Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

first competed at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in 1952, then as a

British colony The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

(

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

has participated at every

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

(14 summer, 4 winter) since then except for the boycotted 1980 Games, and has also participated in the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

since 2002. Hong Kong won its first medal/gold medal in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and a second gold medal in the 2020 Games. Apart from those, Hong Kong has also won seven other medals, three silver, and four bronze. Its best performance to-date was the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

History

The first Olympic athlete from Hong Kong was Yvonne Yeung, who competed in 1936 for the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(which now competes as Chinese Taipei), instead of the British colony. The

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) for Hong Kong was founded in 1950 as the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, and is now known as the

Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (Traditional Chinese: 中國香港體育協會暨奧林匹克委員會; in short SF&OC, 港協暨奧委會) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Hong Kong. As such it is a separ ...

. It was recognised by the IOC in 1951, and subsequently, Hong Kong was represented separately from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(for any gold medal ceremony, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised and the British national anthem was played) at all future Olympic Games. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(PRC) in 1997, the NOC for the special administrative region has been now known as Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong maintains its own NOC and is represented separately at the Olympics due to International Olympic Committee's grandfather clause. For any gold medal ceremony, the Hong Kong SAR flag is raised and the PRC

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

is played, even in situations where athletes from China won silver or bronze medal, resulting in Hong Kong SAR flag flying above that of China. As permitted under the constitution promulgated by the PRC upon the SAR prior to handover from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(specifically, Article 151, Chapter 7 of The Basic Law), it "may, on its own, ... maintain and develop relations and conclude and implement agreements with foreign states and regions and relevant international organizations in the appropriate fields, including the economic, trade, financial and monetary, shipping, communications, tourism, cultural and sports fields". In 2008, Hong Kong was the site of the equestrian venues for the

Beijing Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Medals by Games

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by Winter Games

Medals by Sports

List of medallists

National Olympic Committee

The National Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, SF&OC, has been repeatedly warned by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and

Leisure and Cultural Services Department The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), is a department in the Government of Hong Kong. It reports to the Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau, headed by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism. It provides leisure and cultural ...

(LCSD) against corruption and to implement better governance. With

Timothy Fok Timothy Fok Tsun-ting (born 14 February 1946), GBS, JP, the eldest son of Henry Fok, is the President of the Hong Kong Football Association. He formerly represented the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication functional constituenc ...

as president of the Olympic Committee, there have numerous allegations of misconduct against the SF&OC and Fok; for example, in August 2016, the ''

Hong Kong Economic Journal The ''Hong Kong Economic Journal'' (HKEJ). is a Chinese-language daily newspaper published in Hong Kong by the Shun Po Co., Ltd.. Available in both Hong Kong and Macau, the newspaper mainly focuses on economic news and other related, usuall ...

'' released an article, accusing the SF&OC and Timothy Fok of various transgressions. In April 2020, the government's Audit Commission released a 141-page report after investigating the Olympic Committee, describing various failures with the SF&OC, including lax governance. ''

SCMP The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'' released an editorial, agreeing with the Audit Commission and stating that the city's sports development was at risk.

Athlete training

The

Hong Kong Sports Institute The Hong Kong Sports Institute () is a sports institute located in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is mandated to provide training to athletes, and also offers academic qualification in the field of sports training. The institute sponsors ...

(HKSI) is a government-funded training center for elite athletes and potential Olympians in Hong Kong. However, its selection of primarily funding 20 tier A sports has caused criticism; billions of HKD have been spent on tier A sports, including sports which are not Olympic sports, and sports which "may not even be able to achieve any breakthrough in the coming years". Additionally, there is a lack of funding for sports outside of those 20 tier A sports, including sports which Asians have done well at. Chung Pak-kwong, professor at Baptist University and former chief executive of HKSI, said that with the money spent,

Hong Kong at the 2016 Summer Olympics Hong Kong competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the territory's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, since its debut as a British colony in 1952. The Sports Federation and Oly ...

should have won medals; instead, 0 medals were won.

Naming

Prior to 1997, the team's name was "Hong Kong"; after 1997, the team's name became "Hong Kong, China". In most other languages, this name is used for translation (e.g. French ''Hong Kong, Chine''; Russian Гонконг, Китай ''Gonkong, Kitay''; Simplified Chinese 中国香港 ''Zhōngguó Xiānggǎng''). The Japanese team name is ホンコン・チャイナ ''Honkon Chaina'' and the Korean team name is 홍콩차이나 ''Hongkong Chaina'', using English transliterations of the word "China" instead of the native translation.

References

External links

* * * * {{National sports teams of Hong Kong