| Olympic Games at Rio from August 06. – August 13. | |
| 8/23/2016 | |
 Both Geoffrey Cheah (24 yrs.) and Siobhan Haughey (18yrs.) attended the Olympic Games in Rio - this was their first Olympic Games . Siobhan arrived in Rio on August 2nd and had her 200 m freestyle race on August 8th. She was seeded into the 3rd heat of six with her qualification time of 1:58.48, achieved at the US Winter Nationals in December 2015. Her seed time was the 28th fastest time in the 200 m freestyle. Siobhan was advised to go all out in the morning heat in an attempt to qualify for the semi-finals that were scheduled to take place at 10:00pm. With a very determined swim taking the lead at the 50m mark she finished as the winner of her heat in a Hong Kong Record of 1:56.91. This very fast time ranked her 9th overall at the conclusion of the heats. As the coaches expected her to have a chance to qualify for the finals, Siobhan was advised not to attend her 200m IM heat which was scheduled just 45 minutes after her 200m freestyle heat in an attempt to conserve as much energy as possible for the evening’s semi-final. At night in the semis Siobhan was racing in her toughest heat ever since competing in the open international elite level. She was seeded into semi-final 2 with world record holder Frederica Pellegrini racing in the lane next to her, as well as female swim sensation Katie Ledecky and Swedish elite swimmers Sarah Sjostrom and Michelle Coleman. Taking her race out half a second slower at the 100m mark than in the morning heats, Siobhan finished in a very credible 1:57.56 in 13th place tying with Missy Franklin. Geoffrey touched down in Rio on August 3rd and was scheduled to race in the 50 m freestyle on August 11th. He had a week to acclimatise and fine-tune his race skills at location. On race day Geoffrey was seeded in heat 6 of 11 heats on offer. He had a great reaction time of 0.63 and a superb dive. His breakout was a notch too early but he had great speed all the way to the end. Geoffrey finished as the winner of heat 6 in 22.46 seconds in 32nd place out of 85 swimmers competing in that event. Considering Geoffrey’s difficult situation having to cope with his father’s battle with cancer in the run up to the Olympic Games, he has done a wonderful job in Rio. Geoffrey and Siobhan you have done all those swimmers and coaches around you proud. It is a privilege to be associated with such wonderful and determined athletes. We are all looking forward to seeing you race at the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in the year 2020! | |
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