Daniel Wiffen felt no sense of disappointment. There were no doubts or bruised hopes. He was not discouraged when he climbed out of the water at the Paris 2024 open water race at Pont Alexandre III. He had not let anyone down. There were no regrets, no dejection, nothing but a feelgood, new experience.
Instead as Wiffen smiled and joked, the feeling was one of completion. That the Marathon 10km race along the banks of the river Seine provided a full stop to an Olympic Games in which Irish fans pivoted towards the swimming pool, an arena that for decades had been a medal free zone for Ireland.
He knew before he dipped a toe that his gold medal in the 800m freestyle and his bronze in the 1500m freestyle was job done, and the six loops of 1.67km of free-flowing water of the Seine was less another assault on the podium than a way of saying goodbye to two weeks where he stepped into Irish swimming history.
Young enough to want to be part of the majestic setting and say that he had competed in the swim and become a dual-sport Olympian, there was also an unmistakable tone to his voice and confidence to his demeanor that said these Olympic achievements are only the beginning.
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Still, it wasn’t easy coming 18th and 6:27.4 behind the Hungarian winner Kristof Rasovszky. It was no fun time as they swam with the current and battled against it hugging the banks as they went, the Eiffel Tower overlooking the course at one end and the Grand Palais at the other with the gold dome of Invalides all part of a stunning backdrop.
“I’d say the start was pretty bad when I got punched in the face,” he said. “I got hit in the head three times, somebody kicked me in the stomach, I think I pulled my groin halfway through and, in terms of the last lap, I was just absolutely dead. That was the worst thing.
“It’s the worst and best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “The reason why it was the worst is because it was the most painful thing I’ve ever done but, in terms of best, it’s because I’m happy to say I’m an Olympic open-water swimmer, dual-sport athlete, and a contact-sport athlete as well.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty easy to finish,” said Wiffen. “You just have to, like, go slow. To be honest I got to halfway and I was thinking about getting out when I was really hurting but I saw that I wasn’t last and I thought ‘Do you know what? I can just hold the position and finish the race’ and I actually finished higher than I did in the 1,500m in Tokyo, so it’s only up from here.
“The first lap was, ‘Do you know what, I can win this.’ The second lap was, ‘Maybe, maybe we can still win’, the third lap was, ‘We gotta try to get into the place to win’, and on the fourth lap I was like, ‘Nah, we should get out’. On the fifth lap it was like, ‘No, let’s try make a move again’, and on the sixth lap it was, ‘Okay, let’s try and hold the position’.”
From the beginning the race was a churn of elbows and feet as the 29 starters scrambled to find the best positions. Categorised as a different sport to pool swimming, Wiffen was kicked and punched in the free-for-all as the athletes held their lines before stringing out. Large galleries filled the banks of the river and people filed in from the neighbouring avenues notably the Champs-Élysées, even for an early 7.30am start.
The E.coli levels in the water were lower than average and the women’s event had been completed on Thursday with no complaints.
At the 1.5km mark Wiffen was 17th but gained some places by the 2.5km mark and was placed 12th. That was his highest ranking before falling back to 20th on loop four and five. He finally slapped the board above their heads at the 10km finish line in 1:57.20, his first ever open water race completed.
Wiffen joins a small group of Irish athletes who have competed in different events at the Olympic Games. Terry McHugh, a javelin thrower, competed in four summer games and two winter games in Albertville and Nagano, where he was part of the Irish bobsleigh team. Martin Early also competed in the Road Race and Mountain Bike events.
“I’ll never do that again,” said Wiffen. “Never say never. If Nathan [twin brother] wants to try one I’ll do it with him. But I will advise him never to do one. In terms of the open water, I am very pleased with myself. I woke up at 4am this morning, which is one of the worst things I’ve done.
“To wake up then and keep going and going, to do my warmup and then get in the Seine. It’s a very long race, I don’t know if you watched the full two hours and got up for 7.30am.”
The overall experience of his second Olympic Games was more positive.
“Very happy,” said the 23-year-old. “In the pool I am amazed with myself. I set my sights to be Olympic champion and I’ve done that, and I got a bronze medal as well.
“Right now, I am going to go and party for three days. Then I am going to do the homecoming in Dublin. I’ll be on the open top bus and after that I’ve got a homecoming in Magheralin on Tuesday. My friend’s coming over to Ireland, I’m going to show him around and then I’m going on holiday to Barcelona, Bali, Italy. I’m going all over. It’s going to be a lot of fun and then I’ll come back and start training again for the world short course championships.”
With that he turned and left, a fulfilling exposure to something new and possibly one off the bucket list, the clang of gold and bronze medals in his pocket lightening every step.
