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Siobhan Haughey with her silver medal. DPA/PA Images
within her means

Charlie Haughey's grand-niece wins Hong Kong's first Olympic swimming medal

Siobhan Haughey has created history in the pool today.

LAST UPDATE | Jul 28th 2021, 8:34 AM

SIOBHAN BERNADETTE HAUGHEY created history in the pool this morning by winning Hong Kong’s first-ever Olympic swimming medal, taking silver in the women’s 200m freestyle. 

Haughey finished behind Australian star Ariarne Titmus in a time of 1.53:92, and ahead of Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in third place. Katie Ledecky finished fifth.

The 23-year-old has some significant Irish heritage: she is the grand-niece of former Taoiseach Charles J Haughey. She was born in Hong Kong, the birthplace of her mother, where her father Darach – the son of Haughey’s brother Sean – was working in the banking industry.

She first got into swimming by going to lessons with her elder sister Aisling (who herself would go on to represent Hong Kong at swimming world cups), and rapidly showed talent, winning gold at the 2013 World Junior Championships. She swam at the 2016 Olympics, and finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest a year later, where she became the first swimmer representing Hong Kong to reach the final of an individual event at the championships. 

Away from the pool, she has studied Psychology at the University of Michigan in the United States. 

Haughey is back in action later today, in the heats of the women’s 100m freestyle. She is also competing in the women’s 50m freestyle on Friday. 

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