Olympians to make waves for charity

The annual Make Waves for Hong Kong event is back with elite swimmers and business leaders, including Olympians Geoff Cheah and Hannah Wilson, jeweler Jada Lam Wing-yan and migrant worker Josephine Tolentino, to address the city's swim illiteracy.

The 30 elite swimmers and business leaders will be divided into five relay teams, representing a cross-section of Hong Kong's diverse community.

They will swim 45 kilometers clockwise around Hong Kong Island on November 8, starting from Sandy Bay outside Kennedy Town.

Relayers will swim in 30-minute intervals, and the event is expected to take 12 hours to complete, according to the beneficiary of the event, Splash Foundation - a charity dedicated to improving access to swimming for disadvantaged children and adults by organizing free swimming classes. The teams aim to raise HK$3.5 million for the foundation to help thousands learn about the benefits of swimming. Cheah, who represented Hong Kong in the 2016 Rio Olympics, said it was shocking that 47 percent of local secondary school students don't know how to swim.