Vivian Kong Man Wai (; born 8 February 1994) is a Hong Kong former

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

fencer. A three-time individual Asian champion and three-time Olympian, she won gold in women's individual épée at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Early life

Kong was born in Hong Kong but lived in Canada between the ages of two and six. Before taking up fencing, she variously forayed into

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

. She started fencing at the age of eleven and chose

, stating it "combined the speed of taekwondo and the grace of ballet".

Education

Kong completed her secondary studies at

Sha Tin College Sha Tin College (STC) is a co-educational International school, international secondary school in Hong Kong and a member of the English Schools Foundation. Established in 1982 as the Shatin Annexe based in the campus of King George V School ...

and graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in international relations. As of 2024, she is studying for a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree at the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

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 ...

and aspires to work for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Kong has taken a sabbatical to prepare for the Olympics and had previously declined an offer to represent Canada.

Career

Kong competed in the

2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and the

2020 Tokyo Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. She became the first fencer from Hong Kong to win a World Cup title when she won the FIE Women's Épée World Cup in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in January 2019. Kong won one of the bronze medals in the Women's épée at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. In the women's épée event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Kong defeated

Olena Kryvytska Olena Serhiivna Kryvytska (; born 23 February 1987) is a Ukrainian fencer. Career Kryvytska has won three world championship bronze medals. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's épée, and was defeated in the second round. ...

in the quarterfinals and Nelli Differt in the semifinals. In the finals, she overcame a 1–7 deficit against Auriane Mallo to win 13–12, securing Hong Kong's third-ever Olympic gold medal. She was the first Hong Kong athlete to win a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. On 4 August 2024, Kong announced on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that she would retire from professional fencing and stated that she looks forward to pursuing a "new career". On 6 August, a Facebook post by Raymond Tam announced that Kong would join the

Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) was founded in 1884 and is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong. In 1960, it was granted a royal charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name in 19 ...

to promote sports development.

Impact

Following Kong's and

Cheung Ka Long Edgar Cheung Ka Long (; born 10 June 1997) is a Hong Kong left-handed foil fencer, two-time Olympic champion and two-time individual Asian champion, having won the gold medal at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. Cheung is the first athl ...

's gold-medal victories at the

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, fencing schools in Hong Kong reported a significant increase in public interest. This was predominantly driven by parents seeking opportunities for their children, though a portion of enquiries also came from adults.

Medal record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

Asian Championship

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kong, Vivian 1994 births Living people Hong Kong female épée fencers Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for Hong Kong Fencers at the 2014 Asian Games Fencers at the 2018 Asian Games Fencers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Hong Kong Asian Games fencers for Hong Kong Asian Games bronze medalists for Hong Kong Asian Games silver medalists in fencing Asian Games bronze medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games World Fencing Championships medalists Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Hong Kong Olympic medalists in fencing Fencers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Stanford University alumni Renmin University of China alumni Chinese nationalists 21st-century Chinese sportswomen Left-handed fencers