Since no athlete from Hong Kong qualified, World Athletics awarded the 24-year-old a "universality" spot reserved for underrepresented countries.
Felix Diu Chun-hei, a sprinter from Hong Kong, will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, despite not traveling the official route.
Since no athlete from Hong Kong had achieved direct qualifying, World Athletics awarded Diu one of the "universality" seats, which are reserved for underrepresented nations and aim to broaden the variety of countries competing in the Games' many sports.
Just one day prior to attending the delegation's flag-presenting ceremony at Tamar in the Admiralty last Tuesday, the 24-year-old got confirmation.
"It's likely that the Games crossed my thoughts following my personal best time at the national championships [in May]," he said. Throughout the wait, I was bothered by the fact that my eligibility depended on other people.
"Even if I'm anxious and thrilled at the same time, I'll attempt to perform normally. My goal is to reduce my best time; it would be fantastic to approach or maybe smash the Hong Kong record.
Diu's fastest performance, 10.33 seconds, is 0.28 seconds slower than the entrance mark for Paris and would have put him ahead of just 15 out of 78 sprinters in the Tokyo Games.
The record for the city was established 14 years ago by Tsui Chi-ho, who ran a 10.28 on home soil. Veteran sprinter Ng Ka-fung waited 11 years to tie the mark.
Lai Chun-ho, a sprinter from Hong Kong, last participated in an Olympic competition sixteen years ago at the Beijing Games in 2008, when he placed seventh in his heat with a time of 10.63.
Others could claim that my games would end in about ten seconds, according to Diu. However, just the warm-up before the race takes an hour or two.
It takes a long time because of the amount of work involved, not to mention all the training in the years before.
It is improbable that any Hongkonger would make it to the next round—none have progressed beyond the heats despite several efforts since 1988.
After all, these are my first Games. I want to see up close how strong other elite sprinters are," he said. "I want to know how quick people like Noah Lyles are, acknowledge the distance between us, and work to bridge it after the Olympics are over.
"There are no words to describe the experience of attending the Games, and I believe Paris arrived at the ideal moment for my career because I had been training really well lately."
"I've always doubted my ability to be fast or skilled, so when I did get to compete at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, I dropped the baton during the relay, and it took me a long time to let go and move on."
Diu, a late bloomer, has lost about 0.3 seconds in less than a year and has achieved all 10 of his career-best times since March of last year.
The Hong Kong champion said, "Start better," in response to the question of how to beat his personal best time.
No comments:
Post a Comment