Paris Olympics: tears for Hong Kong cyclist Ceci Lee – ‘I don’t know what I was doing’

Ceci Lee delivered a passive performance in Paris. Photo: SF&OC

• Lee emotional after 'letting down coach in each and every race', is frustrated by inability to transfer training form to Olympic track

Ceci Lee Sze-wing said she endured an "intense and unhappy" Olympics track cycling debut, following a torrid omnium event for the Hongkonger on Sunday.

Lee finished 20th out of 22 riders at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, before admitting she "didn't know what I was doing out there".

The 23-year-old went into the points race, the final event of the four-discipline competition, down in 18th, but failed to contest a single sprint.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

"I let down the coach [Herve Dagorne] in each and every race," she said.

The portents were not good when a passive Lee finished 19th in the opening scratch race. She improved in the tempo race, despite not being in the picture for any intermediate sprints.

In the elimination race, she was the fifth rider dumped out. Jennifer Valente of the United States, champion at the Tokyo Olympics, convincingly retained her title. Silver went to Daria Pikulik of Poland, with Ally Wollaston of New Zealand claiming bronze.

Lee's result confirmed Hong Kong would finish the Olympics with four medals, two fewer than they won in Tokyo three years ago, but the city's second-best performance in a Summer Games.

A tearful Lee said: "I am disappointed, I feel sorry for those who helped me.

"I don't know what I was doing out there. I knew there were four laps to go in the [points] race, still I didn't charge forward.

"I was placing myself at the back of the group in all events, I was wasting my energy and rode badly, worse than I have previously."

Lee finished last week's undulating Olympics road race in 64th. Her effort stoked optimism that she could rid herself of her long-standing self-doubt to race without fear on the track, where she had targeted a top-half finish.

But Lee was ultimately overcome by "the atmosphere and the fact that I could see the strongest riders here".

"All the other riders are more aggressive, they keep attacking on the track," Lee added. "I need to work harder in the future, there was some difference [in performance] from my expectation.

"This is a fast track, [the performance] is my own problem. I shall remember how tough it was at today's race, the intensity and the unhappiness, so I can work harder in the future, and challenge the top.

"There is happiness and sadness from this Olympics. I was happy I could finish the road race, but there's quite some distance from my second target [top-half omnium placing]."

The Hong Kong cycling team staged a pre-Olympics training camp in Brittany, and between the road and track races Lee transferred to Roubaix for a mini- camp.

Lee accepted, however, that none of her preparation translated into what she delivered under the Olympic spotlight.

"Coach tried hard to encourage me and give me confidence [between races], he said to me the next could be better, but I let him down in each and every race," Lee said.

"Yumi [Kajihara, Japanese who finished 17th] didn't do well in the first three events, but she lapped some riders in the points race.

"That was my plan, too, and I tried to do it midway through, but I couldn't. After the first race, I told myself to forget the results and try to get better rankings for upcoming races.

"But in the elimination, which is a better event for me, I still performed badly. I was always at the back, and don't know what I was doing.

"It's my worst elimination performance this year, I couldn't do anything that I could in training. Whatever the coach told me beforehand, I just couldn't do it."

"This is a great opportunity to take a better look of myself, everybody else could [ride aggressively], so I believed I could, too."

More Articles from SCMP

Chinese-led team creates a squirting bot that can shoot like a bullet when it meets light

Paris Olympics: IOC says US gymnast Chiles must hand back bronze after court ruling

As Japan puts out ‘megaquake’ alert, how should Hong Kong holidaymakers tackle a crisis?

Hong Kong police arrest alleged trafficker, 28, seize HK$18.5 million of Ice, ketamine

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.