Photo: Five senior athletes from Hong Kong make their final Olympic move
In addition to the main force and newcomers in the Chinese Hong Kong Olympic delegation, there are also a group of senior athletes who have a great chance to make the final Olympic blow. They hope to make full use of their remaining energy in the Paris Olympics and leave no regrets. “Prince of Vaulting Horse” Shi Weixiong made his third appearance in the Olympics, striving to enter the finals with the last jump; although “Five-time veteran” Ou Kaichun failed in his individual event, he is still the backbone of the swimming team’s relay; the badminton “Deng Xie Pair” Deng Junwen/Xie Yingxue lost the bronze medal battle in the last Tokyo Olympics, and will put down the burden of rushing for awards and make a comeback this time; Zhao Xianzhen has become the “big brother” of rowing from the “young man” in Rio Olympics. This “little giant” hopes to defeat European and American players with technology and strategy and strive for good results. \Ta Kung Pao reporter Liang Runsen
Gymnastics/Shi Weixiong strives to “jump” into the finals
“Prince of Vaulting Horse” Shi Weixiong has experienced many ups and downs in international competitions. He won two gold medals in the Asian Games to prove his strength, but gave up the fight for the third consecutive Asian Games title for the ticket to the Paris Olympics. In the Olympics, he had his first taste in London, lost the qualification to participate in Rio due to injury, and competed in Tokyo in the best condition, but unfortunately still failed to make it to the finals. This time, Shi Weixiong won the qualification to participate in the Paris Olympics and competed in the men’s vaulting horse individual competition. When he lost three years ago, he said “I will do my best and have no regrets. See you in Paris.” Now he will fulfill his promise and will definitely give everything to jump to the end to compete for the finals.
Shi Weixiong’s love for gymnastics is extremely persistent. He started learning gymnastics at the age of 6, and chose vaulting as his “lifelong career” at the age of 14. He enjoyed the sense of speed. Since participating in the Guangzhou Asian Games, Shi Weixiong has been struggling in the Asian Games and Olympic Games, with ups and downs.
Give up the fight for the third consecutive Asian Games title
Shi Weixiong was too confident in London and felt that he could compete for medals, but he forgot to focus on the technique, which brought him pressure. In the end, he did not perform to his standard in the competition and failed to advance in the individual all-around event. In the Rio Olympic cycle, he fell before the injury. Because of the shoulder injury that affected his performance, he lost the qualification to participate. After 9 years, Shi Weixiong stepped onto the Olympic stage again. He won the World Cup gold medal before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and was in good shape. In order to win medals, he prepared the two most difficult “Lee Shiguang jumps” to compete. Unexpectedly, he made a mistake in the second jump “Lee Shiguang 2” in the preliminary round and failed to land successfully. He only finished 12th and missed the top eight in the finals. After the game, he said that he would continue to aim for the Olympics and look forward to seeing him at the Olympics in 3 years.
In order to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Shi Weixiong gave up his attempt to win the gold medal for the third time in a row at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and competed in the World Championships to qualify for the Paris Olympics. In the end, he scored enough points during the Olympic cycle to secure his third Olympic participation. Shi Weixiong said that he hopes to concentrate on the competition and do his best to achieve good results in the Olympics.
Profile of Shi Weixiong
Date of Birth: October 10, 1991
Height: 1.66 meters
Sports: Gymnastics vaulting horse
Major awards:
2014 Incheon Asian Games Men’s Vault Gold Medal
2018 Jakarta Asian Games Men’s Vault Gold Medal
Rowing/Zhao Xianzhen challenges strong opponents with technical strategies
Zhao Xianzhen, the only representative of the Hong Kong rowing team in the Paris Olympics, stepped onto the five-ring stage again after the 2016 Rio Olympics. The 29-year-old Zhao Xianzhen has grown from a young man who competed with his seniors 8 years ago to a mature man who challenges the world’s top players alone. Although his physique has been damaged, he has thought of a way to make up for the shortcomings with technology and strategy, and strive for better results for the Hong Kong team in the rowing event than in the past.
Eight years ago, Zhao Xianzhen teamed up with Deng Chaomeng to compete in the men’s lightweight double sculls at the Olympics, and they finished the event in 19th place. After that, Zhao Xianzhen “flew solo” and began to study single sculls, but he was wavering between lightweight and open events. Until last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games, he won a bronze medal in the single sculls open group, and even won an Olympic ticket at the Paris Olympic Rowing Asian and Oceania Qualifying Competition in April this year. At the end of last month, he became the first Hong Kong rowing representative in history to win a gold medal in a world competition, and finally devoted himself to the open group.
The biggest difference between the open category and the lightweight category is that the opponents are heavier and bigger, so Chiu Hin-chun has already made a strategy. He said: “In the past, the Hong Kong Rowing Team’s goal was to win the Asian-level competition and never thought about competing against European players. This time, challenging the open category is like a small giant fighting a big giant. We have to use our skills and brains to defeat them.”
Profile of Zhao Xianzhen
Date of Birth: August 20, 1994
Height: 1.80m
Sports: Rowing
Major awards:
2018 Jakarta Asian Games Men’s Lightweight Single Sculls Silver Medal
Swimming/Ou Kaichun’s most beautiful swim
Au Kai-chun, the first Hong Kong swimmer to compete in the Olympics four times, failed to reach the Olympic A standard in mid-June this year and missed the individual event. She was disappointed at the time, but said frankly that she had made every effort. Less than a week later, the Hong Kong Olympic Swimming Team announced the list of the women’s relay team, and Au Kai-chun was on the list, breaking the record and competing for Hong Kong in the Olympics for the fifth time. The last Tokyo Olympics was held behind closed doors, and this time she can compete in the Olympics again. Au Kai-chun is bound to swim the best battle of her personal career.
Au Kai-chun has represented the Hong Kong team since the Beijing Olympics. After the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympics, she is the first Hong Kong swimmer to compete in four Olympics. In order to strive for a fifth Olympic Games, she has been training abroad for a long time in the past year. She admits that due to her age, the process of striving to compete in the Olympics this time is the most difficult one in the past. Even if she puts in a lot of effort and hard work, she feels that the effort is not proportional to the reward, which is something she cannot control. The Paris Olympic qualification period ended on June 23. Au Kai-chun competed in the long pool swimming time trial held at the Hong Kong Sports Institute before the deadline. Although she won the women’s 100m backstroke final with a time of 1 minute 00.88 seconds, she failed to reach the Paris Olympic A standard (59.99 seconds) and still missed this year’s individual event. Au Kai-chun admitted that she was disappointed after the game.
Five times to compete in the Olympic Games, tying Huang Jinbao
However, Au Kai-chun’s efforts were not in vain. On June 21, the Hong Kong team announced the list of individual swimming and relay events for the Paris Olympics. As they qualified for two relay events, the Hong Kong team could send up to four relay athletes to compete. The athletes selected for the relay events included Kan Cheuk-tung, Tam Hoi-lam, Cheng Li-mei and Au Kai-chun. Au Kai-chun tied the record of former Hong Kong cycling representative Wong Kam-po who participated in the Olympics five times. Compared with the closed-door competition in the last Tokyo Olympics, Au Kai-chun was able to have the final tango in the atmosphere-filled Paris Olympics.
Profile of Ou Kaichun
Date of Birth: May 30, 1992
Height: 1.72 meters
Sports: Swimming relay
Major awards:
2018 Jakarta Asian Games Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay Silver Medal
Badminton/”Deng Xie Pair” enjoys the game calmly
Hong Kong badminton ace mixed doubles pair “Deng Xie Pair” Deng Junwen/Tse Yingsuet, missed the medal in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and they are making a comeback in Paris this time. Tse Yingsuet, who has participated in the Olympics for the fourth time, just hopes to face it with a normal heart and enjoy the competition to the fullest; Deng Junwen said that he will focus on the Paris Olympics, and has not given much thought to his personal future. He just hopes to start again with Tse Yingsuet and play the best performance of everyone.
The “Deng-Xie pair” made it to the semifinals in the last Olympics, but unfortunately lost in the bronze medal match and failed to win the coveted Olympic medal, but their wonderful performances won applause. Entering another Olympic cycle, due to various setbacks and injuries, the two thought they would miss the Olympics, but they regained their form near the end of the Olympic points cycle and finally returned to the Olympics as they wished.
Xie Yingxue said that it was very difficult to fight for the Olympic ticket this time. She thanked Deng Junwen for not giving up even when she was at a low point. Although she felt like she had a burden after losing the last prize, they just hope to face the challenge with a normal heart and play their best to live up to everyone. Deng Junwen said that after 3 years, he can start again and cherish every moment of practice and competition. In the next Olympic cycle, Deng Junwen will change his partner, but he said that he will not consider his personal future at present, because it is difficult to find a good partner. Now he just wants to focus on the Paris Olympics.
Profile of Deng Junwen
Date of Birth: March 20, 1995
Height: 1.78m
Sports: Badminton Mixed Doubles
Major awards: 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Badminton Mixed Doubles Silver Medal
Profile of Xie Yingxue
Date of Birth: November 9, 1991
Height: 1.65m
Sports: Badminton Mixed Doubles
Major awards: 2018 Jakarta Asian Games Badminton Mixed Doubles Silver Medal
2024-07-20 20:29:56
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