Quarrie won four Olympic medals in a glittering career, including 200 metres gold at the 1976 Games in Montreal, and has been enlisted by China's Athletics Association to deliver a series of coaching clinics.

It will be the second time he has helped out after conducting training sessions during a 10-day trip last November to China's National Training Camp in Guangzhou.

"This proposal for Donald Quarrie to go back to China has come out of the agreement between the governments of Jamaica and China," Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) President Howard Aris told the Doha Asian Games website.

"The JAAA was asked to facilitate the process and we recognised Quarrie as the person who we believe was best suited to do that. He has the stature, name, recognition; he's an active coach and he often gives lectures."

China, which has traditionally performed better at distance running than sprints, is sending 41 track and field athletes to Doha, led by 110m hurdles world record holder Liu Xiang. The games are the last major multi-sport event before China hosts the Olympics in 2008.