Swimmer and co-founder of Hong Kong-based mental health charity Mind the Waves named IOC mental health ambassador.
Hong Kong Olympic hero Camille Cheng Lily-mei’s work outside the pool was recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) earlier this month, when she was named one of the body’s first mental health ambassadors.
Cheng, who has represented Hong Kong at three Olympic Games, travelled to Lausanne, Switzerland, for the IOC Consensus Meeting on Mental Health for Elite Athletes in early June after being invited to serve as the female representative for Asia.
The IOC’s mental health ambassador scheme is a new initiative aimed at putting athletes’ voices and lived experiences at the centre of efforts to address mental health challenges and disorders in elite sport.
Cheng is the co-founder of Hong Kong-based mental health charity Mind the Waves.
“There’ll be 12 representatives: a female representative and a male representative from the Americas, Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa, and then two more,” Cheng said.
“It is up to the ambassador to be very proactive in how we bring what the IOC is doing in this space to our own region.
