Sports, if linked with romance in one way or another, is widely open to public conversation. It is becoming increasingly hard to tell if an athlete becomes famous for his or her skills or because of his or her personal life.

Romances among teammates are nothing new, but a coach and athlete couple is rare. China's top tennis player Li Na, and her tennis-playing husband cum coach have created a precedent in China.

Jiang's official appointment by the China Tennis Association (CTA), China's tennis sport administrator, was in an effort to bolster Li's "weak mentality" to boost the nation's hope of singles gold in 2008.

Li Na and Jiang Shan

But public opinion on the appointment is divided. .

A tennis expert said family links between tennis coaches and athletes benefits the athletes as it is easy for them to communicate with their coaches both during training and in normal life. Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena are coached by their fathers.

Others argue that a husband and wife partnership may form a tight circle that excludes the other team members, making it difficult for them to function as a solid whole.

Whether the controversial appointment will pay off or not is not yet known. But romantic associations have already had different ramifications in Chinese sports.

There have been many couples on the national badminton team, but the team has never lost their dominant position on the world stage. The team produced retired champions Sun Jun and Ge Fei, already married and serving champions Lin Dan and Xie Xingfan with Lin and Xie as the reining world No.1 and No.2.

Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang

"If romance can motivate our top athletes but does not negatively impact their normal lives and training, or on their taking home gold, as their coach, I can't find any reason to oppose these couples," said Li Yongbo, chief team coach.

Compared with the romance-friendly badminton team, the table tennis team, another gold medal team, is not that tolerant. Two women members were sent back to their provincial team for having relationships with top men players in 2004 so the men could concentrate on preparing for the 2004 Olympics.

Liu Guoliang, chief coach of the men's team and former World and Olympic champion and his then-girlfriend Wang Jin, also a player, were separated when Wang was taken off the national team in 1995. The couple married ten years later in 2005.

Both the tennis and badminton team have similar aims, to help their athletes play their best in 2008, even though they both have different methods of dealing with athletes' romance.

Unlike individual sports, playing in pairs provides an atmosphere where it is easy for romance to bloom. In pair figure skating, the skater's dance is suggestive of a romance between the two.

Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue

China's top pair Shen Xue, 28 and Zhao Hongbo, 33, two-time world champions and Turin bronze medalists and rising stars Tong Jian and Pang Qing, 2006 World champions have announced their relationships off the ice.

Youngsters Zhang Hao, 21 and Zhang Dan, 20, Turin silver medalists gave an excuse of still being small when asked if they are romantically linked.

Do they truly have emotions towards each other? At least they have to foster attachments and compacts in order to be a skating pair.

Athletes are humans, and they need romance just like the rest of us. But they are not quite ordinary people, so maybe their romances need to be unusual as well, romances that motivate them to defend the nation's honor.

To contact the writer of this story:
Guan Xiaomeng in Beijing at guanxm@chinadaily.com.cn