China's top athletes will soon be able to turn to experts to ensure they are in the best of mental health as they prepare for the Beijing Olympics.
The country's first sports psychology website, specially designed for Chinese Olympians and their coaches, will offer multimedia materials on sports psychology and interactive communication tools between users and mental health experts.
In addition to online communication on the BBS, athletes and coaches can choose their own favorite psychologist to deal with their problems off-line.
"We have almost finished the trial period and it will serve our athletes soon," Zhang Zhongqiu, leader of the country's Olympic psychological consulting team, told China Daily.
The consulting squad was set up just before the 2004 Athens Games and the newly reshuffled group includes 22 experts from leading local institutes, including the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Department of Psychology at Beijing Normal University.
Those athletes who have already booked their places at the Beijing Games and their coaches can now log onto the website, according to Zhang.
The website has a very detailed database for every Chinese Olympian. "In order to protect the privacy of the athletes, the website uses a very advanced security system, similar to what banks use for VIP customers," Zhang, China's first sports psychologist, said.
"At any time, any place, athletes can download our materials to their mobile phones, send text messages to experts, or make reservations for consultation," he said.