Hong Kong's Ho Chi Ho, and Olympic Solidarity

by ISAF on 25 Mar 2007 At just 26 years old, Ho Chi Ho (HKG) is a perfect example of an old head on young shoulders. With funding from the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity Programme, this year he will be aiming to secure Hong Kong its Olympic place in the Men’s RS:X competition and take a step closer to his third Olympic Games.

Despite still only being 26 years old, Ho has the experience of two past Olympic campaigns under his belt and has been competing on the ISAF Graded circuit for ten years.

The first demonstration of his talent came in Cape Town in 1998, where he placed seventh at the ISAF Youth Worlds, but it was to be the following year when he really hit the heights. At the 1999 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Kuopio, Finland he dominated in a fleet which included future windsurfing stars Joeri Van Dijk (NED) and Piotr Myszka (POL).

Just a year after his Youth Worlds triumph, Ho stepped up to the biggest stage of all as he lined up for Hong Kong in the Mistral event at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Just 19 years old at the time, he came in 28th out of 36 competitors.

Over the course of his next Olympic campaign, Ho became a more familiar face at the major ISAF Graded events. He received funding from the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity Scholarship and left for Europe in April 2003. With the SARS outbreak following shortly after, HO was forced to stay in Europe for longer than he had planned, but put the time to good use, posting top five finishes at both SPA and Kiel and securing Olympic qualification for Hong Kong at the ISAF Worlds in Cadiz.

Come the Athens Olympic Games and Ho was stronger, more mature and better prepared. After a disappointing start he improved through the second half of the regatta, ending with 9,7 scores to take 14th place overall. Building on his Athens success, Ho enjoyed a fantastic year in 2005, recording podium finishes at Sail Melbourne and the Holland Regatta and winning the ISAF Grade 1 Kiel Week. He finished the year as the world #1 sailor on the Mistral Rankings, holding the top spot in the final Ranking release before the switch to the RS:X.

Since the change to the new Olympic windsurfing equipment, Ho has been satisfied with his performances so far, but feels his best is yet to come, 'I made good progress and I'm still learning how to use and tune the new Olympic equipment.'

He saved his best performance last year for the Olympic Test Event in Qingdao, China, where he came in 12th in a fleet of 34 sailors. From China he went to Doha and returned to the Mistral board briefly for the Asian Games. He ended the year off in style, winning the silver medal behind Yao Xinhao (CHN).

Looking to the future, Ho has one clear objective, 'To participate in the Olympic Games. I have always been motivated and worked hard to reach a higher level of performance.' With that aim in mind he began the year well, having a great Medal Race to take third place overall at Sail Melbourne.

Next stop for HOo is Europe and the upcoming Olympic Classes season, with Palma, Spain his first destination. Then follow the trio of ISAF Grade 1 regattas before Cascais, Portugal and the ISAF Sailing World Championships. There he will aim to secure Hong Kong their spot in Qingdao and take a massive step forwards towards his third appearance at the Olympic Games.

Olympic Solidarity

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organize aid to National Olympic Committees (NOC) recognized by the IOC, in particular those which have the greatest need of it. This aid takes the form of programmes between the IOC and the NOCs, in partnership with the International Sports Federations, if necessary. The scholarships’ first objective is to allow the athletes to qualify and prepare themselves in the best conditions for the Olympic Games, in order to fulfil their dream.

The funding for the scholarships comes from the share of Olympic Games television rights revenue allocated to the NOCs and is managed by Olympic Solidarity. For the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, more than 900 individual scholarships (652 men and 282 women) were allocated to athletes from more than 140 National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Of those 900, 14 sailors were awarded Olympic Scholarships, amongst them Rodion Luka and Georgiy Leonchuk (UKR) who went on to win the silver medal in the 49er.

The table below shows the 20 sailors selected for scholarships for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Find out more at – www.sailing.org/olympicsolidarity.
Nation Names Class
Austria Nico DELLE-KARTH and Nikolaus RESCH 49er
Bermuda Peter BROMBY Star
Brazil Ricardo SANTOS Men's RS:X
Croatia Sime FANTELA and Igor MARENIC Men's 470
Cyprus Andreas CARIOLOU Men's RS:X
Cyprus Haris PAPADOPOULOS Laser
Czech Republic Veronika FENCLOVA Women's 470
Hong Kong Chi Ho HO Men's RS:X
Malaysia Kevin LIM Laser
Poland Maciej GRABOWSKI Laser
Seychelles Allan JULIE Laser
Singapore Roy Junhao TAY and Peiming CHUNG Men's 470
Singapore Li Ying TOH Women's 470
Slovenia Gasper VINCEC Finn
Turkey Kemal MUSLUBAS Laser
Turkey Ertugrul ICINGIR Men's RS:X
Uruguay Alejandro FOGLIA Laser