Hong Kong cycling legend Wong Kam-po could return to coaching after fulfilling his immediate goals.
The former world track cycling and Asian road racing great said he would love to help the next generation of riders but he has other plans at the moment.
“Cycling has always been in my blood,” said the triple Asian Games road race gold medallist, who also won the men’s scratch at the 2017 world track championships in Mallorca. “But at a certain time of your life, you have to weigh different options.”
Wong surprisingly quit his coaching job at the Sports Institute last September to join the Sports Legacy Scheme of the Olympic Committee as programme development executive, where he helps retired athletes adjust to life after sports.
He still loves cycling, saying he regards it as a hobby more than a career these days.
“I want to spend more time with my young son which would be quite difficult if I am a coach as I need to follow the team in training and travel all over the world for competition. It has also been my ambition to complete my university degree, which requires me to stay in Hong Kong.”
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“My current job as an executive helps to acquire new skills especially in dealing with office work. I want to help the [many] retired athletes so they can secure a better future after retirement. But I still want to be involved in cycling and one day I may return to coaching after I have fulfilled my immediate goals.”
The 45-year-old, however, will be given the opportunity to return to his bike in a charity race in Yuen Long this weekend when he partners fellow former cyclists Yeung Ying-hon and Chan Chun-ching, both beneficiaries of the Sports Legacy Scheme.
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Chan was mountain bike champion at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and a silver medallist in Incheon four years later while Yeung was a member of the men’s pursuit team that won silver at the Guangzhou Games. He also captured a silver medal in the men’s road race at the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong.
Yeung quit the Hong Kong team in 2013 to join the professional ranks before ending his career this year while Chan retired after the Rio Olympic Games. Yeung won the Tour International de Setif in Algeria in 2014 when he was with Singapore’s OCBC cycling team.
“I have fulfilled my cycling dreams and it’s time to move on to another stage of my life,” said 30-year-old Yeung, who now works as a sports coordinator at a secondary school under the Legacy Scheme.
“I have no regrets when it comes to my cycling career. I’ve had many glorious moments even though I did spend a lot of money pursuing my dreams of becoming a professional cyclist as I needed to support myself financially. I managed to join a top cycling team before I was 30 years old.”
