Final lap of honour for Hong Kong’s Sarah Lee
- Olympic cycling star may have announced her retirement, but she still has much to offer the sport and the city
The retirement of Hong Kong cycling star Sarah Lee Wai-sze is not a surprise, but it will still take the city time to come to terms with her absence from elite events. She has enjoyed a glittering career and will be a hard act to follow.
Lee, 36, effectively confirmed her retirement on Monday by referring to the “end of my cycling life” in a speech at a Baptist University graduation ceremony, after studying there for a master’s degree.
The cyclist, the only Hong Kong athlete to have won medals in two Olympic Games, competed just twice last year. She was left off the Sports Institute’s list of elite athletes in April and there were rumours she would soon bring her career to an end.
But as recently as last year, Lee had been expressing hopes of competing in the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September and the Paris Olympics in 2024.
She will leave the sport with her head held high. The cyclist first came to prominence at the Asian Games in 2010, winning gold in the 500 metres and bronze in the sprint.
Two years later, she took bronze in the keirin at the London Olympics.
Lee is a three-times world champion and has secured 51 international podium finishes. She won her second Olympic bronze in Tokyo in 2021.
We can only wonder what might have been had the pandemic not led to the postponement of the Olympic Games for a year. She was in top form in 2020 and was tipped to take gold.
Lee is an inspiration to young, aspiring athletes, growing up on a housing estate and overcoming serious injury in a training accident as a teenager. She has shown determination, courage and perseverance.
The Hong Kong team will miss her as the city’s cyclists face an uphill battle to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Hong Kong Olympian Sarah Lee finally confirms retirement from cycling
But Lee will, hopefully, still make her presence felt in other ways. There are suggestions she will soon take up a coaching role with the Sports Institute.
Lee is a fine ambassador. She has used the Cantonese phrase: “the older the ginger, the spicier it gets”.
Her cycling career may be over, but she still has much to offer the sport and the city.
