Lee Lai Shan (, born 5 September 1970 in

Cheung Chau Cheung Chau (; ) is an outlying island of Hong Kong, located southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is also called Dumbbell Island () due to its dumbbell-like shape. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in Hong Kong, and had ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

) is a former world champion and

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

-winning professional

windsurfer Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

from

. She was the first athlete to win an Olympic medal representing

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

. As of 2024, she is still the only non- fencer to win an Olympic gold medal for Hong Kong.

Sports career

Lee Lai Shan, popularly known as "San San", was born in

and started

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

aged 12. She began to take part in windsurfing competitions at the age of 17 and joined the Hong Kong team at 19. Over the years, Lee won many international competitions, including the first-ever Olympic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

for British Hong Kong, in the women's mistral boardsailing class, at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and the first champion in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

representing Hong Kong when it was a British territory. Hong Kong had never been able to win any medals for as long as it had participated in the Olympic games since 1952 until Lee Lai Shan's victory at Atlanta 1996. Notably, the 1996 Summer Olympics was the last international sporting event that Hong Kong participated in as a

British Dependent Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming p ...

, making Lee's medal the only medal that the British Hong Kong team won. It was at that time Lee famously declared to the media: "Hong Kong athletes are not rubbish!" After the Games she became a student of

sports management Sport management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiza ...

at Australia's

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

in 1996. She was the first Hong Kong athlete to be awarded an honorary Doctorate in

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

. Lee became a recipient of the " Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award" and the

Bronze Bauhinia Star The Bronze Bauhinia Star (, BBS) is the lowest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, pers ...

Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the international sports scene. There is a monument resembling a windsurf board and mast erected in her honour near the beachfront at

. In the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, she was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for services to sport. In 2008, she was the first person to carry the

Olympic torch The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

in the torch relay leg in Hong Kong.SCMP.
Athletes, politicians and tycoons head torch list
" ''South China Morning Post'' Retrieved on 30 April 2008. She was also the final torchbearer in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

sailing opening ceremony at Qingdao International Marina.

Participation record

*1990 Beijing Asian Games – 2nd *1992 Barcelona Olympic Games – 11th *1993 World Championships – 1st *1994 Hiroshima Asian Games – 2nd *1995 World Championships – 3rd *1996 World Championships – 2nd *1996 Atlanta Olympic Games – 1st *1997 World Championships – 1st *1998 Bangkok Asian Games – 1st *2000 Sydney Olympic Games – 6th Mistral *2001 World Championships – 1st *2001 National Games – 1st Mistral *2002 Busan Asian Games – 1st *2004 Athens Olympic Games – 4th Mistral

Honors

*1994 – Named Best Athlete of Asia *1995 –1996 & 1999–2000 – Named one of Hong Kong Sports Stars of the Year for four times *1995 – Selected Best Athlete in Hong Kong for 1994 *1998 – Voted one of Hong Kong Top Ten Athletes for 1988–1998 by Hong Kong Sports Press Association *1999 – Selected one of China's Top Ten Athletes for 1998 *1999 – Awarded Special Prize in the "Best Athletes of the Century" selection jointly organised by the Chinese Olympic Committee, Henry Fok Foundation and China Sports Press Association

Personal information

Lee married longtime partner Wong Tak-Sum (黃德森) (known in English as Sam Wong), who has also represented Hong Kong internationally in windsurfing, and gave birth to a daughter, Haylie Wong (黃希皚), in August 2005, and to a second daughter, Kallie Wong (黃嘉怡), in August 2007. This was one of the reasons she took a break from competition, though she has not ruled out competing altogether.Golden girl's new role

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

, 30 April 2008 In 2008, she was involved in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

again when she was one of the presenting team for ATV, in addition to commentating in the sailing event. In 2006, Lee was featured in a

Hang Seng Bank Hang Seng Bank Limited () is a Hong Kong–based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Grou ...

advertisement, in which she said the cost of raising a child in Hong Kong will be HK$4 million (US$510,000). It has caused a slight controversy in Hong Kong as most people do not think it will actually cost that much, and most think that Hang Seng Bank exaggerated the figures.

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Local Heroes No 29: Lee Lai-shan: Wind in gold medallist's sailsGirl with Midas touch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Lai Shan ISAF World Sailor of the Year (female) 1970 births Living people Olympic sailors for Hong Kong Hong Kong female sailors (sport) Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Lechner A-390 Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Sailors at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Olympic gold medalists for Hong Kong Hong Kong windsurfers Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories in Hong Kong Cheung Chau Olympic medalists in sailing Asian Games medalists in sailing Sailors at the 1990 Asian Games Sailors at the 1994 Asian Games Sailors at the 1998 Asian Games Sailors at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Hong Kong Asian Games silver medalists for Hong Kong Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Members of the Order of the British Empire Female windsurfers