Police guarding the 2012 Olympics torch on its route through the UK will get psychological counselling. They will track the flame during its 70-day tour ahead of the London Games to protect it from attacks by protesters.

Trained in self-defence and advanced first aid, the 28 Metropolitan Police officers will run alongside torchbearers and even sleep beside it every night. But after the multi million pound operation, they will be seen by a force psychologist amid concerns they might suffer emotionally as they return to the daily grind after more than two months in the media spotlight.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said specialists within the occupational health team would be available for the officers, half of whom are women. She said: “They are going to be away from their homes for some length of time having an amazing experience and then will have to go back to their normal roles. That could be difficult for some.

“We are going to prepare them for the fact that their bodies could get broken, and mentally for being in the media spotlight they could find themselves in.”

Human rights protesters tried to disrupt the London leg of the 2008 China Olympics torch tour.

The 2012 flame will start its journey in Land’s End on May 19 next year for an 8,000-mile trip around the UK before the opening ceremony on July 27

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