Excitement is in the air as Hong Kong welcomes a delegation of 65 medal-winning mainland Chinese Olympians for a three-day visit.
The star athletes will arrive in the city on Thursday, before attending a press conference in the afternoon and a banquet with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in the evening.
A sold-out gala show will also give residents a chance to see their favourite athletes practise their sports at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Friday, with public meetings also being held at the stadium and Victoria Park on Saturday.
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The Post takes a closer look at some of the big names and their achievements at this year’s Games.
Quan Hongchan: diving dynamo
Born in the village of Maihe in Guangdong province, 17-year-old Quan Hongchan is from a family of orange farmers and factory workers.
Despite a difficult early childhood, which was marked by a car accident that left her mother in poor health, Quan started to make her mark at a young age after her exceptional jumping ability caught a diving coach’s attention in 2014.
She was later admitted to the Zhanjiang Sports School, where she trained to become a professional diver. Her talent and pursuit of perfection soon landed her on the provincial diving team and then the national set-up.
At the age of 14, Quan won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the 10m platform diving event, setting a new Olympic points record. She went a step further in Paris by picking up two gold medals.
Her fans even coined a new Mandarin phrase – shuihua xiaoshi shu, literally “water splash disappearance technique” – to describe her diving prowess.
Quan has also gained a large following among youngsters on social media, where she gives fans a glimpse of her daily life.
Pan Zhanle: record-breaking swimmer
Pan Zhanle, 20, showed promise from an exceptionally young age, being admitted to the Wenzhou Youth Swimming School at just four years old.
The Zhejiang province native, who quickly mastered all four major strokes, credits his grandfather as a mentor during the early years of his training.
Pan’s rise to the top has not been without its challenges. After a disappointing international debut at the 2021 short-course world championships, where he was dubbed the “spectator in the stands” on social media, he pushed himself to shed what he called a “dishonourable” label.
His coach, Wang Shi, said he even had to limit the time Pan spent training in the pool, as the athlete just “really loves swimming”.
A turning point came in 2023 when Pan broke the Asian record in the men’s 100m freestyle at the Chinese national championships, and then bettered that mark to 46.97 seconds at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
At the Paris Olympics, Pan set a new world record in the 100m freestyle at 46.40 seconds, improving on the record he set in February.
The impressive time caused some to question Pan’s performance, with an Australian coach even suggesting it was “not humanly possible”.
But the swimming champion shrugged off the doubters by helping to secure the gold medal in the men’s 4x100m medley final, the Chinese team’s first victory over rival the United States in the event since its inclusion in the Olympics in 1960. Flexing his muscles in the anchor leg of the race, Pan logged the fastest split in history in the 100m freestyle section at a time of 45.92 seconds.
Sun Yingsha, Fan Zhendong and Ma Long: table tennis titans
The country’s table tennis dominance was on full display at the Paris Games, completing a clean sweep of all five gold medals on offer.
Wang Chuqin, 24, and Sun Yingsha, 24, claimed the first in the mixed doubles, a medal the nation missed out on in Tokyo three years ago after a shock defeat to Japan.
Sun, the world No 1 player since July 2022, is known as “Little Devil”, a nod to her idol “Big Devil” Zhang Yining, a retired Chinese table tennis legend.
Sun, who hails from the northern part of the country, started playing table tennis at the age of five.
She rose to prominence in 2017 when she clinched first place in her senior international debut at the ITTF World Tour Platinum event held in Japan.
Sun was unable to secure a second gold at this year’s Games, losing in the women’s singles final to teammate Chen Meng, the world No 2 player and defending Olympic champion.
The men’s singles title at this year’s Olympics belonged to Fan Zhendong, who has only slipped out of the world’s top three for two weeks since July 2015. Known as “Little Fatty”, Fan won two back-to-back men’s single’s world champion titles in 2021 and 2023.
The highly successful Paris campaign ended with gold in both the men’s and women’s team events. The men’s team gold marked a milestone for table tennis veteran Ma Long, who scored his sixth gold medal in a 12-year Olympic journey.
Fans have praised him as a “godlike figure” in the country’s table tennis history and he has been called the greatest player in history in an article by the International Table Tennis Federation. This year’s visit will be Ma’s third to Hong Kong as part of the mainland delegation, after the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Zhang Yufei: butterfly queen
Zhang Yufei arrived in Paris determined to defend her titles and her reputation amid a doping scandal surrounding some of the country’s swimmers.
Born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, Zhang was immersed in swimming from a young age, with both her parents working as coaches.
She has said her father’s sudden passing when she was just four years old fuelled her passion for the sport as a way to remember him.
Zhang’s talent was evident from a young age, as she quickly rose through the ranks, joining the national team at 15 and winning medals at the Youth Olympics, Asian Games and World Championships. Scoliosis threatened to derail her career, but she came through the unexpected diagnosis with renewed love for the sport.
In Tokyo, Zhang made history by becoming the first Chinese swimmer to win two gold medals in a single day, also breaking the Olympic record in the 200m butterfly.
Her success has been overshadowed in part by doping allegations levelled at the country’s swimmers, accusations she has denied.
Zhang picked up five bronze medals and one silver medal in Paris despite reporting that she felt unwell.
Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting: shooting duo
The country collected its first gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event thanks to the performance of Sheng Lihao, 19, and Huang Yuting, 17, in Paris.
The duo also went viral for their brightly coloured “cyberpunk” outfits, joining fellow shooting athletes Yusuf Dikec from Turkey and Kim Ye-ji from South Korea, who were also surprise fan favourites for their outfits and demeanour.
Sheng, is a two-time Olympian, winning silver in the men’s 10m air rifle event in Tokyo, when he became the youngest shooter to win an Olympic medal at 16 years and 233 days.
His mixed team partner, Huang Yuting, made her Olympic debut in Paris, but secured stellar results in the run-up to the Games, securing two gold medals at the 2024 ISSF World Cup in Munich.
The pair also became popular among internet users for their humorous social media handles.
Liu Qingyi: breakdancing prodigy
Liu Qingyi, or “B-Girl 67”, won bronze in the first Olympic breakdancing event in Paris.
The 18-year-old first took up breakdancing at the age of 10, rising through the ranks to earn a spot on the national training team in 2021. Less than a year later she started training as a professional and proved her ability to compete on the global stage, including victories in Europe in 2022.
Liu’s two consecutive championship wins at major European competitions arguably established her as the country’s top breaking prospect.
She finished in ninth place in her international debut at the 2021 World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) World Breaking Championship in Paris in December 2021, the largest and highest-level event after breakdancing was confirmed for the 2024 Olympics a year earlier.
In October 2022, Liu returned to win silver at the World Breakdancing Championship in Seoul, securing the country’s first medal at the event.
She eventually qualified for Paris after picking up the inaugural gold at the Asian Games.
Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi: artistic swimming sisters
Being in sync is no trouble for twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, who won the nation’s first gold medal in the duet artistic swimming event.
The pair, both 27, began training at the age of eight, after being discovered by Shenzhen coach Hu Lianghui.
Doubts existed over their ability to make it as professionals as the heights of their parents suggested they would not be tall enough, according to Hu.
But the sisters, each measuring 1.72 metres (5.6 feet) in height, were among the tallest athletes when they joined the national artistic swimming team in 2017.
The two made history that year as part of the team that won China’s first gold medal in synchronised swimming at the FINA World Championships.
But Wang Liuyi tasted bitter disappointment in 2020 when she suffered an injury in 2020, causing her to miss the Tokyo Games, while her sister won silver in the team event.
After their gold-medal triumph in Paris and their coming visit to Hong Kong, the twins will be making another synchronised move, this time into academia.
The Education University of Hong Kong has said the swimmers have already completed enrolment registration procedures after being admitted to its Doctor of Education programme. They will begin their studies in September.
Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong: badminton power pair
Badminton player Huang Yaqiong, 30, secured more than just a gold medal after her mixed doubles victory in Paris, taking home a diamond wedding ring, courtesy of fellow athlete Liu Yuchen.
The proposal, a touching and tearful moment captured in the athlete moment zone shortly after the medal presentation, quickly caught the attention of fans and went viral online.
On the badminton court, Huang first linked up with mixed doubles partner and fellow Zhejiang province native Zheng Siwei, 27, in 2017. They went on to become the world No 1 pair for the first time in August 2018.
Heading into Paris, they boasted a record 38 consecutive victories and secured the No 1 spot six seasons in a row.
The duo came close to winning gold in Tokyo, after losing to compatriots Wang Yilyu and Huang Dong Ping in the mixed doubles final. Following a brief period of different partnerships, Huang and Zhang reunited in 2022.
Li Wenwen: winning weightlifter
China clinched its final and 40th gold medal on the final day of this year’s Games in the women’s +81kg weightlifting.
Li Wenwen, 24, successfully defended her title by lifting 136kg in the snatch and 173kg in the clean and jerk, both ranking first, achieving a total of 309kg.
She made her Games debut in Tokyo three years ago, bringing home a gold and breaking three Olympic records.
Li’s latest Olympic title adds to an already impressive portfolio of achievements, with the young star also the current world record holder in both the snatch and the clean and jerk in the women’s superheavyweight division.
She first amazed fans in 2019, when she caused a major upset in the World Championships by beating the then world title-holders.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Olympic stars Quan Hongchan, Pan Zhanle to join Team China athletes visiting Hong Kong
- Hong Kong’s Olympians to bask in glory of thousands in street parade on Wednesday
- Ticket sales to start on Thursday for Hong Kong events welcoming mainland Chinese Olympians
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