Just Saying | Hong Kong should really stop treating its Paralympic champions as second-class athletes
Yonden Lhatoo despairs at the city’s unequal treatment of disabled athletes, who have won far more medals than their celebrated able-bodied counterparts
Not to rain on everyone’s parade, but while we’re going on and on, ad nauseam, about how awesome Hong Kong’s athletes were at the Rio Olympics and how proud they made us, let’s not lose track of the hard facts.
This city has competed in every Summer Games except one since 1952. Our medal tally to date: one gold for windsurfing in 1996, a silver in table tennis doubles in 2004, and a bronze for cycling in 2012. Nada in Brazil this year.
Now look at Hong Kong’s track record in the Paralympics. We have been there at the biggest global sporting event for disabled athletes every year since 1972. Our tally so far: 120 medals, 38 of them gold.
We are ranked 33 out of 116 nations and jurisdictions.
Singapore, by comparison, is ranked way below us at 85 with only six medals, including one gold. But Singapore won a spectacular gold in Brazil this time, and apparently that’s all that counts.