Hong Kong’s Olympic Champion Vivian Kong Retires from Fencing to Pursue New Career

by Nicholas Edwards · 04/08/2024

Olympic gold medalist Vivian Kong announces retirement from professional fencing to start a new career and establish a charity for children. Read about her journey and future plans.

Paris, Bollywood Fever: Hong Kong’s newly crowned Olympic champion Vivian Kong announced on Sunday her retirement from professional fencing.

“After competing in my third Olympics, I have decided to take a break and say goodbye to a full-time professional fencing career,” Kong shared in a post in Chinese on her Instagram account. “I look forward to starting a new career and work towards having my own charity to help kids find joy again in sports,” she added.

Hong Kong's Olympic Champion Vivian Kong Retires from Fencing to Pursue New Career

Kong, 30, achieved her first Olympic gold last Saturday in a hard-fought epee final against local favorite Auriane Mallo-Breton, making her Hong Kong’s first female Olympic champion in fencing.

Starting fencing at the age of 11 after trying various sports, including athletics and taekwondo, Kong made her Olympic debut at the Rio Games in 2016. She became Hong Kong’s first fencer to win a contest at the Olympics by defeating 2009 world champion, Russia’s Lyubov Shutova. In the Tokyo Olympics, Kong finished fifth in the individual epee event and seventh in the team event.

“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to dedicate almost 20 years of my life to fencing and thank you for being a part of this journey,” Kong said in a statement that also included an English version. “I will miss my fencing family so, so much, but once a fencer, always a fencer!”