After what was an amazing evening at the La Défense Arena on Tuesday night where Daniel Wiffen became one of Ireland’s newest Olympic champions, he returned to the pool in the final session of the Games. Having won Olympic Gold on Tuesday and etching his name into the history books, he went one step further and won a bronze medal in the 1500m Freestyle event. Not only did this medal showcase Wiffen as a distance event specialist, but it also marks him as the first Irish man to ever win two Olympic swimming medals.
Shortly after Wiffen took to the podium to collect his second medal of the week, he said: “Overall I’m very pleased with my week. I felt like I was in the best shape of my life which is kind of crazy to say then that I came third. I thought I was in a great position.
“Me and Greg were level and, 300m out, I see a leg kick about two or three meters ahead. I was like ‘OK, this is gonna be very painful now’ and I was trying to dig deep, trying to push it on, and then to be honest I just blew up because it was just it was kind of probably a bit too much today, but you learn from these races.”
1. Bobby Finke (USA) – 14:30.67 (Gold – World Record)
2. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) – 14:34.55 (Silver)
3. Daniel Wiffen (IRL) – 14:39.63 (Bronze)
4. David Betlehem – 14:40.91
5. Kuzey Tuncelli – 14:41.22
6. Ahmed Jaouadi – 14:43.35
7. David Aubry – 14:44.66
8. Damien Joly – 14:52.61
For Daniel to be contending for the gold, silver, and bronze medal positions in this race showcases his talent and desire to be a top-level performer in his field. After the race and when receiving his medal, Daniel spoke and stated: “I’m gonna take it under my belt and I’m happy I didn’t come fourth. The bronze medal is great.”
To achieve a bronze medal in this race, which seen a 12-year-old World Record from the London 2012 Games being broken by Bobby Finke (USA), Wiffen can be proud that he was fighting for the top medal positions in such an esteemed collective of swimmers.