Women’s table tennis players Lee Ho-ching, 28, Doo Hoi-kem, 24, and Minnie Soo Wai-yam, 23, won bronze, behind world champions China and silver medallists Japan. Karate exponent Grace Lau Mo-sheung, 29, earned a kata bronze medal in what is likely her first and last Olympics outing because karate will not feature in the 2024 Paris Games.

On Sunday, the last day of the Games, veteran track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, 34, put the finishing touch to the city’s inspiring performances by picking up a bronze in the women’s sprint event.

Before this amazing feat, Hong Kong could only boast three Olympic medals – a gold from windsurfer Lee Lai-shan in Atlanta in 1996, a silver from men’s table tennis doubles pair Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak in Athens, 2004, and a bronze from Sarah Lee in London, 2012.

Soon after Lee picked up the city’s final medal on Sunday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said her performance had justified Hong Kong’s investment in elite sports.

“The success of Lee and the cycling team has provided insights into the direction of sports development and training of elite athletes. We will attach more importance to the allocation of resources in these areas,” she said.

However, some question whether Tokyo truly marks a turning point for Hong Kong sport or if the city must do much more to ensure the medals keep rolling in.

‘Time to revamp elite training system’

If you ask Chung Pak-kwong, professor of sports, physical education and health at Baptist University, the Tokyo result was four decades in the making and somewhat slower than expected. Hong Kong became serious about nurturing its best athletes with the completion of the Jubilee Sports Centre in 1982, the city’s first elite training centre that initially supported about a dozen sports, including fencing and swimming.

Billions of dollars have already gone into training Hong Kong’s top athletes over the years, with the bulk of it going to those in 20 Tier-A sports that include fencing, karate, windsurfing, table tennis and cycling.

The sports in this category were chosen because of the athletes’ consistent performances internationally and potential for Olympic medal success. An athlete in a Tier-A sport receives training from a team of coaches led by a head coach. Training expenses are fully paid for, and they also have access to services such as sports science and medical support.

Such athletes must meet certain requirements to join the institute or be recommended by their respective sports associations, training part-time or full-time.

The institute also supports 13 Tier-B sports, such as golf, judo and taekwondo. Athletes in this category receive less support, depending on arrangements with their respective sports association.

The sports institute is funded by the Elite Athletes Development Fund, which stood at HK$11.4 billion (US$1.5 billion) at the end of March last year. The fund was established in 2012 with HK$7 billion from the government and topped up with another HK$6 billion in 2019.

Going by the pace of investment and development, Chung said, Hong Kong should have delivered medals at the 2016 Olympics, but returned empty-handed from Rio de Janeiro.

To ensure continued medal success now, he felt a revamp of the elite training system was necessary. “We have to review and reclassify the current system that supports more than 20 sports. Some may not even be able to achieve any breakthrough in the coming years,” he said.

A senior sports official who declined to be named said Hong Kong needed a more “medal-oriented strategy” to focus on sports in which smaller-built Asians have proven their ability to win at the highest levels of competition.

“If we look at the sports won by our Asian counterparts in the Tokyo Games – such as shooting, archery or those with a weight category such as judo, weightlifting, karate or taekwondo – these are sports in which Asians are not at a disadvantage to stronger, bigger Westerners. However, it is very difficult for athletes from these sports to get Tier-A support from the sports institute.”

Medal winners gained from elite training

All of this year’s Olympic medal winners were part of the city’s elite sport system at the sports institute and fencing hero Cheung surely qualifies as its poster boy.

The son of basketball players, he was 10 when he had his first class at the Hong Kong Fencing School. By 16, he proved so good he was part of the national youth fencing team and joined 1,300 other elite athletes at the sports institute. He has trained full-time for eight years, receiving financial grants, training and career development support.

Tier-A* athletes can receive up to HK$41,030 (US$5,275) a month in grants, which are their de facto salaries providing financial stability while they focus on training.

Cheung’s breakthrough came at 18, when he was the first Hongkonger crowned Asian champion. That earned him his Olympic berth to Rio in 2016, when he made it to the last 16. Karateka Lau, whose elder brother Chi-ming also represents the city in karate, flew to Miami for an eight-month training camp to prepare for the Tokyo Games.

After the women’s table tennis team upset Germany to win the bronze, their mainland-born coach Li Ching expressed gratitude that they had the opportunity to train with the Chinese national team. Doo Hoi-kem, for example, spent eight months on the mainland and trained with the senior team for two months to sharpen her skills.

Cyclist Sarah Lee’s Tokyo medal added to the bronze she won at the 2012 London Games. At 34, this could be the last Olympics for Lee – even though remained silent about her future in the afterglow of her win. Lee grew up in a public housing estate and displayed an athletic flair at a young age despite having anaemia, showing what was possible with her amalgam of talent, training and tenacity.

On Haughey, Chung had this to say: “I don’t see Hong Kong having another strong swimmer like Siobhan in the next 100 years, even if we have a large number of swimmers.”

He attributed the swimming sensation’s success to Hong Kong’s top swimming clubs, particularly the South China Athletic Association, where she started training at the age of four. Given that the training and resources at the clubs were similar to the sports institute, Chung said, Haughey stayed with club coaches although she relied on the sports institute’s expertise in sports science and medicine.

Haughey, whose father is Irish and mother a Hongkonger, left for the University of Michigan in the United States and continued training there after graduating. She once turned down Ireland’s invitation to represent the country, saying she belongs to Hong Kong. “Talented swimmers like her will train in the US when they get a breakthrough, because they will have stronger peers to compete with there,” said Chung.

Younger athletes need more support

While billions of dollars have been invested in top athletes, those in the second tier receive less funding and support and this could prevent Hong Kong from achieving success in the years ahead.

Even in the same sport, some athletes are in the elite rank and qualify for full support, while others who do not perform as well, or are younger, receive less.

“At the moment, rightly, we have invested a lot in our top elite athletes and that’s as it should be,” he said. “But the gap between the top elite athletes and the second-tier athletes is getting too big.”

One problem is that such support links funding for athletes with their performance at national, Asian and international competitions, which puts young athletes who are still developing their craft at a disadvantage.

Hung’s coach, Perry, is convinced that her progress since taking up the sport full-time in 2017 makes her a medal hopeful at future international competitions.

“If we really want her to be the next Asian Games gold medallist or to win something in Paris, we have to put money into her now, not just the top elite ones who have won medals,” he said. “We need a way to identify talent and put money into it earlier than waiting for them to win a medal. By the time they’re winning medals, the investment may be too late.”

Born and raised in Hong Kong to British parents, Coggins considers himself among the more fortunate ones. A competitive swimmer and runner at 13, he made the national squad at 15 and became an Olympian at 21.

He said he had supportive parents who encouraged him to take part in open races and enough devotion to the sport to keep going despite school commitments. However, he has seen his peers quitting one by one, mainly because of academic pressure and parents apprehensive about a full-time athletic career.

He said sports associations which should be spotting talent had the funds but lacked the expertise to develop athletes found at the sports institute, and there was not enough collaboration to ensure promising athletes were sent to the institute.

This was frustrating for aspiring triathletes, and many had dropped out of the sport, he said.

“We have probably lost 90 per cent of the people who would have been good,” said Coggins, who is studying engineering at the University of Hong Kong.

Rowing coach Perry said the associations also lacked technical specialists and a career structure for grass-roots coaches who tend to be working part-time for hourly payment. “There are no proper full-time jobs for them,” he said, adding that some end up as sports administrators instead, for better job security and pay. Discouraged coaches also felt disconnected from the elite system and did not send promising young athletes to the sports institute, he said.

Weak sports culture shrinks talent pool

“I had some disagreements with my coach and my mum and dad,” the 30-year-old recalled.

She finished eighth in Tokyo, which was likely her last Olympic Games. She finished 12th in London 2012.

In September, she will return to the University of Hong Kong to pick up her Bachelor of Arts course, having completed only two semesters separately in 2010 and 2018. Although an Olympic medal has eluded her, Chan won gold at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, improving on the silver she won four years earlier in Guangzhou.

The sports institute has made arrangements with several Hong Kong universities to provide scholarships and flexible study schedules for elite athletes, including after they retire from competition. Parents remain a hurdle, as many worry about their children’s education and whether committing full-time to sports might hurt their career prospects.

More change may be in the air following Hong Kong’s success in Tokyo, the Post has learned. The government hopes universities will consider providing athletes extra classes and an alternative exam schedule, drawing lessons from overseas, official sources with knowledge of the plans said.

Another senior sports official who spoke to the Post said the government should make use of the sports park to develop sports as a business, stage more international events and hire retired athletes.

With the top-quality facilities at the park, the official said, Hong Kong could bid for major international multi-sport events, including the Asian Games. “This will help to foster sports development at the elite level and a sports culture at the community level,” the official said.

Many were likely to drop out once they realised how tough the training could be, he added, but it would be worthwhile even if a few became elite. “Maybe one in 10,000 has what it takes to be an elite athlete,” he said. “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.”