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The Olympic Games are taking place in Tokyo, Japan. Senior Inspector of Small Boat Division (SBDIV) Li Kar-wai used to be a swimming athlete and joined the Barcelona Olympics in Spain in 1992. At the age of three, he began to practise swimming in the sea with his father, who was a swimming athlete at the time. While he was at school, he received regular training and took part in many swimming competitions. Competing in the Olympics is every athlete’s dream, and he is no exception.
“To achieve my goal to join the Olympics, I overcame many obstacles to pursue my dream. When I was a secondary student, I went to the swimming pool near my home almost every weekday for routine training before school, and during weekends, I attended special training with the Hong Kong Team at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in Shatin. I sacrificed a lot of time with my family and friends for my dream,” he said.
All his hard work finally paid off. In 1992, the 17-year-old Li Kar-wai reached the set standard in freestyle swimming and qualified for the Barcelona Olympics in Spain. “Participating in the Olympics opened my eyes and enabled me to observe and learn from the training of top athletes from up close. In the Olympics athletes’ village, I met my idol, American swimmer Matt Biondi, who was waiting for food in front of me, but I was too shy to talk to him or take a photo with him,” he said.
Li Kar-wai and his team members achieved satisfactory result in the Olympics, they broke the Hong Kong record in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay. A year after the Olympics, Li Kar-wai and his family emigrated to Canada. He later returned to Hong Kong in 2006. As he is a very active person, he decided to join the Force to challenge himself.
“Applying for the post of Probationary Inspector was not a smooth process for me. After I failed the selection process for the first time, I identified my weaknesses, and learnt from my mistake using the spirit of perseverance I have developed as an athlete. It was very much like how a swimming athlete strives to practise the start until the movement is perfect. And with the hard work, I was eventually selected as a Probationary Inspector,” he said.
Li Kar-wai has served in various police units in the past decade, including the Complaints Against Police Office and the Counter Terrorism Response Unit (CTRU). “In order to join CTRU, I spent a lot of my spare time to train my body vigorously, like how I prepared for the Olympics. I was very happy that I succeeded in my first attempt.”
Li Kar-wai is currently stationed at Marine Region. Although he has yet to encounter a situation where he would need to use his swimming techniques while on duty, he will hold fast to the athlete’s spirit of perseverance when performing police duties.
