Lanihei Connolly

Biography

Mary Lanihei Connolly is the most internationally experienced active swimmer in Cook Islands aquatics, having competed at the Commonwealth Games, the Pacific Games, the Olympic Games, and multiple World Aquatics Championships. Born on December 30, 2005, on the island of Mauke, Connolly is of Cook Islands, Ngāti Porou, and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent. She grew up in New Zealand and attended Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Auckland, later spending time at the Canadian International School in Singapore, where she first swam competitively and held school records in the 50m and 100m events.

Connolly made her international debut for Cook Islands at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The following year at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands, she claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke — results that established her as one of the premier breaststroke specialists in the Oceania region. In April 2024 she won two silver medals at the Oceania Swimming Championships in Gold Coast (50m breaststroke in 32.54, 100m breaststroke in 1:11.16).

Connolly represented Cook Islands as the sole female athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, competing in the Women's 100m Breaststroke heats with a personal best of 1:10.45. She served as Cook Islands flag bearer at both the opening and closing ceremonies in Paris — a recognition of her standing within the national sporting community. She holds a World Aquatics Development Scholarship at Bond University on Australia's Gold Coast, where she trains with the Bond University Bull Sharks under coach Xander Hey.

At the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore she recorded Cook Islands national records of 1:07.40 in the 100m breaststroke and 2:29.87 in the 200m breaststroke. At the 2026 14th Oceania Swimming Championships in Fiji she produced her strongest championship performance, winning gold in the 50m breaststroke and the 200m breaststroke (2:31.70), and bronze in the 100m breaststroke (1:09.74). She also posted a new Cook Islands national record of 28.33 in the 50m butterfly heats, demonstrating growing versatility beyond her specialist events.

Connolly's progression — from school-level swimmer in Singapore to Olympian and multi-gold Oceania champion within four years — reflects both her exceptional talent and the sustained support of the World Aquatics development pathway. As one of the youngest Cook Islands athletes to have competed at an Olympic Games, she stands as a defining figure for aquatics in the Pacific.

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