Lee Lai-shan, nicknamed 'San San' and called the Queen of the Winds by the media, was born in Hong Kong on 5 September 1970 and is a Cheung Chau native who became a leading windsurfer. One of nine children, she was introduced to the sport at twelve by her uncle Lai Kan. She finished eleventh on her Olympic debut at Barcelona 1992, when women's windsurfing was first included in the Games, won the world championship in 1993 and, on 29 July 1996, took gold in windsurfing at the Atlanta Olympics - Hong Kong's first-ever Olympic gold and its first podium finish; her remark afterwards that 'Hong Kong athletes are not rubbish' became widely remembered. She added Asian Games golds at Bangkok 1998 and Busan 2002 and took another world title at Varkiza, Greece in 2001; she placed sixth at Sydney 2000 and retired after Athens 2004. Lee was appointed an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 and received the Bronze Bauhinia Star from Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa in 2003, and she was repeatedly named a Hong Kong outstanding athlete. In retirement she has held sports posts including a directorship of the Hong Kong Sports Institute and has advised on athletes' employment and education. She began representing Hong Kong in 1990; her uncle Lai Kan, himself a fine windsurfer, was the one who first inspired her. She trained on the Cheung Chau shore in her youth and was supported by the Hong Kong Yachting Association, now the Hong Kong Windsurfing Association, making her first Asian Games appearance at Beijing in 1990. Named a Hong Kong Outstanding Young Person in 1996, she was repeatedly voted a Hong Kong outstanding athlete and star of stars, and in 2008 she was an Olympic torchbearer for the Beijing Games' Hong Kong leg. In retirement she has served as a director of the Hong Kong Sports Institute and worked to promote windsurfing and athlete support. Her world title of 1993, won in Japan, was Hong Kong's first windsurfing world championship and made her a favourite going into Atlanta. Her gold, a year before the handover, was covered heavily by the local media and made her a household name, sparking a surge of interest in windsurfing classes on beaches and outlying islands.
Lee Lai-shan's gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was Hong Kong's first Olympic medal of any kind and turned windsurfing into part of the city's identity. Her achievement strengthened the local elite-sports training system and focused public attention on how athletes are nurtured and supported. She went on to win more Asian Games and world titles and has held sports public posts, becoming a representative figure for Hong Kong athletes.
Achievements
- 1996 · Won windsurfing gold at the Atlanta Olympics, becoming Hong Kong's first Olympic champion.
- 1998 · Won windsurfing gold at the Bangkok Asian Games.
- 2001 · Won the world championship at Varkiza, Greece.