Unpredictability of sailing buoys Olympian Stephanie Norton ahead of National Games debut
The Hongkonger is excited to compete at the Games, where she could complete a hat-trick of firsts for her city
From becoming the city’s first individual sailing athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games to winning Hong Kong’s first Asian Games individual medal in Hangzhou, Stephanie Norton said she still enjoyed being on the sea more than 15 years after picking up the sport.
Winning Hong Kong’s maiden National Games sailing medal would complete a hat-trick of firsts for Norton, who began sailing because of her father, David, and older brother, Thomas.
“I think sailing can be a little bit of a difficult sport to get into, because it’s not like you would do it in school, as with a lot of other sports,” she said. “You need somebody to get you in.
“There’s actually a lot of courses and stuff in Hong Kong to do sailing, but I just think a lot of people don’t know about it.”
Norton and her teammates will be among the first Hong Kong athletes to compete at this year’s Games, with the sailing competition starting on Monday and finishing on October 30, some 10 days before the official opening ceremony.
For Norton, her journey started when she was about eight or nine years old, with the Laser Optimist. She then moved on to Laser 4.7 and then to Laser Radial at the Tokyo Olympic Games, followed by ILCA 6 at the Asian Games and this week’s National Games.