Singapore swimmer uses hi-tech method to dazzle

Singapore's Tao Li competes at the SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima in this December 11, 2007 file photo. Li is using NASA-style technology to help the city-state shine in Beijing's Olympic pool.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singapore swimmer is using NASA-style technology to help the city-state shine in Beijing's Olympic pool.

China-born Tao Li is undergoing bright light therapy to adjust her bodyclock to the morning race times at next month's Games.

Five times a week, China-born Tao is given a 15-minute burst of strong light to enable her to peak in the mornings for the finals, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The treatment, at a light intensity of 3,600 lux and roughly nine times as strong as a brightly lit office, will last three weeks.

Li will be competing in the 100 metre backstroke as well as the 100 and 200 metre butterfly events.

"This therapy can help Tao Li become more alert both physically and mentally," Taisuke Kinugasa, a Singapore Sports School doctor, was quoted as saying.

Singapore has not won an Olympic medal in nearly half a century. Their sole success came at the 1960 Rome Olympics when Tan Howe-Liang won a silver medal in weightlifting.

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