Lai Chi Wai
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| Nationality | Hong Konger | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | December 25, 1982 | |||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Lai Chi Wai (Chinese: 黎志偉; born December 25, 1982) is a rock climber, competition climber, and a motivational speaker from Hong Kong. He is a four-time champion of the Asian Rock Climbing Championships and the world's first Chinese winner of the X-Game's extreme sports.[1]
Accident
In 2011, he got into a serious traffic accident that left him paraplegic.[2] On December 9, 2016, upon the 5th anniversary of the car accident, Lai climbed up Lion Rock in a wheelchair, and became the first Chinese athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World's Best Sporting Moment of the month, which he lost to a viral video which showed a packed sports stadium of 70,000 people in Iowa turning and waving to children in an adjacent hospital.[1]
Netizens, touched by Lai's achievement, said he embodied the "spirit of Lion Rock", which has come to symbolize Hong Kong's can-do spirit in the midst of adversities.[3] On January 16, 2021, Lai attempted to climb the 320-metre Nina Tower as an urban climb of over 300 metres; it was a fund-raising activity organized by Ignite Community Services, a non-profit organization which Lai co-founded with Stella Chiu, for spinal cord injured patients. However, after he had climbed 65 storeys or 250 metres, he was forced to call off due to strong winds. The charity challenge successfully raised about USD 1 million. The attempt was originally scheduled for January 9 but was postponed because of bad weather.[4]
Personal life
He is married and has a son.
References
- ^ a b "Wheelchair-bound athlete honoured for climbing up mountain". Reuters. January 11, 2018.
- ^ "Lion Rock spirit: the inspiring tale of paraplegic climber Lai Chi-wai". YouTube.
- ^ "Paraplegic shows the heart of a champion in Lion Rock feat".
- ^ Agnew, Mark (January 20, 2021). "Hong Kong wheelchair climber Lai Chi-wai still a believer despite an hour stuck on skyscraper". South China Morning Post. Retrieved February 24, 2021.