Tokyo 2020: Grace Lau says fear of regret drove her to claim Olympic bronze in one-off karate outing

As Hong Kong karateka Grace Lau Mo-sheung made her way into the dojo at the 2020 Olympics, her entire career had already flashed before her eyes earlier that day.

At Tokyo’s famed Nippon Budokan, a Japanese arts and cultural Mecca since the 1960s and the venue for the kata event, Lau was battling fatigue and tired legs from the morning session. The empty arena, normally filled with spectators for world championships in the discipline, had an odd feel to it during the Games.

One match stood between Lau and Olympic glory, a chance to win a medal that might never exist again at the Games. The world No 6, who stands 1.5 metres tall, delivered a ferocious performance that commentators called “grace under pressure”.

Up against Dilara Bozan of Turkey, Lau had collected her thoughts and knew exactly what she needed to do to “get 100 per cent out of myself”. She had battled her way through the ranking round, but now needed to produce the performance of her life, which she did, her fourth of the day.

“I knew it was my last performance,” the 29-year-old told the Post, “and this would be the only chance I would get at the Olympics.”

Lau was one of a number of Hong Kong Olympians who was mobbed by fans and media on Wednesday at the IFC Mall in Central, where Henderson Land distributed just under HK$20 million to 23 athletes, as sponsors of the Hong Kong government’s Commendation Scheme for Elite Athletes.

Under the scheme, Olympians received financial rewards for winning a medal in Tokyo. Olympians who finished between fourth and eighth place were also rewarded.

Lau, who received HK$1.25 million, previously said her legs felt tired and she was battling fatigue on the day she claimed her bronze medal. Her first match was at 11.25am, and her last did not start until 7.30pm.

Lau said she knew there would be no excuses, and it would be her one opportunity.

“This is the first and last chance for me to get bronze,” said Lau about her thought process during the day. “So I cannot waste all the time I spent in the past three years.”

Her journey to Tokyo included an extended training camp last year in Miami, Florida due to Covid-19 restrictions, and she knew going into the competition that this could be the first and last time karate was featured at the Games.

Kata is one of two disciplines of karate (the other is kumite) that made it into the Tokyo Games programme. Karate was included as part of the IOC’s newly implemented scheme to allow the hosts to showcase five sports of its choosing. Karate will not be competed in Paris in three years and is not being considered to join the programme for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Kata means “form” in Japanese and is a series of predefined sequences done as a performance. Despite the non-combat philosophy, the kata incorporates attack and defence in its various movements, performed as if the karateka (karate practitioner) were facing an opponent.

Lau won the bronze medal match against Dazan by a narrow margin, 26.94 to 26.52, which one commentator said came down to her being faster and Lau said, before she cleared her head to focus on the match, one thing kept repeating over and over.

“I have to squeeze my last energy for this match and I cannot let myself regret it,” she said. “That was the thing in my head all the time before.”