kevin sinclair's hong kong

Who is Hong Kong's most decorated sporting personality? All hail Yu Chui-yee, the brilliant one-legged swordswoman whose flashing foil at the 2004 Paralympics won four gold medals. Four Olympic golds! But how many people recognise her name or recall her glory?

And who, apart from sports buffs, remembers our disabled athletes winning 11 gold medals at the Paralympic Games after the Athens Olympics? A total of 18 medals won by the 23-strong Hong Kong team was a remarkable effort.

Everyone knows San-san. Remember how we hugged Lee Lai-shan to our communal heart when she swept home to score gold in the 1996 Olympics? She was our golden girl on her magic windsurfer.

In the latest Olympics, in Greece, our only medal in the general games was a silver for table tennis. Well done, indeed. But when it comes to scoring big in global sports, it's our disabled sporting men and women who rake up results. They are our athletic giants.

How come? The astonishing string of successes in everything from wheelchair judo to table tennis, fencing to badminton, is due to a movement that began more than three decades ago. Behind the drive to encourage active sporting participation by the disabled is a small group of dedicated men and women. Quietly, with little publicity and no fanfare, they have helped the handicapped lift themselves out of their sick beds to the pinnacle of sporting success.

Recently, one of these pioneers was himself awarded a medal; Secretary of Health, Welfare and Food York Chow Yat-ngok was made a member of the Paralympic Order. It is the highest honour of the global movement to bolster sports among the disabled.