Hong Kong at the Olympics

Sporting event delegation
Hong Kong at the
Olympics
IOC codeHKG
NOCSports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China
Websitewww.hkolympic.org (in English and Chinese)
Medals
Ranked 91st
Gold
2
Silver
3
Bronze
4
Total
9
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

Hong Kong first competed at the Olympic Games in 1952, then as a British colony (British Hong Kong). Hong Kong has participated at every Summer Olympic Games (14 summer, 4 winter) since then except for the boycotted 1980 Games, and has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 2002. Hong Kong won its first medal/gold medal in 1996, and a second gold medal in the 2020 Games. Apart from those, Hong Kong has also won seven other medals, three silver, and four bronze. Its best performance to-date was the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

History

The first Olympic athlete from Hong Kong was Yvonne Yeung, who competed in 1936 for the Republic of China (which now competes as Chinese Taipei), instead of the British colony. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Hong Kong was founded in 1950 as the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, and is now known as the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. It was recognised by the IOC in 1951, and subsequently, Hong Kong was represented separately from Great Britain (for any gold medal ceremony, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised and the British national anthem was played) at all future Olympic Games.

After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, the NOC for the special administrative region has been now known as Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong maintains its own NOC and is represented separately at the Olympics due to International Olympic Committee's grandfather clause.

For any gold medal ceremony, the Hong Kong SAR flag is raised and the PRC national anthem is played, even in situations where athletes from China won silver or bronze, resulting in the Hong Kong SAR flag flying above that of China. This is permitted under the constitution promulgated by the PRC prior to the handover (specifically, Article 151, Chapter 7 of the Basic Law), which states that Hong Kong "may, on its own, ... maintain and develop relations and conclude and implement agreements with foreign states and regions and relevant international organizations in the appropriate fields, including the economic, trade, financial and monetary, shipping, communications, tourism, cultural and sports fields".[1]

In 2008, Hong Kong was the site of the equestrian venues for the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Medals by Games

Medals by Summer Games

Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
1952 Helsinki 4 0 0 0 0 -
1956 Melbourne 2 0 0 0 0 -
1960 Rome 4 0 0 0 0 -
1964 Tokyo 39 0 0 0 0 -
1968 Mexico City 11 0 0 0 0 -
1972 Munich 10 0 0 0 0 -
1976 Montreal 25 0 0 0 0 -
1980 Moscow did not participate
1984 Los Angeles 47 0 0 0 0 -
1988 Seoul 48 0 0 0 0 -
1992 Barcelona 38 0 0 0 0 -
1996 Atlanta 23 1 0 0 1 49
2000 Sydney 31 0 0 0 0 -
2004 Athens 32 0 1 0 1 65
2008 Beijing 34 0 0 0 0 -
2012 London 42 0 0 1 1 79
2016 Rio de Janeiro 37 0 0 0 0 -
2020 Tokyo 46 1 2 3 6 49
2024 Paris future event
2028 Los Angeles
2032 Brisbane
Total 2 3 4 9 89

Medals by Winter Games

Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
2002 Salt Lake City 2 0 0 0 0
2006 Turin 1 0 0 0 0
2010 Vancouver 1 0 0 0 0
2014 Sochi 1 0 0 0 0
2018 Pyeongchang 1 0 0 0 0
2022 Beijing 3 0 0 0 0
2026 Milan–Cortina future event
Total 0 0 0 0 -

Medals by Sports

SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Fencing1001
Sailing1001
Swimming0202
Table tennis0112
Cycling0022
Karate0011
Totals (6 entries)2349

List of medallists

Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Gold Lee Lai Shan 1996 Atlanta Sailing Women's sailboard (Mistral)
 Silver Ko Lai Chak
Li Ching
2004 Athens Table tennis Men's doubles
 Bronze Lee Wai Sze 2012 London Cycling Women's keirin
 Gold Cheung Ka Long 2020 Tokyo Fencing Men's foil
 Silver Siobhán Haughey Swimming Women's 200 metre freestyle
 Silver Women's 100 metre freestyle
 Bronze Doo Hoi Kem
Lee Ho Ching
Minnie Soo
Table tennis Women's team
 Bronze Grace Lau Karate Women's kata
 Bronze Lee Wai Sze Cycling Women's Sprint

National Olympic Committee

The National Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, SF&OC, has been repeatedly warned by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) against corruption and to implement better governance. With Timothy Fok as president of the Olympic Committee, there have numerous allegations of misconduct against the SF&OC and Fok; for example, in August 2016, the Hong Kong Economic Journal released an article, accusing the SF&OC and Timothy Fok of various transgressions.[2] In April 2020, the government's Audit Commission released a 141-page report after investigating the Olympic Committee, describing various failures with the SF&OC, including lax governance.[3] SCMP released an editorial, agreeing with the Audit Commission and stating that the city's sports development was at risk.[4]

Athlete training

The Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) is a government-funded training center for elite athletes and potential Olympians in Hong Kong. However, its selection of primarily funding 20 tier A sports has caused criticism; billions of HKD have been spent on tier A sports, including sports which are not Olympic sports, and sports which "may not even be able to achieve any breakthrough in the coming years".[5] Additionally, there is a lack of funding for sports outside of those 20 tier A sports, including sports which Asians have done well at.[5] Chung Pak-kwong, professor at Baptist University and former chief executive of HKSI, said that with the money spent, Hong Kong at the 2016 Summer Olympics should have won medals; instead, 0 medals were won.[5]

Naming

Prior to 1997, the team's name was "Hong Kong"; after 1997, the team's name became "Hong Kong, China". In most[how?] other languages, this name is used for translation (e.g. French Hong Kong, Chine; Russian Гонконг, Китай Gonkong, Kitay; Simplified Chinese 中国香港 Zhōngguó Xiānggǎng). The Japanese team name is ホンコン・チャイナ Honkon Chaina and the Korean team name is 홍콩차이나 Hongkong Chaina, using English transliterations of the word "China" instead of the native translation.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Basic Law Full Text – chapter (7)". Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  2. ^ "How a cabal controls Hong Kong's Olympic sports EJINSIGHT – ejinsight.com". EJINSIGHT. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  3. ^ "Watchdog pans Hong Kong Olympic Committee over spending, lack of meetings". South China Morning Post. 2020-04-29. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  4. ^ "Hong Kong's sport bodies should lift their game". South China Morning Post. 2020-05-02. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  5. ^ a b c "Can Hong Kong nurture even more Olympic medallists? Experts aren't convinced". South China Morning Post. 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2021-08-09.

External links

  • "Hong Kong". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
  • "Hong Kong". Olympedia.com.
  • "Olympic Analytics/HKG". olympanalyt.com.
  • (ed.) Monique Berlioux (February 1977). "Hong Kong and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review (112). Lausanne: International Olympic Committee: 104–109. Retrieved 2007-07-29. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help)
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