Hong Kong's disdainful attitude toward sport is costing it medals

Fact: The two blue-riband sports at the Olympics and Asian Games - athletics and swimming - account for less than 5 per cent of the total number of full-time athletes at the Hong Kong Sports Institute.

Fact: The government has pumped HK$9 billion into elite sports over the past couple of years.

Is this money being well spent? Why are there so few full-time participants in the athletics and swimming programmes? What can be done to raise the "critical mass" - a term used by the elite academy's chief executive, Trisha Leahy, so Hong Kong can increase its chances of winning medals at major games?

Of the 16 sports in the elite category at Fo Tan, athletics and swimming have the least number of full-time athletes. Athletics has six from a total of 21, the rest are part-time, while swimming has four full-time and 64 part-timers.

When rugby sevens finalises its programme and comes on board at the end of this month, the number of full-time athletes will cross the 200 mark which means the two blue-riband sports represent a minority.

The reason is straightforward, says David Chiu Chin-hung, a long-time official of the Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association (HKASA).