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Opinion | Sports investment brings its own rewards as Hong Kong celebrates its best Olympics
- Billions in government and corporate funding have been poured into sports through the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Kai Tak Sports Park project and more
- The best return on that investment? Hongkongers setting differences aside to cheer on our athletes in Tokyo
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Why you can trust SCMP
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Hong Kong has just witnessed its most successful Olympics outing ever at Tokyo 2020. Remarkably, we won double our entire previous medal tally while racking up a wealth of firsts.
These include: first gold since the 1997 handover; first medal in fencing; first time an athlete had won two medals in the same Olympics; first medal in karate; and, first time an athlete had won medals in separate Olympics.
Although there is a natural fixation on the medal count and winning at any sporting event, I would like to focus on the story behind our Olympians.
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Each of Hong Kong’s 46 Olympians is an outstanding athlete with natural talent nurtured by people and institutions. No Olympic athlete achieves the dream alone.
Qualifying for the Olympics would not have been possible without years of personal sacrifice and family support, dedicated coaches, physiotherapists, sports nutritionists and support staff, and institutional support and funding.
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The Hong Kong government has given considerable land, funding and development support to sports in general and to elite sports.
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