Abstract: In order to study the psychological skills in sports of Chinese elite athletes, 151 Chinese elite athletes(98 males, 53 females) were tested by using theChinese version of the Psychological Skills Inventory For Sport Format-5(PSIS-C). The results indicated that: 1. Chinese elite athletes have initiallyacquired the six psychological skills for sports (i. e.: anxiety control (AX),concentration (CC), confidence (CF), mental preparation (MP), motivation(MV), team emphasis (TM). They are superior in CC and TM, but inade-quate in MP; 2. There are no significant differences in all six psychologicalskills except in MV among events and between both genders.This means thatall athletes have mastered the six skills; 3. There are significant differencesof psychological skills between elite and non-elite athletes in AX for maleand in AX, CF and CC for female. Elite athletes are superior to non-eliteathletes in these skills; 4. In light of the development and the structure ofthe psychological skills of Chinese elite athletes,they can be divided into four groups: (1) poor-skilled MP group, (2) poor-skilled CF group, (3) highly-skilled CF-TM group, and (4) highly-skilled CF-CC group.

Key words: psychological skills, anxiety control, concentration, motivation for sport, mental preparation