World and Olympic champion Le Jingyi will not defend her individual titles at next month's world swimming championships in Australia, the China Sports Daily reported yesterday.

Le will compete in the Perth championships only in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay so she can focus better on training for the 2000 Olympics, the newspaper quoted national team assistant head coach Zhou Ming as saying.

"Le Jingyi has `overdrawn' her energy after many years of continuous battle," Zhou said. "It is difficult for her to bear the heavy psychological and physical burdens."

Le broke the women's 50 and 100 metres freestyle world records at the 1994 world championships in Rome, where China won 12 of the 16 women's titles. Both world marks still stand.

She set the fastest 100 freestyle time in the world this year - just 0.09 seconds outside her 54.01 world mark - and second-fastest 50 freestyle mark for the year behind compatriot Shan Ying at the Chinese national games in Shanghai in October.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she won gold in the 100 metres freestyle and took the silver in the 50 metres.

This year she had to settle for bronze in both the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle at April's world short-course championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

She won the 50 metres and finished second in the 100 metres event at August's Pan Pacific championships in Fukuoka, Japan.