Tokyo 2020: Chris Perry recalls magnificent seven Olympics – San San’s gold, queuing up for Peking duck and Steve Redgrave’s fifth title

The Briton arrived in Hong Kong in 1986 for what was meant to be a brief stint coaching the Asian Games squad; that was 35 years and seven Olympics ago

Other highlights include the buzz of his first opening ceremony in Barcelona 1992, late-night barbecues in Sydney 2000 and returning to ancient Athens in 2004

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Chris Perry and the Hong Kong rowing team at the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 13 Jul 2021Updated: 8:00am, 13 Jul 2021

The Tokyo Olympics will be Chris Perry’s eighth with the Hong Kong rowing team. The head coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute has been with the team for 35 years but he was recruited in 1986 from Britain only on a short-term contract to prepare rowers for the Asian Games that year.

With experience working with the British team and coaching the Oxford University boat crew, Perry arrived in Hong Kong more out of curiosity about Asia than anything else, knowing he would be working with a small amateur squad of firefighters, teachers and university students.

He had no clue that it would turn out to be a lifelong journey that continues to this day, having eventually married one of Hong Kong’s top rowers, Ho Kim-fai, and becoming an iconic part of the Hong Kong sports scene.

Here Perry talks about his memories from each of the seven Olympics he has attended as he looks forward to No 8, the “Pandemic Games” in Tokyo.

Barcelona 1992: first-ever opening ceremony

The Hong Kong team march at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony. Photo: AP

In July 1992, Perry was waiting for the announcer to call the Hong Kong delegation into the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain. In a few moments the staple parade of athletes would begin, but for now the coach was standing among thousands of sporting elites sweating in the summer heat.