Olympians in the Society: Alex Fong “Little Flying Fish”, Sydney 2000 Olympics

With Paris 2024 Olympics Games around the corner, Swim & Triathlon Society is publishing a series of interviews with Olympians amongst us. This is the second of the series with Alex FONG Lik-sun who holds many Hong Kong Swim Records, is an accomplished singer, artist and is an inspiration to us in so many ways.

You represented Hong Kong at 11 yrs old? Wow. Can you please tell us about this event?

I started training from the age of 9. The age-group swimming competitions are very well organised in Hong Kong, so I was fortunate to be able to represent Hong Kong in overseas competitions from a young age. I remember that particular competition was held in Singapore, called Asian Pacific age group swimming championship.

Was competing at the Olympics a childhood dream?

At the beginning of my training, I did not have such a “big” goal. But as I started achieving results, especially when I broke my first Hong Kong record when I was 15 years old, the goal of participating in the Olympics was next.

When and how did you know that you were going to compete? Or what lit the fire for the Olympics?

After I broke the Hong Kong record for the first time in 1995 when I was 15 years old, I had the goal of participating in the Olympics, but unfortunately I didn't make the qualification in time for the 1996 Olympics, so this goal persisted for another four years. It was very fortunate to be able to represent Hong Kong in competitions, as we had more than one Olympic qualifying competitions. I think I qualified in four events, but ended up participating in three at the Olympics.

How did you train for the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

In the summer of 1999, with the sponsorship and arrangement of the HK Sports Institute, I went to the Germantown Academy in Philadelphia, USA to train under the renowned coach Richard Shoulberg. Afterwards, in order to continue my training and with the plan to further my studies in the US, I enrolled at the same school, attending classes while continuing my training, and graduated a year later.

Please share a fun fact at one of the Olympic Games?

The Olympic Games are like a global village, with people of different races, physiques and characteristics representing different sports. For example, the tallest ones are usually basketball players, while the most slender and petite ones are often gymnasts or divers.

It’s very rare to see someone with these two skills, artist and sports. And you are very good at both! How do you balance your life as an Artist and a Sportsman?

Entertainment business is my profession. Swimming has now become my hobby. So I must maintain a clear distinction, with work being the priority and hobby second. Given the constraints of the environment, I strive to find time to train. The main reason I continue to train and compete is to challenge the limits of my age. It's a competition with myself and my own body. I feel that participating in sports makes it easier to set goals for myself and achieve them rather than achieve goals in my entertainment business :)

What’s your advise to budding athletes who want to perform on world stage?

It’s simple, I’m very old school… To compete on the world stage, you need to do what they are doing, and even do it better than them, and put in more effort.