The morning after Daniel Wiffen gloriously claimed Ireland’s first gold medal of the Olympic Games in Paris, the swimmer’s delighted mother, Rachel Wiffen, said: “It’s lovely to say you’re the mum of an Olympian”.
“We’re over the moon,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday while Daniel’s father, Jonathan, said they were “still reeling” from their son’s achievement. The family had spent the night celebrating with staff from Swim Ireland.
The Wiffens said they woke on Wednesday to numerous messages of congratulations from family, friends and acquaintances. “We’re only getting to see them now, so it’s making me very emotional,” said Ms Wiffen.
The family had been “quite calm” during the race, she said. The atmosphere was “electric” but at about the 400m stage she admitted she had “a bit of a wobble” and she did not know how the race was going to go. “I knew it was going to be close.” The last race that his parents had attended was in Doha when Daniel won in the World Championships after leading comfortably for much of the race. “As a parent, that’s the best position to be in, because you just know when they’re that far in front, it’s definitely going to be a win.”
When the whole family embraced Daniel after his win, Ms Wiffen said she told her son that they were very proud of him. She said she had been surprised at the weight of the Olympic medal.
“I would have been happy with a medal of any colour, but deep down we wanted gold.. He was quite clear in his interviews [before the race] that he wanted gold. You don’t go into a race to lose.”
[ Ireland united in joy: Daniel Wiffen’s Olympic gold reaches across the divideOpens in new window ]
It had been a very special moment when Sarah Keane of Swim Ireland presented the medal to Daniel. “She turned around and gave us a big wave. So that was a very special moment, too, for her, Daniel, the family.”
The best moment for Jonathan Wiffen was when Daniel and his twin Nathan embraced after the win. “It was just lovely.”
“They are very, very close. I know Nathan and Daniel speak when they’re not together, almost hourly on FaceTime, and he speaks with his other brother and sister as well, quite regularly.”
