HONG KONG: Twelve-year-old Hong Kong fencing beginner Lloyd got a new role model over the weekend - “Sword Queen” Vivian Kong Man-wai, who clawed back a 7-1 deficit in the women’s epee final to win Olympic gold in Paris.

“I woke up to the pleasant surprise of Vivian Kong (winning),” Lloyd told AFP on Monday at a fencing school in Central District, Hong Kong’s commercial heartland. The 30-year-old Kong on Saturday became only the third Hong Kong athlete in history to have a gold medal draped around her neck when she beat France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton in front of a fiercely partisan crowd at the Paris Games.

She won 13-12 in the most thrilling fashion, a sudden-death final point securing victory in the nail-biting contest after it was tied 12-12 when the clock ran out. “Very inspiring. It was just very nice to see the spirit she had,” said Lloyd before starting his fencing class.

“She did not give up, she kept having to climb her way up... she still chased the challenge and managed to get the gold medal,” he said. “I was very happy for Hong Kong.” Later Monday in Paris, fellow fencer Edgar Cheung took home the gold medal in the final bout of the men’s individual foil - successfully defending the title he won at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Kong joins Cheung and windsurfer Lee Lai-shan at Atlanta 1996 as Hong Kong’s only Olympic champions. Kong, a graduate of Stanford University in the United States, has battled back twice from torn cruciate ligaments down the years, one in each knee, to rise to world number one and achieve Olympic glory.

In a tearful post-match interview at the Grand Palais—a 124-year-old exhibition hall that Paris transformed into an Olympic venue - Kong said fencing “in such a beautiful palace was one of my dreams”. “I didn’t want to lose so miserably,” she said of fighting back from the six-point deficit.

“I didn’t want to give up without demonstrating the Hong Kong spirit in my fight.” The impact of Kong’s win was immediate, said Lau Kwok-kin, a retired Olympian now teaching fencing, who works at the school where Lloyd trains in a class of about six youngsters with only one girl.

Lau said they received more calls from parents of young girls since Kong’s victory. “Vivian Kong is a woman athlete and perhaps that has made some parents see the possibility of girls winning medals in the Olympics,” Lau, 47, said.

‘More professional’

Lau was the first fencer to represent the city in the Olympics, in 2004 and 2008, and the 47-year-old attributed Kong’s success to the systematic training provided by Hong Kong Sports Institute. The government-funded body also provides athletes with better financial support than in the past.

“Back then we didn’t have much time for training and we often did it after class or work, when we were already tired,” Lau said. “But now being an athlete is a full-time job.”

Lau added that the training plan for an elite athlete now covers “everything, from retreat, practicing, competition, techniques and physical conditions”. “It is a much more professional model than what we had before - that’s why the performance now is better.”

Lau said the city could discover more talents if “satellite training bases” outside of the Hong Kong Sports Institute could be set up around the city, and if parents could lend more support.

Lloyd, who attends classes three times a week since taking up the sport a year ago, said he “most definitely” wanted to be fencing more but school work takes up a lot of time. “I still hold fencing very high in my priorities... (but) I might have to slow down on how much fencing I can do in a week because of the tests and preparation studying,” he said. — AFP