Hoi Long: she cannot hear the starting gun, yet she won Macau its first Asian Games triathlon medal

A triathlete for Macau, China who lost her hearing in both ears at five months old after a medical accident, and who competes as an amateur while holding a government job. At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games she won bronze in the women's triathlon — Macau's first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport.

She cannot hear the starting gun, nor the footsteps behind her — but in Jakarta in 2018, all of Asia saw "Macau" on the triathlon podium.

Hoi Long is a triathlete for Macau, China. Deaf in both ears since a medical accident at five months old, she communicates through lip-reading and sign language and has long balanced a government job with her training. At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games she won bronze in the women's triathlon — Macau's first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport.

Profile

• Chinese Name: 許朗
• English Name: Hoi Long
• Born: 1984 (Macau)
• Represents: Macau, China
• Domain: Sport
• Discipline: Triathlon (swim / bike / run)
• Subject type: Athlete
• Nickname: The "Iron Lady"

Background

At five months old, Hoi Long lost her hearing permanently after a drug overdose was administered by injection. She grew up lip-reading and signing, communicating in Chinese, English and Cantonese, and attended mainstream schools. As a child she swam, skated and played tennis and badminton; she later moved from competitive swimming into triathlon, beginning serious training around the age of seventeen.

She is not a full-time athlete. For years she has held a job in the Macau government, fitting her swim, bike and run sessions around work. Deafness brings practical challenges to training — she cannot hear traffic during road cycling, or her own cadence while running — which she offsets with discipline and persistence.

Career

I. Five Asian Games

Hoi Long has represented Macau, China in the women's triathlon at five Asian Games: Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010 (4th), Incheon 2014 (5th), Jakarta 2018 (bronze), and the Hangzhou Games (the postponed "2022" edition, held in 2023). Climbing steadily through the field before reaching the podium, her record is a study in an amateur sustaining elite-level commitment over a long career.

II. Medals beyond the triathlon

Beyond triathlon, Hoi Long has been a prolific endurance and deaf-sport competitor, taking medals in athletics and cycling at deaf games and Asia-Pacific deaf championships, and winning local distance-running titles. She has been honoured as an Outstanding Athlete of Macau and twice received the Macau Sports Merit Medal (2011, 2018).