Hong Kong Olympians fencer Edgar Cheung and swimmer Siobhan Haughey make history with gold, bronze medals
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong Olympians Edgar Cheung and Siobhan Haughey made history on the third day of the Paris Games, with Cheung winning gold in the men’s individual foil and Haughey securing bronze in the women’s 200-metres freestyle swim.
Cheung, who was defending his gold medal for the same event from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, faced Italian fencer Filippo Macchi in the tightly-fought final.
Beneath the glittering glass roof of the Grand Palais in central Paris, Cheung fended off Macchi’s attacks to win 15-14 in a competition aired on screens in malls across Hong Kong in the early hours of Tuesday. The city is six hours ahead of France, which is the host of this year’s Olympics.
Congratulations quickly poured in from Chief Executive John Lee, currently on a visit to Laos as part of tour of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who said Cheung had “demonstrated his excellence, persevered, and gave full play to his skills” in a statement early on Tuesday morning.
“After making history for the Hong Kong fencing team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, he has once again achieved a brilliant result with his great performance, winning a well-deserved gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games,” Lee said, adding that Cheung’s achievements were “a source of pride for the people of Hong Kong.”
The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung, who was cheering Cheung from Paris, also congratulated the fencer in a statement on Tuesday, saying “same as other Hong Kong citizens, I am thrilled and proud.”
Cheung’s gold was only the fourth ever won by Team Hong Kong at the Olympics, and with it Cheung became the first Hongkonger to lay claim to two Olympic gold medals. Windsurfer Lee Lai-shan took home the city’s first gold from the 1996 Games in the US, and the third was hung around the neck of fellow fencer Vivian Kong just two days ago.
Adding to Hong Kong’s medal tally on Tuesday morning was swimmer Haughey, who became the city’s most decorated Olympian when she took bronze in the pool. She recorded a time of 1 minute, 54.55 seconds, behind Australians Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus, both of whom swam faster than Haughey in qualifying.
Lee and Yeung both paid tribute to Haughey’s performance, too, with Lee saying in a Tuesday morning statement: “Siobhan demonstrated superb skills and performed at her best in the competition. She showcased her power and strength as an elite athlete and achieved an outstanding result again.”
Speaking to reporters after the race, Haughey said the thanked Hongkongers for their support, saying: “it means the world to us [athletes].” Haughey, who won silver in the 100-metre and 200-metre freestyle events at the Tokyo Olympics, will return to the pool for the 100-metre freestyle heats on Tuesday evening.
Team Hong Kong has another chance of at a medal on Tuesday night, when mixed table tennis doubles pair Doo Hoi-kem and Wong Chun-ting will play Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea for bronze at 7.30 pm.
Women’s badminton duo Lianne Yeung and Yeung Pui-lam face Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China on Tuesday afternoon to advance beyond the group stages, while rower Chiu Hin-chun hopes to proceed from the men’s single sculls quarterfinals.
Swimmer Ian Ho will be in the pool for the men’s 100-metre freestyle heats, and shuttler Lee Cheuk-yiu will be up against Mexico’s Luis Ramon Garrido in the group stage of men’s singles badminton.
Hong Kong is currently 10th on the Olympics medals table.
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