Hong Kong fencing gold medallist Vivian Kong retires after pro-China thesis uproar

Vivian Kong of Hong Kong during her bout against Auriane Mallo-Breton of France. PHOTO: REUTERS

Updated
Aug 05, 2024, 11:55 PM

PARIS – Hong Kong’s Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong said she would quit her fencing career days after controversy erupted over her apparent support for Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement, underscoring political tensions in the Asian finance hub.

An academic paper purported to be her master’s thesis showed that Kong, one of two athletes from the Special Administrative Region to pick up a gold from the Paris Games, condemned the 2014 protests calling for freer elections.

The document began circulating last week and prompted some fans to turn their back on the athlete, after initially celebrating her victory in women’s epee in July.

Nathan Law, a self-exiled former lawmaker and a student leader of the demonstrations, said on Aug 2 he made a mistake in congratulating Kong on her triumph, describing her political stance as “extremely problematic”.

Many users on LIHKG, a forum popular with supporters of the 2014 movement, satirised Kong after embracing her as a pride of the former British colony.

Kong has not publicly commented on the episode and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 30-year-old Stanford graduate said in an Instagram post she would start a charity to promote sports to children.

“After competing in my third Olympics, I have decided to take a break from professional fencing,” she wrote in a message to her “fencing family” on social media.

“I look forward to starting a new career and work towards having my own charity to help kids find joy and playfulness back into sports.”

The paper, submitted to Renmin University in Beijing in 2021, argued that protesters’ “chaos and illegal acts” threatened national security.

It hailed a new national security law for eliminating “anti-China and anti-Hong Kong powers” linked to the 2014 movement, where demonstrators blocked key thoroughfares to wrest political concessions from the authorities.

The clampdown led to the jailing of dozens of democracy advocates, and a subsequent rewriting of election rules all but ensured only pro-Beijing candidates could run for office. Law left the city for London, where he was granted political asylum.

The debate over Kong has divided the city, with those lamenting a loss of political freedoms disavowing her and those supporting Beijing’s action backing the fencer.

“The rabid attacks on Vivian’s political beliefs are an ugly reflection of the perversity and deformity of these fawning puppets of external powers,” said Regina Ip, an official adviser.

Hong Kong has had its best Olympics in history, with two golds and two bronzes so far. Kong and fellow fencer Edgar Cheung Ka Long are each set to receive a HK$6 million (S$1 million) reward from the Hong Kong Jockey Club for winning a gold medal.

Ranked No. 1 in the world, Kong has been fencing for nearly two decades and triumphed in Paris after suffering two torn cruciate ligaments in recent years.

Patrick Yung, an orthopaedics and traumatology professor who treated Kong, told local broadcaster RTHK that he did not think her retirement was related to the old knee injuries.

“The Vivian I know, other than promoting fencing with her utmost effort, has also done a lot in promoting sports and positive thinking among the general public, particularly young people; I believe she will continue with that work,” Yung said. 

BLOOMBERG, AFP

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