A total of 65 Chinese Olympians, including 59 gold medalists from the Paris 2024 Olympics, will visit the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from August 29 to 31, the HKSAR government announced on Friday.
At Paris 2024, the Chinese mainland achieved its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics, finishing with 40 gold medals.
The athletes have made significant breakthroughs in several team events, such as the artistic swimming team event, women's rhythmic group all-around gymnastics, and the men's 4x100m medley relay swimming.
The only Olympic champion to miss the trip is Zheng Qinwen, the women's singles tennis champion, who is currently in New York preparing for the U.S. Open.
Table tennis star Ma Long, who secured his sixth Olympic gold medal in Paris in the men's team event, will be joining the delegation for the third time.
Ma will be accompanied by swimming star Zhang Yufei, who took one silver and five bronze medals, as well as Ou Zixia and Li Hong, members of the women's hockey team that won the silver medal.
The delegation, led by Gao Zhidan, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), also includes eight coaches.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the delegation will attend a welcome meeting and dinner hosted by the HKSAR government, visit the Hong Kong Sports Institute, and interact with local athletes. They will depart on August 31 to commence a similar visit to the Macao Special Administrative Region.
The Olympians will participate in a gala show and showcase their skills at two demonstrations held at Queen Elizabeth Stadium and Victoria Park swimming pool. All 5,000 tickets for the three events were sold out in about half an hour on Thursday.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
