Paris Olympics: officials dangle HK$6 million gold carrot in front of Hong Kong athletes
- Prize money for Games glory up 20 per cent, while delegation will take portable air conditioners with them to battle summer heat in Paris
The Hong Kong delegation will have 45 portable air conditioners installed and readied at the athletes’ village when they check in to their rooms ahead of the Paris Olympics this month.
At the flag presentation ceremony in Tamar on Tuesday, acting chief executive Chan Kwok-ki also announced that cash incentives to reward athletes had risen 20 per cent compared to the Tokyo Games three years ago, with an individual gold medal now worth HK$6 million (US$768,000).
There will be 35 athletes – 16 men and 19 women – representing the city in the French capital, fewer than the 46-strong squad sent to Japan three years ago, or the 38 that made it to Brazil in 2016.
Hong Kong’s athletes will compete in 12 sports, in 13 events across France, from July 26 to August 11. Siobhan Haughey headlines the city’s biggest squad alongside six other swimmers, with a six-strong badminton team the next largest.
Officiating the ceremony in place of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who is in Sichuan for panda talks, Chan said the government, the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government and the city’s Olympic Committee had banded to together to ensure the air conditioning units provided athletes with the best possible environment during the Games.
