About an hour before Daniel Wiffen joins in the 170th session of University College Dublin’s Literary and Historical Society, as the latest recipient of its James Joyce award, he’s still tweaking his short acceptance speech.
Wiffen may be renowned for his spontaneous prose out of the swimming pool as much as his medal-winning exploits inside it, but he’s keen to ensure he gives Joyce’s quote from Ulysses its proper meaningful context.
“When I was reading up on this award, and saw that Joyce’s quote, ‘A man of genius makes no mistakes, his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery’ ... I think that’s how we’re kind of related. So basically when you make a mistake, you see it from a learning point of view, like I did when I finished fourth twice at the 2023 World Championships. I used that to make me better and win Olympic gold in Paris.”
The James Joyce award is considered the highest honour that any student body in Ireland can bestow upon an individual, and a mark of respect for their profound impact in any field of human endeavour.
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“You’re joining some famous names,” I tell him. “Desmond Tutu, Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winners ...”
“And JK Rowling,” Wiffen says, clearly quite chuffed by the honour.
It’s not yet three months since Wiffen’s moment of glory in Paris, his 800m freestyle gold then followed by bronze in the 1,500m freestyle, and he is by own admission at his most unfit in years.
“Well, I’d a three-week holiday in Ireland, before I went on actual holiday, that flew past, a lot of people wanting to meet me. I can’t even walk down the street any more in my hometown, I have to be driven everywhere. But it’s okay, I don’t mind it a lot of time, especially with children.
“Then when I went away time kind of slowed down, but even when I was in Bali for a month, I was still being recognised, never really got a rest from it. So this is the most unfit I’ve been in a couple of years. I think since before Tokyo, I haven’t taken more than three weeks in total off. So taking nearly eight weeks off was probably a big hitter.
“Although I did still swim a bit on holiday, just for fun. People would come over to me in the hotel swimming pool and ask me for a race.
“And I did a lot of surfing out there in Bali. So for the 2028 Olympics, in LA, I’ll be in the surfing!”
Wiffen follows this claim with his trademark cheeky grin, knowing some people may well take his word for it.
In truth, the focus is already turning towards the pool in LA, any post-Paris hangover already put to bed. At 23 he’s still only entering his swimming prime.
“Well I’ve been back 3½ weeks now, and at first really wanted to get back. Then about two weeks in, you’re resetting your goals, targets, and I was feeling it a bit. So I took another bit of time off, reset again, and since then all I want to do is swim.
“So it was more mentally – most of my training group has left Loughborough, except for my twin brother Nathan, one or two more. So that was the hardest part, losing a large part of the group that was still pushing me. Not knowing who I was swimming with.”
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He’s still undecided about the short-course World Aquatics Swimming Championships in December, the next big target being the World Championships proper in Singapore next July.
“Right now, it’s about getting my fitness back, and it will be that way until around February, but the World Champs in July will be a big one for me. I’m going to try to do some cool things there.
“People still ask me what it was like to win Olympic gold, and I still think it was more a relief than a celebration. Because I always wanted to win Olympic gold, so badly, and it just felt like a massive weight lifted off my shoulders.
“But we’re planning for LA already, from January, we will have stepping stones every year. And from looking back at Paris, my technique, I’d say I could knock off at least 20 seconds in the 1,500m, from what I know I can change. And there’s still all the stuff I don’t know.”
Still dreaming big-time.
