The city’s sports pyramid is well-developed, with the Hong Kong Sports Institute at its peak. People who use the many public facilities available through the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for recreational sports make up the broad base of the pyramid. Recreational sports are for enjoyment and improving public health, though, rather than performance.
Between the recreational level and the sports institute exists a main group of active athletes. These people in the middle of the pyramid are the most important group as they provide the competition that help nurture top athletes. A pathway from the junior levels through this middle group is necessary to elevate our best athletes into the elite levels.
However, this is where the disconnect takes place. We do not have large enough competitive athletes in the middle group to support a larger group of elite athletes able to compete at the highest levels.
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The Hong Kong Sports Institute provides excellent facilities and programmes for training elite athletes. The criteria for eligibility are strict and based on success in specified events. It is based on the sport rather than individual athletes, so the relevant sports association needs to perform to be accepted into the system.
The association must show success at events such as the Olympics or Asian Games to obtain a place in Tier A or Tier B. Once it achieves that, it must continue to perform and meet targets in periodic reviews. If it fails to do so, it could be demoted or lose its support.
Lacking access to the sports institute and its support is a major obstacle to any sport and its athletes. Outside the institute, individual sports associations must raise their performance without the facilities or funding to provide the kind of training to get into the sports institute. Many associations do not have dedicated training facilities and instead depend on public facilities where they compete with recreational users for space and time.
The government invests large sums of money in sports with expectations of high levels of elite performance, but this spending does not include expanding a high-performance base outside the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Most sports associations are good at organising events and running training programmes for new entrants into their sports. However, there is a general lack of suitable facilities to enable them to develop to the level they can and should reach.
A runner trains for the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge earlier this year. The growth in trail-running events in Hong Kong is remarkable, thanks to the opportunities provided by our magnificent country parks. Photo: Handout
Another characteristic of Hong Kong’s changing sports scene is the growth of clubs or groups of highly competitive athletes. These enthusiasts might train four to five days a week, run their own training programmes and work in their own jobs.
They have no special venue or home and largely exist through social media. They might be associated with their relevant association, and some include former elite athletes who share their abilities and experience. They compete in events within Hong Kong and all around the world.
In addition, many sports now have age-group competitions which provide the bulk of the middle group that supports the growth of elite athletes. They provide training partners, race experience and competition up to a certain level. Retired elite athletes often compete in age-group events, and there are masters world championships on a regular basis where many former Olympic competitors take part.
Hong Kong athletes compete well at this level, but there is little recognition of the good impressions they generate for the city or official acknowledgement that they need better training facilities. If there was investment in permanent training facilities for sports associations, which then shared them with subsidiary clubs and members, this middle part of the pyramid would be in a much better position to support the development of elite athletes before they move to the Hong Kong Sports Institute.
Hong Kong triathletes (from left) Jason Ng Tai-long, Bailee Brown and Hilda Choi Yan-yin train at the Hong Kong Sports Institute on August 21, 2023. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
The government must recognise that it needs to come up with a more permanent solution to training facilities for sports associations if it wants to maintain its high standards for sports performance at all levels. Sports are an integral part of society and they are here to stay.
The government recognising this and acting on it will mean sports associations can take a longer-term view of their requirements and make serious investments in their own facilities. Those created with the goal of improving athletes’ performance outside the sports institute and going beyond general recreation facilities will create new initiatives for excellence.
This kind of investment will produce more top-quality athletes than Hong Kong’s sports pyramid does now. It’s too late to influence our athletes’ performance in Paris, but it would be a good foundation for better things at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond.
Ian Brownlee is managing director of Masterplan Limited, a planning and development consultancy. He is also an adviser to the Hong Kong Water Sports Council and an active masters competitor in several sports
