How mixed Irish-Hong Kong roots have helped turn Siobhán Haughey into a world champion

By ZK Goh
5 min|
Siobhán Haughey after winning 200 freestyle gold - 2024 World Championships
Picture by Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Speaking to Olympics.com exclusively at the World Aquatics Championships, Hong Kong China's first swimming world champion tells us about shutting out the noise, her style in the pool, and growing up in Hong Kong.

Siobhán Haughey is used to standing on the top step of the podium at swimming meets.

But when she finally did so last week at the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024, it was the first time she'd achieved the feat at a world champs. And, for that matter, the first time anyone representing Hong Kong, China had done so.

The 26-year-old's father is from Ireland and her mother from Hong Kong, and she has a Chinese name – Ho Si Pui in Cantonese, coming from an approximation of her Irish names "Haughey" and "Siobhán".

It's that mix of cultures that, Haughey thinks, has helped her achieve what no one else did before. 

And the win in the 200m freestyle was a chance not just to put her island on the global sporting map, but also to remind people back home that professional sport can be a career choice, too.

"In Hong Kong it's a very education-first focus," Haughey told Olympics.com immediately after winning silver in the 100m freestyle in Doha, her third medal of the meet. "Especially growing up, I went to a local school as well, so then a lot of my friends in high school never played any sport growing up.

"In Ireland they play different sports; I think because of my dad, I had the background of playing different sports since a very young age. And that's how I got into swimming. 

"I got the best of both worlds from my parents."

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Siobhán Haughey: "It's best for me to just focus on myself"

Haughey said coming from Hong Kong and punching above the island's weight in international sport has opened her eyes.

"It's made me realise that the world is so big and maybe I am good in Hong Kong, but there are a lot more different swimmers out there," she admitted. "And made me realise that if I really want to get to the top, I really have to work a lot harder, because the world is so big and there are so many great swimmers out there."

The 26-year-old's events – she intends to focus on the 100m and 200m freestyle events at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, events in which she won silver at Tokyo 2020 – sees her come up against the likes of Emma McKeon, Ariarne Titmus, and Sarah Sjöström, all world or Olympic record-holders.

Haughey said trying to deafen outside noise about competing against the big guns is something she keeps in mind when it comes to swimming in such high-profile, blue-riband events.

"I think that's definitely a big challenge," she acknowledged. "But, I know for me, especially when I come to big meets, I try to block out everything. I don't read anything about myself; I barely go on social media because I just want to focus on myself. 

"I think it's important that I care about the opinion of the people that really matter, and the outside noise I just try to block it out, don't think too much about it and just trust that the training I've done will pay off.

"It's best for me to just focus on myself, don't think about other people."

Siobhán Haughey's "good mix" of swimming styles ahead of Paris 2024

Haughey may be a freestyle specialist, but she surprised even herself in Doha by picking up a bronze in the 100m breaststroke.

However, don't expect her to do that in France this summer.

"At these meets we try to switch things up from time to time, so in season I like to do a little bit of breaststroke," she explained of her decision to race the breaststroke. "In Paris the main focus would be the 100 and 200 freestyle.

"It'd be a lot of mixture of a little bit of endurance racing and speed. That's also what I did in Tokyo, so I think I have the experience for that."

But experience aside, Haughey added that her style of swimming – in the past described by coaches as a mix of being strategic with her races as well as having a degree of tenacity – also contributes towards her success.

"I'd say I have this natural speed, so I tend to go out a little faster at the beginning, but then I also – because I swim the 200 – I have a little bit of the endurance background as well.

"I don't know, it's like a combination of natural speed and a bit of endurance, I think; a good mix of it."

With all the big names competing in her events, has she ever considered learning from the others?

No, she explained: "Especially in the 100 and 200, everyone has different strategies.

"I think it's good to know how other people would swim it, but I don't need to study it and say 'this is how I'm going to do it'.

"Just believe in the training that you're doing and believe in the process. And know that if you put in the hard work, by the time you get to the end of the season, the results will come."