National coach has Beijing in his sights (hktdc.com)


	Living in Sai Kung, Rene Appel can be on the water every day (Photo: Barbara Yendell)

	Coach Rene Appel shares the glory with 2006 Asian Games gold medallist Chan King Yin (Photo: Barbara Yendell)

Rene Appel came to Hong Kong 22 years ago to work for a Dutch sailmaker, but was offered a coaching job at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. He helped Lee Lai-shan win Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medal, for windsurfing at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and is now taking the local team to Beijing. He has been voted Hong Kong's Coach of the Year, individual sport, nine times; has a Distinguished Services Award for Coaching and 12 Coaching Excellence Awards. The Dutchman lives in the former fishing village of Sai Kung, where he can indulge his passion for water sports every day.

"Windsurfing for me started as a hobby. I grew up in Holland near the North Sea and would spend every spare day on the water.

I came to Hong Kong in 1986 to work for Gaastra Sails. I resigned after three years intending to move to New Zealand, but the Windsurfing Association of Hong Kong was becoming established and I was keen to be part of that. When I was offered the chance to manage Hong Kong's national windsurfing team, it was a dream job for me.

When I first arrived, I found it difficult to adjust to the different climate and the job posting (with Gaastra), but I instantly liked the can-do spirit. Hong Kong people are very driven – their mindset is: ‘go for it.' In the windsurfing association, everyone has the same attitude – they are committed to excellence.

A city so close to nature

And of course, I also soon grew to love the city. In all my travels, I haven't seen such a vibrant place as Hong Kong, where just minutes from the city you can be enjoying nature immersed in rugged countryside or out on the water.

My home in Sai Kung is right on the seafront. I love being on the water, whether in my boat or on a windsurfer, and Hong Kong allows me to do that at every spare moment. I am passionate about ocean kayak racing, and an early morning paddle, is for me, the best way to start the day.

I coach the Hong Kong team at Stanley, and we train every day, from 9am until 5.30pm. There are about 1,000 students in the programme, including 25 elite athletes. For Beijing, we could pick only two: Chan King-yin, our male athlete, and Chan Wai-kei, our woman. At the moment, everything is focused on those two.

When Lee Lai-shan won her Olympic gold medal, it was quite a relief. We'd started the programme with the one goal of winning at an Olympic Games, but remember that in those days, around 1989, windsurfing was not a big sport in Hong Kong. People declared us completely crazy. I wrote a programme for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the government was willing to support us with a grant for six months, on the condition that we win a medal at the Asian Games. We did – and they agreed to support us for Barcelona.

Courageous win

In Lee Lai-shan's race in the 1996 Olympics, everything started off horribly wrong. She had the worst possible start. Earlier, she had fallen off and been stung on the leg so badly by a jellyfish that she could barely stand. But San San, as she is fondly known, persevered and recovered to win gold. She is tough, committed and very focused. I see those qualities in the current team, and believe they can be medal contenders. But in windsurfing so much depends on the conditions on the day.

Obviously, it was immensely satisfying to coach the athlete who has won Hong Kong's only gold medal, but my career to date has had many other highlights as well. That Lee Lai-shan was able to compete again at that level in Athens in 2004, and finish in fourth place, was quite an achievement. In addition, other athletes in the programme have won three gold medals at the Asian Games, five World Championships, 22 Grade 1 World Cup events and four Youth Championships. Hong Kong athletes have held the world number one ranking for both men and women, and won every event (windsurfing discipline) on the international calendar at least once between 1990 and 2004.

I believe that sport is not so different from business, especially in Hong Kong, where there are so many high achievers. Hong Kong is an amazing place, blending the best elements of business and nature. At the moment, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else."