Hong Kong athletes have captured a gold, two silver and three bronze medals in five sports at the Tokyo Olympic Games, achieving the city’s best results in history. Chief Executive Carrie Lam today expressed her utmost admiration for them.
Mrs Lam visited the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) to watch Hong Kong athletes' performances at the Tokyo Games, inspected its facilities and the site where a new facilities building is planned to be built.
She said: “We are moved by the courage and perseverance of all the athletes in competitions, with a number of them breaking Hong Kong records or their own records. Hong Kong athletes' performances have made Hong Kong people feel proud.”
She said the success of the Hong Kong athletes at this Olympic Games did not come about by chance. In addition to their tireless efforts, it was also down to the support of the coaches and support teams, the HKSI, the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China and the national sports associations. The encouragement and the trust of the family members of the athletes was also the key to success.
She also thanked the commercial sector for its award schemes, especially the Henderson Land Commendation Scheme for Elite Athletes sponsored by Henderson Land Group, to encourage athletes to achieve distinguished results, as well as the help by local universities and research and development teams to leverage scientific research achievements to enhance the performance of athletes.
With the Government securing the broadcasting rights to the Olympics Games and allowing the five TV license holders to broadcast for free, citizen could therefore cheer on the athletes at different places to give athletes spiritual support, Mrs Lam added.
The Chief Executive also pointed out that the Government has been proactively allocating resources to develop elite sports in the past decade.
Its initiatives include reconstructing the HKSI and building the Hong Kong Velodrome, setting up the Elite Athletes Development Fund, providing scholarships and learning support for elite athletes, and improving retirement arrangements for athletes.
In the year of 2021-22, the Government’s annual funding for the HKSI, through the Elite Athletes Development Fund, amounted to $737 million, representing an increase of about 42% over the year of 2017-18.
Mrs Lam hoped that the athletes’ good performance at the Olympic Games will inject new impetus to Hong Kong's sports development, encouraging more enterprises and members of the public to support Hong Kong athletes and motivating more people to do exercise.
The Government will continue to support sports development in Hong Kong in terms of policy, facilities and resources.
She also called on various sectors to continue to support Hong Kong athletes to bring glory home in the competitions which will take place shortly, including the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the National Games in Shaanxi Province.
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