China's newest Olympic heroes met with Hong Kong youngsters on Sunday morning and urged them to persevere and work hard to achieve their dreams.

The 70 members of a delegation of athletes who took gold medals at the London Games were divided into two teams for a student exchange session held at the city's Queen Elizabeth Stadium and Ma On Shan Sports Center.

The event gave the champions an opportunity to demonstrate their athletic prowess and talk about the difficulties they overcame on their path to glory.

When asked about her success, the diver Wu Minxia attributed it to persistence. "If you have a goal, just go for it," she said.

In front of nearly 1,000 students at the Ma On Shan Sports Center, the badminton gold medalists Lin Dan and Li Xuerui demonstrated their athletic abilities.

Five national weightlifters then played tug-of-war with 24 students. The students won in the end.

On Saturday, the second day of the three-day visit, the athletes went to various exhibitions in Hong Kong and gave further proof of their abilities.

Gold medalists from the country's diving team made dives from the side of a pool, a 3-meter springboard and a 10-meter platform at the Kowloon Park Swimming Pool.

Following the demonstrations, the gold medalists spoke at the Hong Kong Stadium about their experiences in sports competition.

The mainland gold medalists who formed the delegation began their three-day visit to Hong Kong on Friday.

The next day, more than 30,000 spectators took part in the "Mainland Olympic Gold Medalists Extravaganza", in which athletic stars were showered with cheers and applause.

At the start of the show, Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said Hong Kong residents had looked forward to the visit by mainland Olympic champions.

Liu Peng, head of the delegation and director of the General Administration of Sport, expressed gratitude to Hong Kong residents for their constant and strong support.

mingyeung@chinadailyhk.com

(China Daily 08/27/2012 page3)