As he touched the wall in a tight men’s 800m freestyle final and saw his name flash at the top with an Olympic record time of 7:38.19, Wiffen spread out his arms in a king-like gesture that showed everyone the extra has become the hero.
“It’s just so incredible to say that I’ve achieved the best result you can in swimming, that Olympic gold,” Wiffen said afterwards.
“My goal was to progress, progress, progress until I hit Olympic champion, and I’m happy to say I’ve had a very good upslope in terms of swimming. We went from 14th place in the last Olympics, making a world championships final, making a Commonwealth medal, fourth at a world championships, triple European champion, world record, double world champion and now Olympic champion. I won it all.”
On Tuesday 30 July, the reward was his biggest yet, and Wiffen stood atop the podium wiping tears from behind his glasses as Amhrann na bhFiann played out in the packed Paris La Defense Arena.
“It means everything. The whole country is behind me tonight,” Wiffen said.
“I don’t normally cry. I was hoping no one would get to see that. It’s a special moment. I dreamed of this every day of my life. I’ve never heard that national anthem at the Olympics before, and it’s crazy to say that it was me standing on that podium.”
