Simone Biles is widely considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time. In America, she is the "face" of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. When the games began, she was expected to win five gold medals.

But she withdrew from the team final. She made the choice after her vault in the competition's first round. She later said her mind was not in the right place to let her safely perform the difficult moves. In other words, her mind was not letting her body do what it needed to do. So, she made the decision to protect her mental health and give her teammates a better chance at winning a medal.

Biles is not the only Olympian in recent months to talk about the pressure and mental effects of competing at the highest level. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka decided not to compete at the French Open earlier this summer. She said she made that decision to protect her mental health.

This week, Osaka lost in the second round of Olympic competition. She said she felt extreme pressure to win for Japan.

Many Olympic athletes have discussed the stress they have felt. COVID-19 has greatly changed the way the Games are being held. Liz Cambage is a top basketball player for Australia. She left her team one week before the start of the Games because she was worried about entering the Olympic "bubble" in Tokyo without the support of her friends and family.

The IOC, or International Olympic Committee, said it is paying more attention to the mental health of athletes. The IOC said it has websites and phone numbers athletes can call if they need help with a mental health problem.

The 19th Asian Games are about to kick off, opening on Sept 23 in Hangzhou. Held in a city famous for its digital technology, the Games have the principle of “being smart”.

With the rise of high-definition livestreaming(高清直播), sports venues(场馆) have placed higher demands on internet connections. In the Hangzhou venues, 5G-Advanced, or 5.5G technology, will be applied. Zhang Jian from China Telecom told Economic Information Daily: “The technology of 5.5G can support the high-definition livestreaming of about 10 events at the same time.”

A strong signal for a smooth livestreaming experience and fast Internet speed for audiences during the events will be achieved through the use of Reconfigurable Intelligent metaSurface (RIS) technology. It looks like a white-colored board, and is roughly the size of a TV. RIS can effectively reflect signals covering up to 10,000 square meters with no internet dead spots.

Online viewers will also get to enjoy some smart technology. Take the badminton competition venue as an example. On the second floor of the stadium, there are 20 high-definition cameras. A virtual reality (VR) camera is also positioned at the net, capturing(捕捉) athletes’ movements from different angles. Backstage staff can create slow-motion videos 5 to 10 seconds after the move, reported the IT Times.

Viewers wearing VR glasses can see what’s happening within the stadium remotely. They can “move around” in the virtual scene and even stand beside the athletes to cheer them on. When watching the Games on their smartphone, viewers can choose from four perspectives, including a bird’s eye view or a close-up view of an athlete.

Viewers can also get a quick tour of the venues in the metaverse(元宇宙). By clicking into a mini program on Alipay, users can enter the metaverse, where Asian Games venues and maps are re-created in an animated(动画的) style. Each user can have their own digital character. Users can “take a walk” in different venues and chat with other users. They can also play mini-games with other users, such as playing with different competitors in a running contest.