Mark Kwok (swimmer)

After graduating from Laguna Hills High School in 1995, Kwok accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he played for the USC Trojans swimming and diving team under head coach Mark Schubert.[4] While swimming for the Trojans, he received four All-American honors in the 400-yard freestyle, and in the 4×200-yard freestyle relay.[5] In his junior season, Kwok won the 200-yard freestyle (1:37.53), the 500-yard freestyle (4:25.09) and the 400-yard individual medley (3:55.26) at a dual college meet in Santa Barbara, California; all of his triumphs in each event were considered an NCAA mark.[6][7] Kwok also competed for four consecutive season at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships before he graduated from the University with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1999.[2][4]

A genuine product of a paternal heritage, Kwok retained an independent athletic status and held his family dual residency to compete internationally for Hong Kong in swimming. Kwok's major international debut came as a 19-year-old at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he failed to reach the top 16 final in any of his individual events, finishing twentieth in the 400 m individual medley (4:31.13),[8] thirty-fourth in the 200 m butterfly (2:04.01),[9] and twenty-ninth each in the 400 m freestyle (4:02.68) and in the 200 m individual medley (2:07.61).[10][11]

At the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia, Kwok placed twenty-second in the 400 m freestyle (4:00.94), thirty-second in the 200 m butterfly (2:04.42), and twenty-third in the 200 m individual medley (2:07.30), all from the prelims.[12][13][14] Out of four individual tries, Kwok only reached the B-Final in the 400 m individual medley, where he pulled off a fifteenth-place effort in a time of 4:30.66.[15]

On that same year, at the Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, Kwok powered home with a well-deserved bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle, earning Hong Kong's first podium finish in swimming. He established a national record of 4:00.44 to hold off South Korea's Woo Chul in his last-gasp surge by 0.22 of a second.[16]

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Kwok decided to drop all of his individual medley events, and experiment with the 200 m freestyle. He posted FINA B-standards of 1:52.48 (200 m freestyle), 4:01.97 (400 m freestyle), and 2:04.00 (200 m butterfly) from the Asian Championships in Busan, South Korea.[17][18][19] On the first day of the Games, Kwok placed thirtieth in the 400 m freestyle. Swimming in heat two, he broke a four-minute barrier and a new Hong Kong record of 3:58.94 to earn a second spot by almost half the body length behind his former rival Woo.[20][21][22] The following day, in the 200 m freestyle, Kwok finished twenty-sixth with a time of 1:52.71, just 0.23 seconds off his entry time.[23][24] In his final event, 200 m butterfly, Kwok placed thirty-second on the morning prelims. Swimming again in heat two, he blasted a Hong Kong record of 2:01.99 to pick up a third seed by almost two seconds behind winner Anthony Ang of Malaysia.[25][26]

Two years later, at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, Kwok rounded out the final to eighth place in the 200 m butterfly with a time of 2:03.91.[27] He also placed fifth as a member of the Hong Kong team in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (7:44.73), and sixth in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:54.01).[28][29] Shortly after the Games, Kwok announced his retirement from swimming to pursue other lifetime opportunities.