Kai Chong Chu, a 23-year-old Special Olympics athlete from Macau, won the honor to be a torch bearer for the coming Beijing Olympic Games during the torch relay in Macau on May 3, 2008. Chu has participated in SO events for nearly ten years, gradually growing from a shy young boy with intellectual disabilities to a shining local sports star.

At his early years in participating Special Olympics activities, Chu was not neither outstanding in sports nor good at communicating with others. However, he showed his love to sports from the very beginning: he always arrived at the training field on time in whatever bad whether, and he was also the most tolerant one in all students. His love to sports moved his coach, and his perseverance and hard work also changed his life thoroughly.

With hard training and practices, Chu made great progress in fitness due to long time of exercises, with sports skills also advanced remarkably. During 2002 – 2007, he was assigned to attend events held in other regions, and gained good results. In the Special Olympics Invitation Tournament of Japan, he gained the 400m medal; in the Third National Special Olympics Games in Xi’an, he once again won the 400m gold medal and broke his own record. It’s very regretful that at the Ireland Special Olympics World Games, he missed the medal; but it did not distress him. Instead, he insisted on training hard, and gained for the first time in his life the world championship in the 2007 Special Olympics World Games.

Kai Chong Chu at the awarding stage

Kai Chong Chu at the 2007 Shanghai SO World Summer Games

In the Olympic Torch Relay in Macau on May 2, 2008, Chu acted as the 98th bearer on behalf of Special Olympics Macau. After the event, Chu was very excited and he expressed his feeling in the banquet of that night. He said he had encountered many discriminating and distrustful eyes in his past experiences of sports events. However, he never gave up and finally gained the opportunity of today. The honor of being Beijing Olympic Torch Bearer not only belongs to him, said Chu, but also belongs to all SO athletes; for this reason, he felt that he is transferring the torch with all SO athletes. The honor of being Beijing Olympic Torch Bearer not only belongs to him, said Zhu, but also belongs to all SO athletes; for this reason, he felt that he is transferring the torch with all SO athletes.