Tokyo Olympics: Siobhan Haughey has ‘proven herself’, saying all her hard work has paid off

Name: Hong Kong’s most successful Olympics ever as swimmer Siobhan Haughey wins silver at Tokyo 2020
Uploaded: 2021-07-28T10:14:54.000Z
Duration: 5 min 25 s
Description: Hong Kong’s most successful Olympics ever as swimmer Siobhan Haughey wins silver at Tokyo 2020

‘Believe in yourself, just go out and race,’ US coach Rick Bishop told her ahead of personal best and Asian record swim to win Olympic silver

‘This medal shows the world that you do not need to come from a big country to get good results. Even if you are from a small city like Hong Kong, you can still get a medal’

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Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey on her way to the silver medal in the women’s 200m freestyle in Tokyo. Photo: Xinhua

Jonathan White

Published: 6:14pm, 28 Jul 2021Updated: 9:01pm, 28 Jul 2021

Hong Kong’s history-making swimmer Siobhan Haughey said she did know what to do when she won the women’s 200m freestyle silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I was very happy and excited and didn’t know what to do,” she said in her post-race press conference on Wednesday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

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Hong Kong’s most successful Olympics ever as swimmer Siobhan Haughey wins silver at Tokyo 2020

She said that her goal was first to reach the final and then to win a medal of any colour. Haughey has crossed off both items with a personal best and Asian record in the final, beaten by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus’ Olympic record time for gold.

Haughey narrowly touched home in a time of 1:53:92 – 0.42 of a second behind Titmus, who caught the Hong Kong swimmer over the last 20 metres. Canada’s Penny Oleksiak was third in 1:54.70.

“Over the last couple of years it has been a lot of hard work for me and it has now paid off, especially when it’s in a big stage like the Olympics to prove myself – that’s a very rare opportunity,” said Haughey.

“When I touched the wall and found out I got second place with a personal best time, I was so happy and couldn’t process what happened. It was the same during the presentation ceremony.”