CHINA'S 5,000 metres Olympic champion Wang Junxia is suffering from a serious nervous condition brought on by stress and her heavy training schedule. She was China's only athletics medallist in the Atlanta Olympics, winning gold in the 5,000 metres and silver in the 10,000 metres.

"Wang Junxia is suffering from serious neurasthania, which is causing her insomnia and even making it painful for her to run," coach Mao Dezhen told a Beijing sports newspaper yesterday.

Mao also revealed that the 1993 women's 1,500 metres world champion, Liu Doug, was back in training. Liu is another former member of Ma Junren's "Ma's Army" of women middle and long distance runners that took the athletics world by storm at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart.