Parents 'over the moon' with Wiffen's gold medal triumph

The parents of Olympic champion swimmer Daniel Wiffen are "over the moon" with their son's gold medal triumph in Paris last night.

The Armagh man staged a storming final stretch in the men's 800m freestyle final to clinch gold at the Games in an Olympic record time.

His success marks a second medal in the pool in as many days for Ireland at Paris 2024 following Mona McSharry's bronze medal feat the previous night.

Having been presented with his gold medal, Wiffen said it was special to hear Amhrán na bhFiann play from the podium.

We need your consent to load this comcast-player content We use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

"I ain't much of a crier, I shed a lot of tears there. You never really see me cry, so it's a big achievement for that! It's amazing, I love hearing the national anthem."

His mother told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that it was "unbelievable" to be able to say, "you’re a mum of an Olympian, gold medallist."

She recounted that the family were calm while watching the race in the La Défense Arena.

Ms Wiffen added that they met the parents of US swimmer Bobby Finke - who ultimately finished in second place - before the race, which "set the scene".

"The race started and ... the crowd was just electric and then I had a wobble about 400m because I just didn’t know how the race was going to go."

"His last race that we saw was the World Championships in Doha and there he was just out in front and, as a parent, that’s the best position to be in because you just know when he’s that far in front it’s going to be a win," she said.

However, Ms Wiffen did not realise