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Lily Xu tests body and ambition on Sydney Hobart path

Home 2025 Lily Xu tests body and ambition on Sydney Hobart path

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Xu Lijia is used to pushing through discomfort - what is new - more than a decade after her Olympic gold, is how carefully she now listens to her body.

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The London 2012 Laser Radial champion — who prefers to be called Lily — is preparing for her first Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with a mixture of excitement and caution, aware that cold conditions and old injuries remain her greatest opponents. 

 Xu and team having fun at the 2025 Dragon Gold Cup - Dragon Gold Cup pic.

In this 80th edition, she will race on one of the smaller yachts in the fleet, Mazu Denalis Little Helper, a Sydney 38 skippered by Damien Parkes from NSW. 

“I’ve heard about this race since I was young, even when I was campaigning for the Olympics,” said Xu, who also won bronze in the event at her home Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.  

“After I retired because of too many injuries I stopped sailing for a few years. Only in the last one or two years did I start sailing again — this time on bigger boats.” 

Her return to offshore racing has been deliberate. Since resuming, Xu has completed the Newport Bermuda Race, the 600-nautical-mile race around China’s Hainan Island, and this year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race. Each step has been part of a broader test: whether her body can withstand elite sailing again. 

Xu in action.

Years of intense Olympic training left lasting damage. Xu suffers from a herniated disc in her neck, chronic lower-back pain and knee issues, compounded by low blood pressure and a naturally low heart rate. 

“There’s nothing good on my body from over-training,” she said. “I’m very sensitive to cold. When it’s cold, my muscles tense up and spasm, and injuries can come back.” 

That sensitivity makes the prospect of the Southern Ocean particularly daunting. Xu plans to manage the risk with clothing layers, heating pads and constant vigilance. 

“Hobart creates uncertainty for me,” she said. “I bring a lot of warm gear and heating stuff just to avoid injuries coming back.” 

Ironically, it is Australia’s warmth that has drawn her to the southern hemisphere. 
Xu, who lives mainly in the UK during the northern summer, said British winters are increasingly incompatible with her health. 

Xu at the helm.

“I couldn’t bear the British winter anymore,” she said, sitting in the 30 degree sun-drenched race village area at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, host of the 628 nautical mile race. 

“When people here feel too hot, I feel about right. My muscles are loose. That’s why my husband and I have decided to spend our winters here and do more sailing.” 

Sydney, she says, also offers something rare: daily racing. Twilight races, weekday harbour events and weekend regattas have convinced her the city is “a paradise” for sailors without their own boats. 

“I can find racing almost every day,” she said. “Even better than Solent. It really opened my eyes.” 

On board, Xu expects to spend most of her time helming and trimming, while remaining eager to learn other roles — from pit work to spinnaker handling — as she builds offshore experience. Her long-term ambition remains clear, if carefully framed. 

“If my body allows, number one option is to be a full-time sailor,” she said. “But I can’t be too ambitious anymore. I’ve had to stop suddenly before because injuries came back.” 

That realism explains why Xu, 38, has built a parallel career in journalism. After her Olympic career stalled, she turned to media to stay connected to sport, covering events from the Australian Open to two Olympic Games as a reporter for broadcaster China Sports. Sailing, she said, rarely paid the bills. 

Xu's autobiography.

“I earn money from other sports and spend money on sailing,” she said with a laugh. 

She now hosts a weekly Chinese-language podcast and continues reporting remotely or on site when her sailing schedule allows — a safety net if injury forces her ashore again. 

For now, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is both a challenge and an experiment: a measure of whether one of China’s most decorated sailors can reinvent herself offshore, in colder waters, with a body that demands compromise. 

“This is a test and an adventure,” Xu said. “If my body says no, I take a step back. If it says yes — I keep going.” 

Steve Dettre/RSHYR media