Tokyo Olympics: Siobhan Haughey delivers silver lining to Hong Kong sport, giving city its best-ever showing at Games

The 23-year-old swimmer strikes silver in the pool, a day after Edgar Cheung wins a historic gold medal in fencing

‘We hope with the success in Tokyo, we can strengthen our programmes,’ says Sports Institute’s Tony Choi

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Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey with her silver medal after the women’s 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:06pm, 28 Jul 2021Updated: 11:41pm, 28 Jul 2021

Siobhan Haughey grabbed a historic silver medal in the pool in Tokyo on Wednesday, guaranteeing this Olympics is Hong Kong’s most successful ever – and one sports chief said it showed the investment made over the past two decades was reaping its reward.

The city has pumped billions of dollars into its Sports Institute, which Tony Choi Yuk-kwan, the deputy executive director, described as being pivotal in “helping athletes achieve better results at international level”.

In return for those billions, Edgar Cheung Ka-long and Haughey have brought back gold and silver, and a significant measure of civic pride.

Hong Kong stopped for a full two minutes to watch Haughey come within centimetres of winning the race, and congratulations poured in from across the city and beyond.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and officials cheer on Siobhan Haughey. Photo: ISD

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor praised her “brilliant performance”, and hailed the “historic breakthroughs” made in fencing and swimming.

“She [Haughey] performed brilliantly and won the glory for Hong Kong with her spirit,” Lam said. “I and the people in Hong Kong feel very proud.”