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Mike Chan

An angry, mad, sad, frustrated Jason Ng Tai-long questioned whether he could still call himself an Olympian after not being able to finish his race at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
The Hongkonger said he had a good start in the water swimming next to South African Jamie Riddle before having his wetsuit grabbed and torn under the bridge just 200 metres into the race. Ng tried to pull his suit back but the zip was stuck.
“My clothes kept getting in the water; it’s like swimming with a parachute, I had no chance,” Ng said. “After the first lap, I was wondering if I should go for the second lap, so I kept pulling, pulling, pulling.
“If you put Michael Phelps in a suit that is open and getting water, he won’t come out of the water first.”

The Olympics debutant was visibly frustrated at the mixed zone even with his shades on, suggesting there was no point complaining.
“Swimming in open water, like, s**t happens. It’s also considered a contact sport,” he said. “They filmed us swimming to monitor the behaviour but they didn’t have a boat or camera under the bridge because it was so dark, you couldn’t see anything.
“I swam all out but was still 30 seconds off the next person, not even the front, I’m surprised I didn’t come out last.”
The 24-year-old recalled the incident happened when everyone squeezed into a narrow spot joggling for positions and he tried to fix his suit at the first buoy but the efforts were in vain.
“It’s heartbreaking your Olympic race is over in two minutes,” he said. “The Olympics is once every four years. It’s two years of hard, tough qualifying and in the end, you have nothing to show for it. You didn’t even finish the race.

“I was trying my hardest on the bike to not get lapped out but when you’re riding out the back by yourself chasing these very fit, strong guys after already losing so much time on the swim, and you have no one to sort of share the load of the wind with you, there’s nothing I could do.”
Trailing last, Ng stopped at the 18.7-kilometre mark of the 40km cycling leg, one of five who started out in the 55-man race that did not finish.
A dejected Ng was devastated to not finish “the most important race of my career so far” at Pont Alexandre III and admitted to having mixed emotions.
“Like angry, mad, sad, frustrated – I feel it all,” the triathlete said. “I don’t know whether I want to remember or forget about this Olympics as soon as possible.
“If you go race in Ironman, you sign up and you don’t finish, you can’t call yourself an Ironman so … can I call myself an Olympian?”

The men’s event, won by Great Britain’s Alex Yee in one hour, 43 minutes and 33 seconds, with New Zealander Hayden Wilde and the host team’s Leo Bergere rounding out the podium, was delayed from Tuesday because of the poor water quality in the River Seine.
There were plans to further delay the race to Friday, and even talk of reducing the race to duathlon, without the swim leg.
“Before the race, I was hoping that I got to swim because I would prefer to not have a duathlon,” Ng said. “But now that my suit’s broken, maybe we should have had a duathlon because then no one would have pulled my suit.
“I’m not, like, frustrated, but I just don’t know where to place my emotions. Stuff happens – it’s an accident or it’s not, you never know who it is.”
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Jason Ng’s wetsuit was torn about 200 metres into the swim leg. Photo: Mike Chan

Jason Ng said in the mixed zone it was “heartbreaking your Olympic race is over in two minutes”. Photo: Mike Chan

Jason Ng was slowed down considerably when his wetsuit was torn at the back during the swim leg. Photo: SF&OC

Jason Ng stopped at the 18.7km mark of the 40km bike leg, the second portion of the triathlon. Photo: SF&OC

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Jason Ng, seen training in Switzerland, was set to dive into the River Seine on Tuesday. Photo: Instagram/jason_ng_tai_long

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Hong Kong’s Jason Ng is among the triathletes affected by the pollution in the River Seine. Photo: Jason Ng Instagram (@jason_ng_tai_long)

Sport

Hong Kong

Paris Olympics 2024

Hongkonger had made a good start in the swim before his wetsuit was grabbed at and torn, making him feel he was ‘swimming with a parachute’


The Hongkonger said he had made a good start in the swim leg before his wetsuit was grabbed at and torn, making him feel he was ‘swimming with a parachute’.


Triathlon

Jason Ng Tai-long

Michael Phelps