Hong Kong At The Paris Olympics 2024: What to Expect This Year

Hong Kong exceeded expectations at the last edition of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and all eyes are now on the Paris Olympics 2024. What are Hong Kong’s best shots at Olympic medals and how can we cheer on our athletes? Here’s everything to know about Hong Kong at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

The summer Olympics are nearly upon us and Hong Kong is revving to support its attending athletes. The world’s largest sporting event takes centre stage in Paris this year with over 10,000 athletes competing across 32 different sports. The games run from Friday, 26 July to Sunday, 11 August 2024 with the Paralympics following from Wednesday, 28 August to Sunday, 8 September 2024. Tokyo 2020 was one of Hong Kong’s greatest games yet with plenty of excitement around its athletes’ successes and we are all hoping for another round of that in Paris 2024.

This year, Hong Kong has currently snatched up 32 places in the games and 20 places in the Paralympics but there are more to come (we hope!) as slots are still being competed for. If you’re looking for the best way to get your kids excited about the upcoming games, Sassy Mama has the lowdown on its current participating athletes and sports and and where you can watch the Olympics.

Sports In The 2024 Paris Olympics: What’s New & What’s Changed

As with every Olympics, there are always a few sports that change, come or go. This year, the biggest shake-up for Hong Kong was the exclusion of karate meaning that Grace Lau Mo-sheung, who snagged a bronze in the event in Tokyo 2020, is unable to compete. According to Reuters, karate was excluded this year as it apparently lacks entertainment value and won’t bring in a younger viewing audience.

Sports Not Included In The Paris 2024 Olympic Games:

Karate
Softball
Baseball

Though Hong Kong’s Olympic fans will be disappointed, there are however some great new sports that have been added to this year’s games. Some are making their appearance for the first time, while there are a couple of returning sports that have not been included in many other Olympic games.

Sports Returning To The Paris Summer Olympics 2024:

Skateboarding
Surfing
Sport climbing
3×3 Basketball

Changes To Current Olympic Sporting Events:

Men are now included in artistic swimming
13 new weight categories added for boxing
Marathon race walk mixed relay is replacing the men’s 50km race walk

Brand New Sports Debuting At The Paris 2024 Olympic Games:

Breakdancing or breaking
Kayak Cross

Yep, you read that right! Breakdancing is coming to the Olympics and it should prove to be a very entertaining selection in this year’s games. So if you have a kid who loves to shake a leg at home, be sure to encourage them – they could be future Olympic winners!

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) already has plans to step up the promotion of some of these new and returning sports. This well-thought-out plan comes after there was a large surge of interest in fencing, nicknamed the “Ka-long effect” after Cheung Ka-long’s gold medal win in Tokyo in 2020. The LCSD has set aside approximately $9 million under the Sports Subvention Scheme for relevant National Sports Associations (NSA) to promote these new urban sports.

Key Athletes From Hong Kong To Watch During The 2024 Paris Olympics

While the final team selection is yet to be complete, several Hong Kong athletes have already secured their spots. Here are some of the athletes we know about already and who to keep an eye on this year.

Para Badminton: Chan Ho Yuen

Chan Ho Yuen is an Olympic veteran who will be making his seventh return to the Olympic games this year. Chan was Hong Kong’s first paralympic badminton player after he lost his leg in a car accident at the age of 22. Chan snagged a bronze in the Tokyo 2020 games in the men’s singles WH 2 division. Sadly, Chan will be retiring after the completion of the Paris Olympics.

Badminton: Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet

Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet are looking to top their historic run in Tokyo 2020 of which they were just shy of a bronze medal, losing to their Japanese archrivals Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino. This duo are strong contenders for a medal this year.

Other great badminton athletes representing Hong Kong: Lee Cheuk-yiu (men’s singles), Lo Happy Sin-yan (women’s singles), Yeung Nga-ting and Yeung Pui-lam (women’s doubles).

Fencing: Cheung Ka-long

Everyone will be watching Cheung Ka-long this year as Hong Kong erupted with pride over his gold medal win in the men’s individual foil in Tokyo 2020, a first for Hong Kong. Cheung’s win has given him some celebrity status within Hong Kong and many will be cheering him on during these coming games hoping for another gold medal win.

Other great fencing athletes representing Hong Kong: Ho Wai-hang (men’s épée event), Vivian Kong (women’s épée), Daphne Chan (women’s foil).

Gymnastics: Shek Wai-hung

Shek Wai-hung will be representing Hong Kong this year in gymnastics. Shek was the first male to represent Hong Kong in the sport of gymnastics when he first competed in the London 2012 games. Keep an eye out for his vault routine as he most recently won a bronze medal at the World Cup in Cairo this year.

Rowing: Chiu Hin-chun

Chiu just won the gold medal in the Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls event at the World Rowing Cup II in Switzerland at the end of May, the first one ever for Hong Kong. This outstanding achievement makes Chiu someone to watch out this summer.

Sailing: Nicholas Halliday

An ILCA 7 sailor, Nicholas won the Asian Sailing Championships & Asian Continental Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier that was held in Thailand this year. Nicholas is the first Hong Kong sailor to qualify for the Olympics by finishing first in the Olympic qualifications. We’re excited to see what his talents bring to Paris 2024!

Other great sailing athletes representing Hong Kong: Akira Sakai and Russell Alysworth (Regatta sailing yachts).

Swimming: Siobhán Haughey

Siobhán Haughey took Hong Kong by storm during the last Olympics as she became the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal and the first Hong Kong athlete to win two Olympic medals in any sport. She has continued to perform well on the world stage and will be competing in five events at Paris: the women’s 50-metre freestyle, women’s 100-metre freestyle, women’s 200-metre freestyle, women’s 400-metre freestyle, as well as the women’s 4×100-metre medley relay with Stephanie Au, Camille Cheng and Natalie Kan.

Other great swimmers representing Hong Kong:
Ian Ho (men’s 50-metre freestyle), Cindy Cheung (women’s 200-metre backstroke), the team of Tam Hoi-lam, Camille Cheng, Stephanie Au and Li Sum-yiu (4×100 metre freestyle relay) and the team of Natalie Kan, Stephanie Au, Siobhán Haughey and Camille Cheng (4×100 metre medley relay).

Taekwondo: Lo Wai-fung

During the Olympic Games’ Asia qualification round in Shandong this year, Lo won three consecutive games in the 68kg category and he will be making his Olympic debut in Paris. Lo initially failed to make the qualification by placing third but managed to make it into this year’s Olympics after his contender was disqualified. This is the first time that Hong Kong has ever qualified for Taekwondo making it another event worth watching out for.

Table Tennis: Wong Chun-ting

Wong Chun-ting will be heading to Paris to compete in both the men’s singles event as well as in the mixed doubles event with Doo Hoi-kem. This is Wong’s third straight Olympic event and he is hoping to top his Tokyo 2020 performance.

Some Hong Kong and Paris Olympic Facts

Look around you – with every mall in Hong Kong getting into the Olympic fever this summer, you can expect some Olympic-themed quizzes. Make sure your kiddo watches all the Olympic sports they are interested in (fencing or swimming, perhaps?) and let them brush up on their Olympic trivia.

Paris has previously hosted the games in 1900 and 1924.
Hong Kong first competed in the Olympic Games in 1952 in Helsinki.
Hong Kong won its first medal, a gold for sailing, in 1996 in Atlanta.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics saw the city bring in a record number of metals with a total of six.
The Paralympics in 2020 brought in another five medals for the city.
Hong Kong made its debut at the Paralympics in 1972 in Heidelberg though the city has not participated in any Winter Paralympics so far.

Main image courtesy of Conall via Flickr (CC by 2.0 licence), image 1 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 2 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 3 courtesy of Allan Mas via Pexels, image 4 courtesy of International Paralympic Committee, image 5 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 6 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 7 courtesy of Korean Culture and Information Service via Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.0 licence), image 8 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 9 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 10 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 11 courtesy of HK Olympic, image 12 courtesy of HK Olympic.