At the premiere of the movie Anita, I bumped into Cecilia Yeung Man-wai, the Hong Kong women's high jump record holder. I asked her for an interview for this column. She readily agreed before walking away with a spring in her step and disappeared into the crowd.
We met again two weeks later. Before that, she answered a few of my questions on WhatsApp. She told me, "I hold the Hong Kong high jump record of 1.88 meters, and live at the Sports Institute as an elite athlete.
"Most girls are afraid of falling from heights and don't like the high jump. I am not, so I don't even have to overcome that fear," she said. She told me she has always been a fast runner and always won playing tag as a kid.
"In junior secondary school, I played volleyball and jumped high, so I received high jump training and made 1.68 m, which was adequate for a gold medal in division one of the inter-school athletics competition. It was a big event with a marvelous atmosphere."
She had moments of frustration too when she felt stuck, not knowing how to make a breakthrough. But she persevered and pushed herself to the limit. From 2016, she started to receive systematic training at the Sports Institute. "High jump is my forte. That's not going to change," she said.
In 2017, she clinched the silver medal in the Asian Championships and gold in Asia Grand Prix. "I am elated every time I manage to outdo myself," she said.
I asked if she felt stressed. She said yes, because of worries about not doing well in things that are important to her. She does two training sessions for a total of five hours every day, and takes a break only on Sundays.
She was most heartened when people showed up to support her at an event. She recalled how moved she was when she saw the Hong Kong flag being waved at the 2017 Universiade in Taipei.
Yeung sent me a few photographs, one of which showed her doing modeling work. "I do modeling on the side as an interest. It's OK if I manage my time well."
But for the column, I picked the one of her in action doing high jump instead, and would caption it "Jumping with grace and yet so powerful!"
Terence Chang Cheuk-cheung is the retired headmaster of Diocesan Boys School
