59 Chinese Olympic champions to visit Hong Kong

HONG KONG, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A total of 65 Chinese Olympians, including 59 gold medalists at the Paris 2024 Olympics, will visit Hong Kong from August 29 to 31, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced here on Friday.

At Paris 2024, China achieved its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics, finishing second in the overall medal table with 40 golds.

With China making breakthroughs in several team events like women's synchronised team swimming, women's group all-round rhythmic gymnastics and men's 4x100m medley relay, 60 athletes managed to stand atop the podium.

The only Olympic champion to skip the trip to Hong Kong will be Zheng Qinwen, the women's singles tennis champion, who is in New York preparing for the US Open.

Table tennis star Ma Long, who won his sixth Olympic gold medal in Paris in the team event, will be visiting Hong Kong as an Olympic delegation member for the third time.

Ma will be joined 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 took the silver medal.

The delegation, which will be led by Gao Zhidan, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), also includes eight coaches.

After arriving in Hong Kong, the delegation will carry out a series of activities, including attending a welcome meeting and dinner hosted by the SAR government, visiting the Hong Kong Sports Institute, and interacting with Hong Kong athletes. They will leave on August 31 to start a similar visit to Macao.

The Olympians will attend a gala show before showcasing their skills at two demonstrations at Queen Elizabeth Stadium and Victoria Park swimming pool. Over 5,000 tickets for all the three events were sold out in about half an hour on Thursday.