Swimming World December 2021 Presents – Hong Kong Hero: Siobhan Haughey

Swimming World December 2021 - Hong Kong Hero - Siobhan Haughey

[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports]

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Hong Kong Hero: Siobhan Haughey

By David Rieder

In Hong Kong, people gathered in shopping malls in the middle of the morning, crowding in front of big screens to watch their national hero, Siobhan Haughey, race for Olympic medals. Several of Haughey’s friends were at work at the time, and they watched on office conference room televisions. Others were on the train, where seemingly every passenger had their phone tuned to the women’s 200 freestyle final and, two days later, the women’s 100 freestyle final.

They watched as Haughey became just the fifth individual athlete or team in any sport to win an Olympic medal for Hong Kong. Two days later, she became the first and only Hong Kong Olympian to capture a second Olympic medal. It was part of a truly historic performance at the Tokyo Games for the island nation, which won six total medals after only having won three medals ever prior to 2021.

“In Hong Kong, we’re not really known for our sports, so the fact that people were watching my races and other Hong Kong athletes’ competition, it was great, and I never thought I would receive such great support from the people in Hong Kong,” Haughey said.

The magical run began in the 200 free final, where Haughey was 2019 World Championships, missing a medal by just 2-tenths, but breaking 1:55 for the first time. “That was one of those races where I wanted to be upset because I missed the podium by 2-tenths, but I went a best time by more than half a second,” Haughey said. “I wanted to be upset, but I also did my best.”

At that point, Haughey had been training at the University of Michigan under Rick Bishop for four years, and that partnership had been fruitful. Bishop had led Haughey to her first Olympics in 2016, where she finished 12th in the 200 free. A year later, she began making a significant impact on the NCAA level when she finished fourth in the 200 yard free behind a loaded field at the NCAA Championships, and a few months after that, she surpassed all expectations by placing fifth in the 200 meter free at the World Championships. And as she came within one spot of a medal in 2019, Bishop noticed a change.

“I didn’t realize it, but Rick was saying, ‘After 2019 Worlds, Siobhan was training completely differently. She’s always very hard-working, but she’s even more focused. She knew exactly what she had to do,’” Haughey recalled.

“Before Worlds that year, Rick and I sat down, and he was like, ‘You can medal in the 200 free at Worlds,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I can.’ I worked really hard, and that didn’t happen. After that, we went back to training, and we talked about what we wanted to do leading up to Tokyo. This is when we were like, ‘This time, we actually are going to do it. We’re not going to miss by 2-tenths again.’ You set goals, and you don’t always make them, and you set another goal.”

For this race, her first Olympic final, Haughey and Bishop had devised a plan to maximize her strengths against her accomplished competition.

“Typically, I would go out fast in the first 100 and hang on in the second 100,” Haughey said. “That’s kind of what I did, but I thought of it differently at the Olympics. We knew that I had really good natural speed, so the first 50, we were just thinking about easy speed and then really build on the second 50. We knew that Titmus and Ledecky were great distance swimmers and they would come back faster than I would, so my strategy was to go out faster and be ahead so they would have to catch me. I think that’s what I did. I think I executed our plan very well.”

In Tokyo, Haughey was the second qualifier out of the semifinals. However, she would be going up against Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, the gold medalist in the 400 free already in Tokyo and a swimmer who had nearly broken the world record six weeks earlier, and the USA’s Katie Ledecky, the best distance swimmer in history and the defending gold medalist in the 200 free.

But at the halfway point, Haughey held the lead, with Titmus 7-tenths behind and Ledecky more than a second back. On the third 50, Haughey built a strong lead, and it would take a stunning final length for Titmus to pass her and secure a gold medal. Still, Haughey finished with a marvelous performance, a 1:53.92 Asian record that made her the fifth-fastest performer in history and earned her an Olympic silver medal, her first medal at any senior-level global championships.

COMING TO AMERICA
Long before she enrolled at Michigan, Haughey had plans of attending college in the United States, but she was looking mostly at schools on the West coast before she spoke with Claudia Lau, her teammate on the Hong Kong team who was attending Michigan at the time. Lau put her in touch with the Wolverine coaches and then arranged a Skype meeting between Haughey and the team. Haughey had never visited Ann Arbor, but seeing the team vibes through that meeting was enough for her to commit.

Coming to America brought some adjustments, for sure: During Haughey’s freshman year, she found school easy, but everything else very difficult. Training had increased from seven sessions per week to 10, plus weights and dryland, and Hong Kong had not prepared Haughey for the cold Michigan winter. “All of the winter clothes I brought from Hong Kong did not help,” Haughey said. “They weren’t thick enough.”

Haughey remembers times that year when she would call home and not be able to hold back tears, the stresses of the transition getting to her. Two years later, she remembers dealing with a painful ankle injury that flared up suddenly with no obvious cause that no doctor could diagnose. She was barely able to swim or even walk.

During these setbacks, she relied on her teammates to help lift her up. She spoke glowingly about what the other Michigan swimmers provided when she needed it most during her college days. “I always received love and support from my team, but especially during that time. It’s nice to know that when we are going through stuff like that, you have a whole team there to pick you up,” Haughey said. “I never realized that’s going to be a team sport until I got to Michigan. Your teammates are your family when you’re so far away from home. Just the whole team aspect, supporting your teammates with what they’re going through—that’s so important to me. Now, no matter what team I’m on, I try to be that teammate.”

To read more about Siobhan Haughey in 2021 and beyond,
Click here to download the December 2021 issue of Swimming World, available now!

[Dressel Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher / USA Today Sports]

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FEATURES

014 2021 SWIMMERS OF THE YEAR
by Dan D’Addona, Matthew De George, John Lohn and David Rieder
World: Caeleb Dressel (Male American) & Emma McKeon (Female Pacific Rim)
Male Pacific Rim: Zac Stubblety-Cook
Female American: Katie Ledecky
European: Evgeny Rylov & Sarah Sjostrom
African: Ahmed Hafnaoui & Tatjana Schoenmaker

022 THE TOP 10 PERFORMANCES OF 2021
by John Lohn
Five-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel heads the list of the best swimming performances produced in 2021, thanks to his world record in the 100 meter butterfly at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Overall, the top 10 performances consisted of seven women’s efforts and three from the men. A further breakdown reveals seven individual swims and three world record-setting relays.

025 HONG KONG HERO
by David Rieder
People gathered in shopping malls, crowding in front of big screens to watch their national hero race for Olympic medals. Others watched on office conference room TVs, while passengers on the train had their mobile devices tuned to the Tokyo Games. What they saw was Siobhan Haughey become the first and only Olympian from Hong Kong to capture multiple medals—two silvers in the 100 and 200 freestyle.

032 ISHOF FEATURE: AQUATOTS MURDER CASE—THE KATHY TONGAY STORY (Part 3)
by Bruce Wigo
This is the final story of a three-part series about “The Aquatots Murder Case” regarding the death of 5-year-old Kathy Tongay and the subsequent murder charge against her father, Russell. This month’s episode: Russell Tongay’s appeal, life in (and out) of prison, what happened to Kathy’s brother, Bubber, and the impact the case had on age group sports in America.

044 NUTRITION: HOLIDAY/INTENSE TRAINING
by Dawn Weatherwax
To train hard, you need to eat hard! Make sure you put as much emphasis on nutrition and sleep as you would on your workouts.

COACHING

036 COACHING IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT (Part 2)
by Michael J. Stott
Last month, in Part 1, Swimming World explored how COVID-19 altered swim training as we have known it. This month, we look at some issues and opportunities facing club swimming as it strives to be the sport of choice for a younger generation.

042 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 6)—THE PUSH PHASE
by Rod Havriluk
In freestyle and butterfly, swimmers typically decrease the push phase time to increase stroke rate and swimming velocity. In doing so, the premature upward motion of the elbows pulls the hands upward and compromises propulsion. Most swimmers can gain additional propulsion on the push phase by pushing the hand backward instead of pulling the hand upward.

045 SPECIAL SETS: ZOE DIXON—VERSATILITY IS KEY
by Michael J. Stott
Zoe Dixon, 2021-22 National Junior Team member, has had quite a year. Swimming for Coach Norm Wright at NOVA of Virginia, the 17-year-old is ranked No. 1 in Virginia and 11th nationally for the Class of 2022, and has committed to the University of Florida.

047 Q&A WITH COACH BRENT BOOCK, ELMBROOK SWIM CLUB (Wis.)
by Michael J. Stott

048 HOW THEY TRAIN CAMPBELL STOLL
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

041 DRYSIDE TRAINING: FINISH STRONG
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

051 UP & COMERS: THOMAS HEILMAN
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS & SPECIAL SECTIONS

012 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

013 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE 1951 PAN AMERICAN GAMES?

028 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

050 HASTY HIGH POINTERS

052 GUTTERTALK

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