So Wa-wai (; born on 6th October 1981) is a retired

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from Hong Kong who has competed in the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

on five occasions, winning 12 medals. He has been referred to as the "Wonder Boy" () by Hong Kong people.

Early life

So was born with

jaundice Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving ...

which affected both his hearing and the balance of his limbs, and hence competes in the T36 classification for athletes with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

. At the age of 10, his enthusiasm for running was noticed by athletics coach Poon Kin-lui, who then began to formally train So.

Paralympic career

His first Paralympic appearance came at the 1996 games in

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, where he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

as part of the men's 4×100 m

relay team A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...

in the T34–37 classification. Over the course of the next two summer Paralympic Games,

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and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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, So won four gold and two silver medals in a range of individual events, up to a distance of 400 m, as well as two bronze medals in relay events. In 2008, So was chosen to be part of the torch relay as the

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

passed through Hong Kong on its way to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. However, his participation in the games themselves was put into doubt when an injury to his father rendered him unable to work. So was forced to give up his training and take up a full-time job to support his family. In response,

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah ( zh, order=t,j, t=劉德華, j=Lau4 Dak1 Waa4; born Lau Fook-wing; 27 September 1961), is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He was named the "Fourth Tiger" among the Five Tiger Generals of TVB in the 1 ...

, a Hong Kong entertainer and the singer of the Beijing Paralympic Games official theme song "Flying with the Dream", gave him a full-time job with the flexibility to allow him to train for the Games. At the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

, So led the Hong Kong team into the

Bird's Nest Stadium The National Stadium (), the Bird's Nest (), is a stadium at Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The National Stadium, covering an area of 204,000 square meters with an 80,000 person capacity (91,000 with temporary seating), broke g ...

during the

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as the

flagbearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

. He first won a bronze medal in the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

, a performance with which he was disappointed with, followed by a sixth place in the 400 m. In the 200 m T36 final, he broke his own world record with a time of 24.64 seconds on the way to winning the gold medal, making him the Paralympic champion in that event for the third successive occasion. After the race, he said he had been ill before the competition and that, "During the first part of today's competition I did not run at my normal speed"; he attributed his win to both "good luck" and "practice". So retired from competition in January 2016 and began to work for the Hong Kong Paralympic Committee and Sports Association for the Physically Disabled that year. So is the current world record holder in both the 100 and 200 m men's T36 classification.

Related film

In 2021, So's story was adapted into the film ''Zero to Hero'' (), starring

Sandra Ng Sandra Ng Kwan-yue (born 2 August 1965) is a Hong Kong actress, film director and producer. Early life and career The daughter of the actor , Ng was born in Hong Kong, where she attended St. Stephen's Girls' College. Encouraged by her parents, s ...

and Leung Chung-hang. The film focuses on So's perseverance. In response to the film's fictional elements and dramatisation of So's story, Hong Kong Paralympic Committee chief Martin Lam Chun-ying said that, "There's no way his brother would sell his gold medals".

References

External links

Early life

Paralympic career

Related film

See also

References

External links