Letters | A bright side to Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong’s retirement

Readers discuss the fencer’s image as a heroine, tennis gold for China, false allegations against a boxer, and China’s third plenum communique

Reading Time:3 minutes

Vivian Kong arrives to compete in the women’s epee final during the Paris Olympics on July 27. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 10 Aug 2024

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification

Hong Kong’s newly crowned Olympic champion Vivian Kong Man-wai was still everywhere in the news when she made the shock announcement that she is taking a break and saying goodbye to her professional fencing career. Instead, she said she would embark on a new career and work towards building her own charity to promote sports to children.

Kong’s image as a heroine was cemented when she came back from a six-point deficit to win the individual épée final at the Paris Olympics. Altogether, she has made three Olympic appearances, and won two world championship bronzes, as well as six Asian Games medals.

Her retirement from professional fencing may come as sad news to many of her fans, and her “fencing family”. But if we think more deeply, we will find the bright side.

Let’s cast our minds back to the martial arts film actor who was all the rage in the 1970s, not just in Hong Kong but also elsewhere in the world. The fact that he made so few of those hit films means they have been all the more cherished. Thus, the speed and power of his martial arts moves will always be vivid in our memories.

And as Kong, Hong Kong’s one and only Olympic fencing queen, said: “Once a fencer, always a fencer!” We will always remember her hard work and her inspiring Olympic outing, even if she steps away from professional fencing for good.