Before undertaking a 45-kilometre swim around Hong Kong Island for charity in November 2019, I trained for a year in the pool and had my first open water swim in August. But preparation is never enough – I still overestimated my ability, and underestimated the difficulty of the sea.
Before the event, I rented a speedboat to take a field trip to Shek O – but I didn’t notice how big the waves were. On the day of the challenge, the waves repeatedly pushed against my body, making me feel seasick.
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People watching from the shore were particularly worried. My coach swam with me for a while, but the waves were huge; one minute I could reach her, the next she was five metres away. One minute she was above me, the next she was below.
I was nervous because I didn’t know how much energy and time I was going to waste. Still, I tried to stay focused. Later, another athlete joined me in the water, which gave me great encouragement.
After the challenge, I understood that swimming alone doesn’t mean swimming alone. A lot of people helped me. People often want to do big things, to change the world. But if you focus on what you can do, it affects everyone around you. I used to think charity was about me helping people, but now I think it’s about people changing me. They make me understand the world better, and make me a better person.
Alex Fong is a Hong Kong singer, actor and former Olympic swimmer who swam around Hong Kong Island in a record-breaking 10 hours and 43 minutes to raise money for A Drop of Life, which brings clean drinking water to impoverished communities in Cambodia, China and Nepal