The Olympic craze has greatly fueled sports enthusiasm in Hong Kong, with an overflow of fencing and swimming classes. A karate instructor said there has been an unprecedented surge in enrollment in karate classes this year and that regular and summer classes have been booked to the hilt. He expects to put in extra hours in the second half of this year to cope with the growing demand.

More young people are rushing to learn fencing, inspired by Cheung's feat in Tokyo, while others are looking up to Haughey, said Trisha Leahy, chief executive of the Hong Kong Sports Institute. She called the new interest a trickle-down effect propelled by sports role models.

"The more young people take part in sports, the more positive values they'll pick up and the healthier they'll become. It means that after a few years when they become adults, public health costs will come down as people are healthier by participating in sport," Leahy said.