Editorial | With second gold, Hong Kong punches above its weight at Olympics
- Fencer Cheung Ka-long made city proud defending title in Paris, and more is to come, with swimmer Siobhan Haughey aiming for second medal
Hong Kong sports history is being written in Paris by the city’s remarkable Olympic athletes. Cheung Ka-long managed to win a landmark gold in the men’s foil for a second consecutive Games on Monday, just 48 hours after Vivian Kong Man-wai won the women’s épée final. Overnight, they doubled the city’s historic gold medal tally to four.
The team wasn’t finished there – swimmer Siobhan Haughey took bronze in the women’s 200m freestyle, becoming the city’s only athlete with three Olympic medals to their name.
The Hong Kong athletes, who remain in contention for more medals, have been a daily inspiration so far in the Games, which still have another 12 days to run.
Cheung’s repeat performance was extraordinary for its drama. Down 14-12 against Italy’s tenacious Filippo Macchi and looking destined for silver, Cheung battled back to even it at 14–14.
For the tense final minutes, they fought through two simultaneous touches – both thought they had won – before Cheung won the third close strike to go up 15-14 for gold.
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Olympic history for Hong Kong: fencer Cheung Ka-long’s 2nd gold, Siobhan Haughey swims for bronze
It was also an amazing historical feat considering only two men had ever successfully defended their Olympic foil titles – back in the 20th century: Italy’s Nedo Nadi, winner at the 1912 Games in Stockholm and then Antwerp eight years later, after a pause for the first world war, and Frenchman Christian d’Oriola at Helsinki in 1952, who retained his title in Melbourne in 1956.
