Chui Yee Yu

Started: She took up fencing at age 16. (zhuanti.qm120, 18 Sep 2008) Reason: She originally took up swimming as part of her rehabilitation, and was introduced to fencing through a friend she met at swimming lessons. After training in fencing for six months, she was spotted by a national coach, who invited her to train in wheelchair fencing at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. (cuhk.edu.hk, 01 Sep 2018) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (hangzhou2022.cn, 25 Oct 2023; hk01.com, 13 Oct 2023) Milestones: She became the first female wheelchair fencer from any nation to win seven gold medals at the Paralympic Games when she triumphed in the class A individual epee event at the 2012 Games in London. Her two gold medals at London 2012 also made her the first Hong Kong, China athlete from any sport to win seven career Paralympic gold medals. (SportsDeskOnline, 02 Aug 2024) Awards: She was named 2019 Asian Female Athlete of the Year by the Asian Paralympic Committee. (sportsroad.hk, 06 Feb 2019; Asian Paralympic Committee Facebook page, 08 Feb 2019) Additional Info: NO MEDALS IN TOKYO She won 11 medals, including seven golds, at the Paralympic Games between 2004 and 2016. She then failed to finish on the Paralympic podium for the first time at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. "I was quite depressed at my performance because I didn't get any medals. I thought that I'm not good enough. Maybe it is time for me to put the full stop on wheelchair fencing. What makes me do it again is that I have hope. If you can't have sadness, then you can't have happiness in comparison. In the old days if I didn't win, I felt nothing. Now I will try to appreciate what I have done. I have more enjoyment now when I am doing fencing than before because previously all I thought about was the result." (paralympic.org, 11 Jul 2024) TRAINING ABROAD She spent time training with the Great Britain men's wheelchair fencing team at Bath University in England ahead of the 2024 Paralympic Games. "I have trained with them for the past two years occasionally [speaking in 2024]. Head coach Peter Rome invited me and I chose to go because they are talented and medal winners. I go there to enhance my ability and my tactics. They are willing to share the training experience with me and we have a good time on the piste and off the piste. The GB team share with me and they say, 'Don't talk about the skill but focus on how you see yourself'. It is a philosophy. In the Asian mind it is how to do the action perfectly." (paralympic.org, 11 Jul 2024) OTHER ACTIVITIES She has worked as a radio host and columnist in Hong Kong, China. In 2013 she co-founded the Fencing Sport Academy to introduce the sport to children in Hong Kong, China. "Kids these days are often said to have low personal resilience. Indeed they seldom experience adversity in life, but can we blame them? Fencing is a one-against-one contest. There is a winner and there is a loser. Learning to fence is about learning to face success and failure and to accept that failure is inevitable." (cuhk.edu.hk, 01 Sep 2018) FURTHER EDUCATION She has studied for a master's degree in sports studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. (cuhk.edu.hk, 01 Sep 2018)