The trainers of Olympic champion sprinter Donovan Bailey and NBA star LeBron James are helping China's Olympic coaches develop better biomotor training programs for their athletes.

China's top sportsmen and women will soon embark on extensive biomotor training in a bid for better performances at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Biomotor skills include strength, speed, endurance, flexibility and agility and tailor-made training programs are being developed for Chinese Olympians. For example, if an athlete needs extra power, a biomotor training program will work to improve his or her strength and speed to achieve the best result.

China's top coaches were hopeful the biomotor training plan would improve performances, however there were major challenges.

"In term of biomotor ability training, our athletes have a lot to catch up with the leading international standard," said Jiang Xiuyun, deputy director of the administrative centre for handball, field hockey, baseball and softball.

Jiang was speaking this week at the launch ceremony of the "Hall of Coaches", a training camp organized by Nike.

"Without enough biomotor ability, the technical skills look pale."

Jiang has noticed the significance of biomotor ability while guiding the four national teams based at her centre.

All the four teams have made remarkable progress in recent years, in particular the field hockey and softball teams, both ranking among the world's top five.

However, biomotor abilities have become a problem when the Chinese teams face medal-level rivals, resulting in losses on big occasions, such as the Olympic Games and World Championships.

"If we want to achieve outstanding results in 2008 Beijing Games in these four games, making a breakthrough in biomotor ability training is the key," Jiang said.

Thanks to "Hall of Coaches", the centre invited two veteran trainers from America-based sports training company SPARQ to conduct a clinic for biomotor training for Chinese coaches.

The two coaches, Dan Pfaff and Matt James are very experienced at helping professional athletes including Olympic champion sprinter Donovan Bailey and NBA stars LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

They are sharing their knowledge on biomotor training with more than 180 coaches over two and a half days. "I hope we can help to implement biomotor training into Chinese program," said James.

Since the launch of "Nike Hall of Coaches" program in 2004, Nike has invited many famous sportsmen and coaches to China including short-distance runner and Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson, "King of backstroke" Aaron Peirsol, middle and long-distance runner Bernard Lagat, legendary tennis coach Brad Gilbert and Jarinn Akana, assistance coach of Denver Nuggets basketball team.

(China Daily September 20, 2006)