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Paul McNamara

Hong Kong’s world No 1 fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai said she “does not want to let down” her support team, or fans at home, when she fights for Olympic gold this month.
Kong, who is poised for her third Games, is only 80 per cent fit following a knee injury, according to coach Octavian Zidaru.
And the 30-year-old Kong said her recovery was presenting mental challenges, after serious ACL injuries in 2017 and 2019.
According to the top-ranked épéeist, while approaching full health, she woke up every day thinking: “Yay, the Olympics is not today, I have another day to prepare, and to get better.”
Zidaru, meanwhile, said he would “not go to a competition without a medal in my mind”.
Kong was an Olympic quarter-finalist in Tokyo three years ago, after reaching the last 16 at Rio 2016.
A two-times World Championship bronze medallist, she said her most recent Games experience, which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, forced her to re-evaluate her reasons for chasing success.

“I had to ask myself, what am I training for?” Kong said. “What does the gold medal mean to Hong Kong people?
“The whole, ‘I want to win, it’s my dream’, is so egocentric. Making it more meaningful motivates me to train hard.”
Kong said she was “very impatient” to recapture peak fitness, but “really grateful we have the best medical team, and the best coaches”.
“Rehab is my speciality, I’ve had two broken knees,” she joked. The previous injuries, however, were responsible for Kong’s hesitation to fully commit in practice.
“I can fence, and do all the technical stuff,” she said. “A lot of [my recovery] is mental. I’ve had so many experiences with the knee that being brave enough to tell myself I’m OK is the hardest part.
“I have so much support, and I give all this stress to my team … my coach, my physiotherapist, and my trainer. I completely trust them, so I just have to do my job, and I hope I don’t let them down.”

But Kong said the increased scrutiny on Hong Kong fencers after Cheung Ka-long’s Tokyo gold was not an issue, because “he has all the pressure”.
Still, she said she had worked with psychologists at the Hong Kong Sports Institute because she knew how much of her regaining full fitness was “mental, as well as physical”.
Kong will immediately set up home in the Olympic Village, after flying to Paris on July 20, with Octavian, who was fourth in the épée team event at the 1980 Games, claiming it would be “dangerous” to practise with unfamiliar training partners in a pre-Olympics camp.
And she acknowledged it would be a blow to miss the opening ceremony, with her competition set for the next day, after similar experiences in 2016 and 2021. She was counting her blessings, nonetheless, after being unable to even step forwards or backwards only weeks ago.
“I am older and, hopefully, wiser [than in Rio and Tokyo],” Kong said. “I can handle pressure better … and I appreciate this sport so much more than I used to.”


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Paris 2024 Olympic Games

World No 1 Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong keen to ‘not let people down’ in Olympic medal quest

Vivian Kong insists she is better at handling pressure than when she went to previous Olympic Games.
Photo: Eva Pavía 

Vivian Kong (right) was forced to withdraw from her Asian Championships quarter-final bout. Photo: FIE

Vivian Kong is eager to not let down Hongkongers as she embarks on her Olympic medal quest. Photo: Elson Li

Paris Olympics: Hong Kong’s champion fencer Cheung Ka-long should be feared, coach says

Cheung Ka-long must manage the pressure of being defending Olympic champion in Paris. Photo: Handout

Cheung Ka-long claimed Asian Games gold last year to strengthen an impressive resume. Photo: Reuters

Cheung Ka-long told coach Greg Koenig he was committed to trying to repeat his Tokyo success. Photo: Handout

Paris Olympics 2024: fencing coach Nicola Lu Min hopes Games debutant and former rival Cedric Ho ‘brings us surprises’

Hong Kong épée representative Cedric Ho Wai-hang wants to show he “won’t be frightened playing even the world’s top fencers”. Photo: Elson Li

Ho (left) says épée coach Nicola Lu Min helped him refine his technique “a lot”. Photo: Handout

Paris-bound fencers (from left) Cheung Ka-long, Daphne Chan, Cedric Ho and Vivian Kong. Photo: Elson Li

Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

Fencing

Hong Kong

Vivian Kong reveals mental challenges, as she accelerates recovery from knee injury on eve of Paris Games


Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong reveals mental challenges, as she accelerates recovery from knee injury on eve of Paris Games.


Hong Kong Sports Institute

World No 1 Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong keen to ‘not let people down’ in Olympic medal quest

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Vivian Kong reveals mental challenges, as she accelerates recovery from knee injury on eve of Paris Games

Vivian Kong reveals mental challenges, as she accelerates recovery from knee injury on eve of Paris Games