Tokyo 2020: lockdown ‘can really hit you mentally,’ cyclist Jessica Lee says on spending Christmas at the Hong Kong Sports Institute

Sprint cyclist Lee wants to avoid ‘overcooking’ her training and mistiming peaks ahead of first Olympics outing

‘God forbid but perhaps Lunar New Year as well,’ the Glasgow native says of ad hoc Covid-19 precautions

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Hong Kong cyclist Jessica Lee Hoi-yan (right) with teammate Sarah Lee Wai-sze after finishing third and first at the Track Cycling World Cup keirin, respectively, in 2019. Photo: SCMP / Felix Wong

Published: 10:33am, 27 Dec 2020Updated: 10:19pm, 27 Dec 2020

Tokyo 2020-bound track cyclist Jessica Lee Hoi-yan left her native Glasgow for Hong Kong three years ago to dedicate herself to her Olympic dream. Sacrifices have been in abundance, but the 30-year-old never would have imagined spending the winter locked down in the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI).

“There are a lot of unknowns. We don’t know how early we need to be arriving in Tokyo, whether there will be a quarantine period. We’re very limited in knowing these things yet,” said Lee, born in Hong Kong before moving to Scotland aged 11.

Lee has been – like several of the city’s Olympic hopefuls – forced to train, sleep and repeat in Fo Tan’s kitted-out Institute as a precaution against the Covid-19 pandemic. While she has seen physical improvements from the strict weightlifting and workout regimens, Lee explained that the lack of competition and repetitive training takes a mental toll. The postponed Olympics’ cycling events begin on July 24.

“It can really hit you mentally, especially being locked down in HKSI. Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and it can be demotivating because it’s a long way to the Olympics. We plan to spend our Christmas and New Year here, God forbid but perhaps Lunar New Year as well. So it’s tough but we’re all in it together and our athletes are supporting each other,” Lee said.

Hong Kong-born track cyclist Jessica Lee Hoi-yan spends Christmas and New Year's in lockdown in the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Photo: Handout

“It’s not ideal to have all racing and training interrupted but luckily in Hong Kong the interruption has been very mild. Unfortunately no racing, and racing is a big part of what we do – it really is.

“It gives us focus and something to peak for and when you take that out of the equation it can become very flat. Psychologically you can get kind of bogged down because you have nothing to peak for, physically and mentally. It’s been very good training and a good run-way, very head-down in training – but there’s nothing to train for. You take your head out the sand and it’s like ‘OK, what next?’