Beijing Winter Olympics: Sidney Chu, Hong Kong’s unwavering speed skater, finally living out his dreams

The 22-year-old powered through an underdeveloped local scene and a career-threatening injury to earn Beijing 2022 qualification

‘That process of recovery and fighting through pain, even when it’s very uncertain, showed how much the sport meant to me,’ says Chu

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Hong Kong speedskater Sidney Chu at a World Cup event in the Netherlands to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: Martin Holtom

Published: 6:15pm, 10 Jan 2022Updated: 2:51pm, 3 Feb 2022

Sidney Chu is one of Hong Kong’s record three Winter Games athletes going to the Beijing 2022 Olympics, and could not be prouder to “stand on the soil of my country”.

At just 22, the short-track speed skater has his best competitive years ahead, but becoming one of the city’s top skaters has already taken some toll.

Whether it is training abroad to make up for the lack of standardised local rinks, recovering from a nasty fractured foot in his teens, or undergoing three weeks’ quarantine for a pre-Olympics Hong Kong pit-stop to promote the sport, Chu has been through it all.

Putting the finishing touches in training at the Capital Indoor Stadium, he told mainland reporters in perfect northeastern Mandarin about how “very proud and lucky” he was able to “fulfil my dream and stand on the Beijing Games starting line as a Chinese”.

Short-track speed skater Sidney Chu will represent Hong Kong at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Photo: Chan Kin-wa

“Starting out in this sport in Hong Kong – a place that doesn’t snow or have ice – it feels like all that pain, trouble and hassle is finally worth it,” said Hong Kong-born Chu, who qualified for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games last December.

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