VIVIAN KONG MAN-WAI (江旻憓) tore her torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in 2017 during a practice and then the one in her right knee in 2019. The damage was so bad, she had to undergo surgery.
Although Kong was only in her 20s, her mother asked her to take early retirement as a fencing athlete.
But the feisty young woman chose otherwise–and got back into her sport. Last year, Kong won the gold in the women’s epee event in the Asian Fencing Championships.
And this week she is the most celebrated figure in Hong Kong’s sports after becoming a world champion — she clinched the gold medal in the women’s epee individual at the Paris Olympic Games.
As the world number one fencer, competing in her third Olympics, Kong overcame a lagging position against French player Auriane Mallo-Breton, making a fightback to tie the score and prompting a sudden death fence-off at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Kong subsequently made the first strike to seal the historic triumph and claimed Hong Kong’s first gold in the Paris Olympics.
Shedding tears of joy in front of TV screens, the 30-year-old fencing champion told local media, “I don’t want to lose the game. I don’t want to play without showing Hong Kong’s spirit.”
In the Olympic glory, Kong said it was a great honour for her to play in the Olympic fencing final at the Grand Palais and it has been her dream too.
SWIFT RECOVERY FROM KNEE INJURIES
Just a month ago before the Paris Olympics, Kong had suffered from another knee injury, but it was relatively minor and fortunately, she recovered swiftly.
When suffering from anterior cruciate ligament injuries, Kong was resilient and overcame pain in her knees, trying hard to enhance her physical well-being. She found out what kinds of food which can let her get recovery swiftly. Later, Kong has made a great change to follow a vegetarian diet which apparently works for her.
Professor Yung Shu-hang, who is Chairman of Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told reporters in Paris that he was impressed with Kong’s performance.
Professor Yung, who operated on Kong’s torn anterior cruciate ligament in knees, said the athlete took only three months to recover. Among all his patients, Professor Yung said Kong is probably the one who gets the fastest recovery from the knee surgeries.
He said Kong’s dedication to the sport has demonstrated human efforts and capabilities are always unbelievable.
PASSION FOR FENCING
At a young age, Kong returned to Hong Kong from Vancouver for studies. Kong’s parents arranged for her to join different extracurricular activities, including ballet and guzheng, the Chinese zither. At the age of 11, Kong’s father suggested her to try fencing. Since then, she has been groomed by Hong Kong’s fencing team and has enjoyed being a fencing athlete representing Hong Kong in many competitions.
Kong has joined various fencing contests around the world. She reached the round of 16 in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and became the first Hong Kong’s female fencer to reach the quarter-finals stage in the Tokyo Olympics.
“I am so lucky that I can choose fencing as my most favourite sport and gain abundant resources and full support from people around me to pursue my dream,’’ Kong once told local media.
EXTRAORDINARY ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
But as well as being a world-class fencer, Kong has also achieved excellent academic results – important in Chinese families.
She studied hard at Sha Tin College, a school in the English Schools Foundation network. She even worked at her seat on flights when she travelled to other countries to join fencing contests. As such, she scored a high mark of 41 out of 45 in the International Baccalaureate exam and went on to study at the prestigious Stanford University in the US. Her study was on international relations.
After graduation, Kong pursued a master’s degree at Renmin University of China (中國人民大學) to gain more understanding on the country’s law and legal system. Her thesis focused on the institutional strengths on the principle of “One Country Two Systems” in Hong Kong. She hopes that she can understand more about China from the country’s perspective and make contribution to Hong Kong’s and national development.
Renmin University of China’s law professor Mo Yuchuan, who is also Kong’s teacher, depicted the fencing champion as a self-disciplined and hard-working student.
When Kong studied the master’s degree, she was working on her thesis and kept having training and practicing on fencing. She has studied a Juris Doctor (JD) programme – which is a postgraduate law degree for graduates – at the CUHK.
Kong has strived to represent Hong Kong to work in the United Nations and contribute to global peace efforts.
When Kong feels exhausted with practice, she takes time out to visit primary and secondary schools and talk with students. She also loves reading Buddhist books to pursue inner peace in spiritual mentality.
Hailed as a “smiling fencing queen” for her beaming smile, friendly and optimistic character, Kong demonstrated exemplary fencing skills and perseverance. She follows in the footsteps of windsurfer Lee Lai-shan (李麗珊), who bagged a gold medal for Hong Kong in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long (張家朗) who won a gold medal in men’s foil in the recent Tokyo Olympics.
CHEUNG DEFENDS GOLD MEDAL
Also, Edgar Cheung has successfully defended his Olympic gold medal in men’s foil in the Paris Olympics in a thrilling final match against Italian Filippo Macchi.
Cheung said he could not believe that he is the first fencer to retain gold medals in the men’s foil event consecutively in the Olympics in 68 years.
Cheung said his victory is a birthday present for his father who flew to Paris to support his son as his birthday is in July.
Hong Kong’s star swimmer Siobhan Haughey (何詩蓓) also won a consecutive medal in the women’s 200m freestyle in Paris. She clinched the bronze medal on top of two silver medals she clinched in the Tokyo Olympics.
Haughey, who now targets the women’s 100m freestyle contest, thanked all Hong Kong people for staying up to support her and other Hong Kong’s athletes.
Among those top places which have clinched high number of Olympic medals as of late July, Hong Kong comes first in the number of medal per one million people. With 3 Olympic medals won so far, Hong Kong – home to a population of about 7.5 million – has 0.4 of a medal per one million people. Hong Kong has been followed by Australia and Sweden with 0.34 and 0.29 of a medal per one million people respectively.
In the past few days, Hong Kong has been filled with joy, cheers and celebration as citizens have delved into Olympic fever. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, government officials and celebrities from various social sectors have greatly praised the extraordinary performance of all Hong Kong’s athletes in the Paris Olympics.
Some Hong Kong citizens have flocked to shopping malls to watch the Olympic Games and supported Vivian Kong, Edgar Cheung and other SAR athletes playing in the Olympics. Cheering for Hong Kong athletes, they have been deeply proud of their dedication and achievement in the games.
All images are from the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China.