It’s 28 July 2021. Swimmers and their families and coaches gather at a training hall in Causeway Bay to watch the 200m freestyle final. Haughey waves at the camera, then pulls her goggles on. She dives in, the frisson of electricity felt throughout her home city as she pulls through the water.

She comes second place by milliseconds to Australian Ariarne Titmus to claim Hong Kong’s first-ever Olympic swimming medal. Some 3,000 kilometres away, the crowd at her swim club, Harry Wright International, goes wild.

Press footage from the training room shows an eight-year-old swimming student who excitedly says, “[Haughey] used to be here and I’m here now.”

With a silver medal around her neck, Haughey speaks to the cameras – in both English and Cantonese. The newly minted Olympic medallist throws down the gauntlet. “To the athletes watching at home in Hong Kong: keep training, because it will be your turn soon.”

Her words stoke the fire in Giselle Lee, another Harry Wright swimmer. The 16-year-old, who trains with Fasching and competes for the South China Athletic Association, first met Haughey in 2018 at a talk organised by her club. They would go on to compete together on the same team last year at the Hong Kong Open Championships, where they came third in the 4x100m individual medley relay.

Seeing Haughey’s success has galvanised Lee’s own ambitions to swim at university and represent Hong Kong internationally. “Siobhán’s effect on young athletes is very real,” she says. “Every time my brother and I drive past a billboard or bus with her face on it, we would yell, ‘That’s Siobhán!’

“She’s our role model. And it’s really inspiring to have someone from our city be able to achieve such great levels of success. It gives hope for a lot of young athletes, especially female athletes, that their dreams are possible if they keep working at it and maintain the right mindset.”

Rugby Sevens player Chloe Chan adds, “It is hugely important for young girls to have role models like Siobhán. She’s shown that a girl from a small place like Hong Kong can succeed and be among world champions.”