Wong Kam-po (born 13 March 1973) is a retired Hong Kong professional racing cyclist, of Dongguan ancestry and raised in Lek Yuen Estate, Sha Tin, known as the King of Asian Cycling. He began pursuing cycling seriously in his late teens, joined the Hong Kong team in 1990 and won his first title at the Asian junior championships. He first represented Hong Kong at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but the whole team was disqualified after a clash, and he later left the squad for two years and sold hi-fi equipment. In 1994 the former Chinese national coach Shen Jinkang came to Hong Kong and began to train him; at the Hiroshima Asian Games that year he finished fourth in the road race, then Hong Kong's best result, which strengthened his resolve to win gold. He undertook punishing training, promising Shen to ride 150,000 kilometres within four years. Wong won the men's road race at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, which made his name, and added road-race golds at the 2006 Doha and 2010 Guangzhou Games. In 2007 he won the 15km scratch race at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Mallorca, becoming Hong Kong's first cycling world champion and earning the rainbow jersey; he also won World Cup rounds in Colorado Springs (scratch) in 2008 and Copenhagen (points) in 2009. He competed at five Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and five National Games, winning three gold and two bronze medals — including road-race golds in 1997, 2001 and 2009 — giving him three gold, one silver and two bronze across five Asian Games. Between 1995 and 2010 he was named a Hong Kong outstanding athlete thirteen times and took the Star of the Year honour four times, in 1997, 2006, 2007 and 2010, and in 2002 was voted Hong Kong's best sportsman for deportment. He rode for professional teams including Telekom Malaysia and Marco Polo. In November 2017 he left the Hong Kong squad, later chairing the HK Olympic Committee's athletes' commission from 2022, and took over a bicycle shop, continuing to promote the sport through talks and community events.
With a 2007 world title and three Asian Games road-race golds, Wong put Hong Kong cycling on the Asian and world stage, helped grow the sport locally, and inspired younger riders such as Lee Wai-sze; he still promotes cycling after retiring.
Achievements
- 1998 · Won gold in the men's road race at the Bangkok Asian Games
- 2007 · Won the 15km scratch race at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Mallorca, becoming Hong Kong's first cycling world champion
- 2010 · Won another Asian Games road-race gold in Guangzhou