Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medallist Lee Lai-shan has a date tonight with the Games - just as she has had for the past 20 years.
'I'm going to set my alarm clock so I wake up to see the opening ceremony,' says the retired windsurfer, 41, best known as 'San-san' to Hongkongers and millions more around the world since her victory in the women's mistral windsurfing event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. 'I don't want to miss it. It starts when it's 4o'clock in the morning here - the middle of the night.'
The three-time world champion competed in four Olympics between 1992 and 2004, but was not always a winner.
'Windsurfing changed my life,' says the Cheung Chau-born Lee, who turned professional aged 19. 'As a teenager I always did everything with only 70per cent effort. I never tried 100per cent.
'I grew up in a big family [of nine] and knew I could never be the best in the family ... my bigger brothers and sisters were always better than me, no matter what. But that was a big mistake. I never felt real satisfaction.'
Then she took up the sport aged 12, thanks to her uncle, a talented windsurfer, who gave her a board and also some coaching.