Hong Kong’s Olympic success shows government investment, policies on right path: minister

Sports chief Kevin Yeung also calls on business community to consider hiring retired athletes due to their ability to face adversity

Reading Time:4 minutes

Sports chief Kevin Yeung (left) welcomes Team Hong Kong at the airport, including Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong. Photo: Elson Li

Published: 2:55pm, 10 Aug 2024Updated: 9:42pm, 10 Aug 2024

Hong Kong’s outstanding performance at the Paris Olympics has shown that the government’s investment and policies are on the right path, the sports minister has said, while calling on the business community to hire retired athletes.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung also confirmed on Saturday authorities were working towards hosting a visit by mainland Chinese gold-medal athletes later this month.

“I think our results reflect that over a period of time ... perhaps five to 10 years, that the resources placed by the government in sports, and our policies, were in the right direction overall,” he told a radio programme.

Hong Kong has made history in Paris with its best Olympic gold medal tally after foilist Cheung Ka-long and épéeist Vivian Kong Man-wai each won gold, while swimmer Siobhan Haughey came away with two bronze medals.

Cheung won gold in the same event in the Tokyo Games and Haughey scored two silver medals, contributing to the six medals earned by the city’s athletes that year.

Yeung noted that developing elite athletes was not something that could be achieved within the space of a couple of years, noting that the city’s two gold medallist fencers had taken part in three Olympic Games.