psychological consultations for them," he said.
The lifters, including Athens Olympic champions Chen Yanqing, Liu Chunhong and Shi Zhiyong, are being trained at the training center of China's General Administration of Sport. They currently get two-hour training every afternoon, 80 to 90 percent of their normal intensity, men's weightlifting head coach Chen Wenbin told Xinhua.
They won't move into the Olympic Village until August 6. The Olympic weightlifting events will be held from Aug. 9-19 in Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) Gymnasium.
(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2008)