Hong Kong athletes trying to make rope skipping an Olympic event.
By Alexia Leung
The International Jump Rope Union (IJRU) is campaigning to make rope-skipping an Olympic event.
President of the union Shaun Hamilton says the Olympic Task Force was formed in August to gather industry sources about the opportunity to deliver a rope-skipping presentation at the Los Angeles 2028 game, how to be shortlisted and make the sport more visible to the public.
“We talk to international federations, the Olympic Family and people who went through the process of making a sports event an Olympic item,” Hamilton says.
The union with 63 country members became a signatory of the World Anti Doping Agency in 2021 and signed an agreement with the Olympic Channel in 2022. In 2023, the union hosted the biggest World Jump Rope Championships.
“We are getting more partnerships in terms of more competitions, with Olympic movements such as trying to be a part of the Youth Olympics, the World Games and the International School’s Sport Federation,” Hamilton says.
“Rope jumping is certainly something appealing and fun to watch. Youths and kids want to do it. Parents have nostalgia associated with it. There is the rope speed sprint which is quantifiable, but we also still have the artistic side as well,” he adds.
The organization is trying to engage the public to make the sport more visible.
“We’re pushing more campaigns for all of our National Governing Bodies to take part in these few months, asking more people to join us for another task force for the Everybody Jumps Campaign, where we get a rope in every person’s hand,” he says.
The Hong Kong Rope Skipping Association (HKRSA) is a member of the IJRU, and they are working towards the same goal – getting rope skipping into the Olympics.
Tina Wong Ting, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Rope Skipping Association hopes she can help Hong Kong athletes take part in the Olympic Games once rope jumping is made an international event.
“I hope that I can help every rope-jumping athlete become qualified for the Olympics. The goal of getting into the Asian Games is achievable. We are planning to perform at the Youth Asian Games next year. I hope that we can first make it a sports event in Asia then go international step by step,” she says.
Invited by IRJU, the team performed at the Urban Parc, Place de la Concorde, Hôtel de Ville and the Champions Park with the American, French and Japanese team.
Sonic Lee Chon-meng and his three teammates performed a 15-minute sequence every day during their week in Paris.
“We did solos, duos, quads, Double Dutch and played with the audience. We taught the audience how to rope-jump and let them try out the Double Dutch showing that rope-jumping is not that simple,” Lee recalls.
Hong Kong has always performed well at rope-skipping international contests. In the 2023 World Jump Rope Championships, Hong Kong team won a total of 157 medals.
In this year’s Olympics, multiple urban sports such as skateboarding, breakdancing, BMX freestyle and 3X3 basketball were included in the games.
“I think we completed a rope-jumping mission as we brought the sport to the Olympics in Paris. We let people know that rope-skipping is not just about jumping forward. People can also dance and do flips. We let the Olympics know that just as skateboarding and breakdancing, we have the potential for competition and we have ornamental value,” says Tango Seto Ming-hei, who has been rope-skipping for 17 years.
Seto’s teammate, Cheukki Ho Cheuk-ki also agrees that there is a future for rope-skipping in the Olympics.
“As we were invited by the Olympics to perform for seven days in Paris, I think that rope-jumping may end up like breakdancing which is one of the events in the Olympic Games. There’s a chance that rope-skipping can become a sports event,” she says.
The Hong Kong government provides funding and support for Olympic athletes such as Elite Training Grant and the Sports Aid Grant. However, as rope-skipping is not yet an Olympic sport, the athletes do not receive much support.
“We book rooms ourselves or even practise in the streets such as outdoor basketball courts and football courts,” Seto says.
He urges the Leisure and Cultural Service Department to provide more big-sized training rooms in sports centres so that they can do bigger scale performance.
Edited by Hannah Tang
Sub-edited by Carrie Lock
