The head of Hong Kong’s weightlifting and powerlifting body has resigned after mistakenly referring to Hong Kong as a country twice in less than two months.
In a two-sentence statement titled “apology declaration” published on Friday, the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association said chairperson Josephine Ip had resigned “due to personal reasons.”
During the opening ceremony of the Asian Equipped Powerlifting Championship & Asian University Cup 2024 in early May, Ip told crowds that “lifters and officials from 13 countries” were taking part in the competition. The participants included athletes from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Days later, the government said in a statement that Ip’s words were “absolutely unacceptable” and “grossly inconsistent with the fact that delegations from Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei participated as regional teams.”
The association apologised, saying that Ip had originally written that “16 countries/regions” were participating in the competition, but that at the end, only representatives from 13 countries and two regions came.
Ip then modified the sentence to update the new figure, but “mistakenly did not mention region,” the association said.
The body added that Ip did not mean that Hong Kong and Taiwan were countries, and had no intention to endorse Hong Kong independence.
“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inseparable part of the People’s Republic of China, and we oppose any actions seeking to divide our motherland,” the body added. “[We] are fully committed to safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, national security, and development interests.”
‘Slip of the tongue’
The mistake marked the second time that Ip had accidentally suggested that Hong Kong was a country. At the Hong Kong Weightlifting Invitation 2024 in March, Ip referred to the city as a “small country” during an opening ceremony speech.
A live video of the opening ceremony on the association’s YouTube channel was removed after the incident, local media outlet InMedia reported.
In a statement, the association apologised and said the sentence was a “slip of the tongue.”
“Chairperson Ip did not mean that Hong Kong is a small country. The whold world knows that Hong Kong is not a country, but a part of China,” the body said.
According to the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association, Ip sits on the executive committee of the International Powerlifting Federation. She has been a registered coach with the association since 2002, and was a coach for the Hong Kong weightlifting team at the London Olympics in 2012.
Her chairperson duties will be taken over by the association’s first vice-chair Yu Sum-por.
In December 2022, the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association oversaw the playing of protest song Glory to Hong Kong instead of China’s national anthem, March of the Volunteers, at a powerlifting championship in Dubai.
Weightlifter Susana Lin, who won a gold medal at the event, made a time-out gesture when Glory to Hong Kong played. The city’s Olympics body the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China said it would conduct an “in-depth investigation.”
The incident was among a string of gaffes in which the song – which was written by pro-democracy protesters in 2019 – was mistakenly played in place of the Chinese national anthem at international sporting events. Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government won a case at the city’s top court to seek an injunction that would effectively ban the song.
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