Prologue Journal

Explainer: How much do Hong Kong’s athletes and para-athletes earn?

• prologu5
• 08/24/202408/24/2024

Hong Kong Free Press

Hong Kong athletes made history at the Paris Olympics and have been hailed as “heroes” by Chief Executive John Lee, but their achievements on the international stage have also drawn attention to their income and posed questions for the city’s sports talent pipeline.

Professional athletes training at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) receive a monthly subsidy on top of meals and accommodation, and non-financial support for training programmes, coaching, sport science and medical support, and athlete development.

A full-time athlete eligible for the government’s Elite Training Grant (ETG) receives an amount ranging from HK$7,130 to HK$44,500 per month, depending on their performance in international competitions.

Fencer Ryan Choi, who made it to the last 16 of the men’s individual foil event at the Tokyo Games three years ago, sparked debate this week after he posted a breakdown of the yearly expenses of an athlete living on the lowest monthly grant on social media.

According to Choi, after accounting for the expenses of participating in overseas competitions – a prerequisite for receiving the grant – an athlete earning that subsidy would have just HK$30,260 a year, assuming they spent no money eating out.

As other athletes weighed in on the debate over their income, Tony Choi, the CEO of the HKSI, said this week that a review on the funding schemes for top athletes would be conducted with the hope that a revamped system could be in place by next April.

How much do Hong Kong athletes earn?

While Olympic medallists like fencers Vivian Kong and Edgar Cheung, and swimmer Siobhan Haughey receive HK$44,500 per month, most professional athletes in the city earn less than that.

Athletes competing in Tier A sports receive the ETG from the HKSI. Currently, there are 20 such sports, including those that appear on the Olympic calendar – among them athletics, badminton, fencing, swimming, and table tennis – and those that feature in the Asian Games, like squash and wushu.

Athletes competing in an additional nine sports, including football and e-sports under an Individual Athletes Support Scheme, are also entitled to the ETG.

A smaller amount of monthly training grants are given to para-athletes competing in sports featured in the Paralympic Games or Asian Para Games. Twenty-three para-athletes from Hong Kong are set to compete in the Paralympics in Paris, which will run from August 28 to September 8.

The size of an athlete’s grant is determined by their performance in international competitions. For example, an athlete who finished between fourth and eighth in the Olympics will receive HK$32,730 per month.

Those who have qualified for the Olympics but do not rank in the top two-thirds at the Games receive HK$11,520 per month.

The entry-level HK$7,130 grant is given to athletes of the “senior squad,” which requires them to place in the top two-thirds at international senior competitions of their respective sport.

Part-time athletes receive approximately a third of the grant given to their full-time counterparts.

The HKSI does not provide a breakdown of the number of athletes by ETG categories. According to a document submitted to the legislature, the government has provided HK$268 million to fund 1,225 Tier A sports athletes this year.

Additionally, medal-winning athletes in the Paris Games are rewarded via the Hong Kong Jockey Club Athlete Incentive Awards Scheme. A gold medallist in the Olympics and the Paralympics receive HK$6 million and HK$1.5 million, respectively.

Winning a silver medal in the Olympics and the Paralympics equates to a reward of HK$3 million and HK$750,000, respectively, and a bronze medal means HK$1.5 million and HK$375,000, respectively.

Income or ‘pocket money’?

While the ETG is the main source of income for Hong Kong athletes, a senior sports official has said that the monthly subsidy should be considered “pocket money” given the non-financial support provided by the HKSI.

Edgar Yang, the honorary secretary general of the city’s Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, said during a televised interview earlier this month that the ETG “was not that high” compared with Hong Kong’s median monthly wage, which was about HK$19,800.

“But all the support [athletes] receive amounts to a very large investment. [The HKSI] covers coaching, medicals, accommodation,” Yang said in Cantonese. “Strictly speaking, they don’t have to spend that much.”

Yang added: “Treating [the ETG] as pocket money … or as a scholarship, they should be able to be an athlete comfortably and to excel in the HKSI.”

Yang’s remarks prompted multiple current and former athletes to speak up about the financial burdens they faced while receiving the lowest grants, and how that can impede the development of their athletic careers.

Badminton player Lee Cheuk-yiu, who competed in the group stage at the Paris Games, told Commercial Radio that many young and talented players had been forced to give up on a professional career due to the low income.

Lee, 27, said a monthly grant of HK$7,000-odd could be treated as “pocket money” if he were still 16 years old, but not as he grew up.

“As [athletes] get older, they naturally want to have a normal salary,” he said in Cantonese. “It’s not like you can’t live on [HK$7,000], but it can be distracting and take your attention away from training.”

Fencer Cedric Ho, 28, who made his Olympic debut at the Paris Games, said he had to tighten his belt after turning professional in 2014. Speaking during the same Commercial Radio programme, Ho said that he had to be selective when it came to participating in overseas competitions.

“Travelling to Europe for competitions was not cheap, therefore I might have to choose [overseas] competitions that were closer in distance or higher in significance,” he said in Cantonese.

Former triathlete Leanne Szeto, who also became a full-time athlete in 2014, said during the same Commercial Radio programme that it was rare for emerging athletes to achieve top results in international competitions, adding that they had to be mindful about how to spend the entry-level subsidies.

“It was quite burdensome if I had to change my running outfit or get a pair of new running shoes, as I also did not have brand subsidies,” Szeto, speaking in Cantonese, said of the time she received about HK$6,000 as a 24-year-old.

Szeto eventually switched track and joined the aviation industry but continued to compete on an international level. She said she would have “definitely invested a few more years” if her monthly grant as an athlete had matched the salary of her new job.

The former athlete added that a monthly income of about HK$20,000 would be more appealing to potential professionals: “A full-time athlete could train up to 30 hours a week, in fact that was about the same amount of time as my job, but it was also more physically demanding.”

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