Over the years, Lee won many international competitions, including the first-ever Olympic gold medal for British Hong Kong, in the women's mistral boardsailing class, at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the first champion in the Asian Games representing Hong Kong when it was a British territory.

[2] Hong Kong had never been able to win any medals for as long as it had participated in the Olympic games since 1952 until Lee Lai Shan's victory at Atlanta 1996.

[6] She was also the final torchbearer in the 2008 Summer Olympics sailing opening ceremony at Qingdao International Marina.

[7] In 2006, Lee was featured in a Hang Seng Bank advertisement, in which she said the cost of raising a child in Hong Kong will be HK$4 million (US$510,000).

It has caused a slight controversy in Hong Kong as most people do not think it will actually cost that much, and most think that Hang Seng Bank exaggerated the figures.