Fencing queen Vivian Kong has announced her retirement from professional fencing, bidding farewell to her career as a full-time athlete.

She made history at the Paris Olympics Games, clinching the first ever gold medal in the individual epee event for the SAR.

The 30-year-old’s résumé includes three Olympic appearances, two world championship bronze medals, as well as six Asian Games medals.

“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to dedicate almost 20 years of my life to fencing and thank you for being a part of this journey,” she wrote in a social media post.

“After competing in my third Olympics, I have decided to take a break from professional fencing.”

Kong said she’s going to start a new career and launch her own charity to help kids find joy and playfulness in sports.

“I will miss my fencing family so so much, but once a fencer, always a fencer,” she said.

The head fencing coach of the Hong Kong Sports Institute, Zheng Zhaokang, said Kong had informed him of her decision earlier, saying he understood it but was sad to hear the news.

"I believe the decision was made after long-time consideration and family discussions. I wasn't surprised when she told me about the decision,” he said.

“She is such a high performance athlete who has just won an Olympic gold medal and is at the peak of her athletic career. This is something many athletes can only dream of… I’m really sad to see her go."

Zheng said that Kong’s departure will definitely have an impact on the fencing team, but added that he remains optimistic about the team's future development.

Patrick Yung, a surgeon who performed two knee operations on Kong, said he is behind the Olympic gold medallist's decision to hang up her sword.

Kong suffered serious anterior cruciate ligament injuries in 2017 and 2019.

"I don't think those injuries suffered by Vivian over the past years did affect her decision for retirement or not," Yung, who chairs the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at Chinese University, told RTHK.

"But over the past few years, it's not just physical demands, [there's] also very high mental stress for a lot of Olympians representing Hong Kong. That's why I am not surprised to see not just Vivian, but even others, would like to take a break, [go on] holiday, or do something else, so that they can recover physically and mentally."
_____________________________
Last updated: 2024-08-04 HKT 17:15