Hong Kong Cycling told to shed small-town mentality, as head coach reveals Olympic talent identification plan
- Hong Kong poised to have only three cyclists at 2024 Olympics in Paris, head coach Dagorne ‘absolutely not satisfied’ with number
- Frenchman’s contract is for only two years, but he is confident of being able to implement his plans over a longer period
Head coach Herve Dagorne has urged Hong Kong cycling to discard its small-town mentality, and try to challenge the sport’s established powers.
The Frenchman presented cycling chiefs with an eight-year plan as part of his application for the post, and is in the initial stages of overhauling the sport in the city.
Dagorne plans to identify potential world-class cyclists from other sports, and will provide endurance cyclists with a regular diet of high-quality European road racing.
He was also behind the appointment of Leung Chung-wing, the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist, as assistant coach, and expects to have a new sprint coach on board soon.
At the Paris Olympics, Hong Kong will be represented by Ceci Lee Sze-wing in the omnium, and one rider in each of the men’s and women’s road races. Dagorne said he was “absolutely not satisfied” with the number, and expressed concerns cycling could be overtaken by other sports, such as fencing and swimming.
“Sometimes people tell me we are small, but it is not true, we have seven million people,” Dagorne said. “That is much more than the populations of New Zealand [5.1 million], and Denmark [5.9 million], and they are leaders in cycling.
