By Marty Gordon
Ian Ho grew up in Blacksburg and started swimming at the Blacksburg Aquatic Center spending many of his formative years competitively for the Blacksburg’s club team, the H20kies.
He also spent time in the summers at Tech’s Maroon and Orange Camp, where college swimmers counsel and coach high schoolers, participating as both a swimmer and a coach.
From there, he started swimming at Virginia Tech in what is called the sprint freestyle in the 50- and 100- yard events.
Ho was named to the All-ACC Academic Team and ACC Academic Honor Roll as a mechanical engineering major and took his training to the pool at the Christiansburg Aquatics Center.
This past week he took his career a step further, qualifying for the Paris Olympics as a representative on the Hong Kong National Team. He competed in the men’s 100-meters on Tuesday.
Racing by himself Monday at the Hong Kong LC Swimming Time Trial IV, he became the first man from his nation to ever get under the 22-second threshold in the 50-meter freestyle. In the final heat, he set a 21.97 mark, making him just the sixth Asian man to break the 22-second mark.
Ho was a member of the Virginia Tech swim and dive team from 2015-2019. While at Tech, Ho qualified for ACC’s all four years and competed in high level collegiate meets including NCAA’s and the Toyota U.S. Open. As a Hokie he was a member of several team relays along with competing in his own sprint events at the top collegiate level.
In the summer after his freshman year, Ho competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials and finished 36th overall in the 50-meter freestyle. After graduation, Ho continued his training within the states and internationally in pursuit of his Olympic dream, which has now come to be a reality.