30-year-old fencer $6 million richer in Hong Kong after gold medal in Paris Olympics
Vivian Kong beat Auriane Mallo in the Women's Epee Individual at the Paris Olympics.
Vivian Kong vs Auriane Mallo Paris Olympics Fencing Final (via Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang)
The Women’s Epee Individual Gold Medal Bout at the Paris Olympics took place this past Sunday. The competition featured Hong Kong’s Man Wai Vivian Kong taking down the French Auriane Mallo 13-12 and clinching first place.
Alongside the Olympic gold medal, Vivian Kong will also be awarded a hefty cash prize for her efforts. The Hong Kong government grants HK$6 million (USD $768,000) to Olympic gold medalists representing their country. She was congratulated by many top-level executives of her region.
Following her win, Kong revealed that she had made some changes to her strategy prior to the match. She had used the same epee in all her bouts leading up to the final. However, Mallo was going to be her first left-handed opponent at the event. She admitted to being out of solutions and had to go for a different epee this time around.
The Hong Kong native also showered plenty of praise upon her French opponent. Furthermore, she said that it had always been her dream to fence in the Grand Palais, the venue for the bout. Winning the gold medal there had made things even sweeter for her.
This was the first gold medal for Hong Kong in Paris and their third-ever at the Olympic Games. This puts her right alongside Cheung Ka-long, another Hong Kong native who also secured gold in fencing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Vivian Kong opens up about her miraculous comeback at the Paris Olympics and her choice of epee
This fight proved to be Kong’s toughest challenge yet, as she was set to face France’s own Auriane Mallo. She was competing in front of a noisy and hostile crowd that included French President Emmanuel Macron. She couldn’t have hoped for a worse start either, as she was trailing 7-1 during the first half of the match.
However, Kong was able to push the bout to a score of 12-12 and entered sudden death overtime. She won the gold medal with her final strike to accumulate 13 points in her favor. In the post-match interview, the 30-year-old was asked about how she managed to make such a miraculous recovery at the Paris Olympics.
I didn’t want to lose so badly. I didn’t want to give up without showing the Hong Kong spirit.Vivian Kong during post-match interview
The gold medalist responded by saying that she did not want to lose by such a huge margin. She refused to go down without showing the Hong Kong fighting spirit and somehow pulled through till the very end.
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Mokshit Batra
(1394 Articles Published)