‘I would cry every time I went’: Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong’s great Olympic hope, once hated the thought of swimming
- As the World Aquatics Championships kick off in South Korea, Haughey looks to leave her mark on the big stage before Tokyo 2020
- Father’s idea that his daughters should be swimmers for safety’s sake turned them both into world-class swimmers
Darach Haughey had the best intentions for his two young daughters, resulting in some rather fortuitous unintended consequences.
“They were growing up in Hong Kong, which is an island,” said Darach, referring to Siobhan and older sister Aisling. “So there are opportunities to get out on the water, go sailing or go on a junk. And if you go out on a boat, you’re going to be more relaxed if you know how to swim.”
Darach said he and wife Canjo cannot take much credit as parents, given those early intentions helped make his younger daughter one of the top 200m freestyle swimmers on the planet, while the other swam for Trinity College’s Intervarsity squad in Ireland.
“I wasn’t a tiger dad in that respect,” he said, “it was purely to give them a life skill.”
Growing up in Happy Valley, the Haughey family had a pool in their building, which is where the two girls first started taking lessons with a lifeguard. After that Darach said they sent their daughters off to the South China Athletic Association’s (SCAA) facilities in Causeway Bay. It was there a four-year old Siobhan started putting up a fuss about getting in the pool.
“I didn’t enjoy it at all,” said the 21-year-old, who is of Irish and Chinese descent. “I thought it was very boring, just swimming up and down the pool, and I would cry every time I went.”
