Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2002

Ci tation Ms. Lee Lai Shan E arly one morning in August 1996 m a n y H o n g K o n g residents were still awake a nd watching their TV sets. At around 5 a.m. came the picture they were all waiting to see: Lee Lai Shan sailing past the final marker at the Atlanta Olympic Games to w i n Hong Kong's first Olympic gold medal. Many people who had hardly heard of windsurfing nonetheless felt a wave of communal pride and joy pass through the territory. Great athletes can come to focus the aspirations of a whole community. As many people pointed out, in 1996 Shan Shan's famous victory was the kind of good omen Hong Kong seemed to need. Lee Lai Shan's early life gives little hint of the fame she was to achieve. She grew up on Cheung Chau, number eight in a family of ten. Her father died when she was eight years old. As in many large families, she was brought up as much by her older sisters and brother as by her parents. The times were tough. Her brother qualified for entrance to university but had to find a job instead. Apart from her siblings, a major influence on her was her uncle, for wh om she occasionally did odd jobs. He was a hard man to please and believed firmly that the only way to learn anything is by making mistakes. One day he gave her the task of filling a hole in his garage floor w i th concrete, which she did carelessly. The next day he showed her how water gathered in the concreted spot and made her do it all again. It was Ms. Lee's uncle who first put her on a windsurf board at the age o f 12. Although she was a good athlete at school, a champion swimmer, her balance was not good. After an hour, she could still stay on the board for only a minute. It took her a month of learning from her mistakes before she could control the board and go where she wanted to. She soon fell in love with the sport and love drove her on. Seeing windsurfers gracefully leaning out and skimming the waves gives little idea of how arduous the sport is. To succeed at the highest level demands many qualities. It requires, first o f all, the judgment and knowledge of a skilled yachtsman. Shan Shan tells how the champion needs to be able to read the w i nd right across the course, to discern subtle shifts o f w i nd speed and direction that might give an advantage. This means being able to read the sea, to notice the patches of darker water that may mean stronger wind. And then, in a split second, the champion needs the courage to make what may be a crucial decision, either to ‘shadow' the rest of the fleet or to take a risk and go right out on her own to the other side of the course. In the final 4 4 Chinese University Bulletin Autumn • Winter 2002