OpinionWhy Wong Kam-po is still more cherished than Olympic medal-winner Sarah Lee in Hong Kong

Lee’s bronze medal at the 2012 London Games remains one of just three Olympic medals ever won by a Hong Kong athlete

Wong’s best Olympic result was 11th place in the points race at the 2000 Olympics

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Wong Kam-po is still regarded as one of Hong Kong’s greatest ever sportspersons. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 4:05pm, 14 Dec 2018Updated: 8:32pm, 15 Dec 2018

Cyclist Wong Kam-po never won an Olympic medal. Sarah Lee Wai-sze has, but the retired Wong is still rated better than his fellow rider in the eyes of many of the city’s sports journalists, at least in the year 2018.

In less than two years’ time, Lee, 31, will be challenging for gold at her third Olympic Games in Tokyo, after snatching a bronze in her debut Games when she came third in the women’s keirin at the 2012 London Olympics.

It was, indeed, only the third Olympic medal won by any Hong Kong athlete since their debut at the 1952 Helsinki Games. The two others are the gold medal captured by windsurfer Lee Lai-shan in the women’s mistral at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and eight years later when table tennis duo Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching won a silver in the men’s doubles at the 2004 Athens Games.

Sarah Lee Wai-sze bites her bronze medal after the track cycling keirin event at the 2012 Olympics in London. Photo: Felix Wong

Wong, now 45, made an incredible five Olympic appearances starting at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and it would have been six had it not been for an unsavoury fighting incident that broke out between the Hong Kong cyclists during an overseas training camp in France prior to the Barcelona Games. As a result, the Cycling Association recalled the whole Olympic training squad from Europe, including the then-19-year-old Wong, and banned all of them from the 1992 Olympics.

Over his five Olympic campaigns, Wong’s best finish was 11th place in the men’s points race at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

At the age of 39, he wrapped up his Olympic legacy with a creditable 37th place in the road race among 144 riders at the 2012 London Olympics.