Many top-class athletes could do without the distraction of social media unless they are promoting something, but not Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen who is more than just a star in the swimming pool.
Wiffen (23) is nothing if not open about his training routine and his preparation for big sporting events. Being the world champion, world record holder and now the Olympic champion at the 800 metres freestyle means he has nothing to hide from his rivals or anyone else.
Not for him the humblebrag of the typical Irish champions, “sure, look it, you know yourself ...” Wiffen provided one of the soundbites of the Olympic Games, telling RTÉ poolside after last week’s gold: “What’s my name? Daniel Wiffen, Olympic champion!”
On the day he won Olympic gold, his university, Loughborough in the UK, posted a YouTube video outlining Wiffen’s daily schedule.
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It starts with an alarm at 5.45am and he gets to the pool for 6.15am. He does some dry land stretching and then an eight kilometre session in the pool which is 160 lengths of a 50 metre pool.
He goes to the gym for 9am and spends an hour in there. He gets home at 10am for a rest and then go to the Elite Athletic Centre (EAC) for lunch.
There is a short period of reverting to normal by playing PlayStation with his training group. He is a science student who attends lectures between 2pm and 4pm. “People don’t know I’m the swimmer, it’s kind of nice ... It kind of takes your mind off it.” Loughborough, one of the principal sporting centres in the UK, is used to aspiring Olympians coming through its doors.
He is back in the pool from 6pm to 8pm followed by dinner and bed around 9.30pm at a time when many of his fellow students are only going out for the night.
He and his twin brother and fellow swimmer Nathan are digital natives and have their own YouTube channel – the Wiffen Twins. Nathan is an accomplished swimmer in his own right and has been his brother’s biggest fan.
“I don’t really eat that much for breakfast,” Daniel says in a video on his Paris 2024 Olympic pre-camp last month. What is the breakfast of a champion? His consists of two croissants, four sausages and scrambled eggs. In a different video he posted a photograph of himself tucking into a Five Guys burger – “I’ll give it an eight out of 10!”
The two have a GoPro in the pool and mixed footage of training at the camp with downtime playing video game Just Dance and interactions with young autograph-hunters.
Among other videos posted by Daniel were of the launch of the Irish Olympic kit in which he jump cuts between the different outfits that the Irish athletes get to wear. That was also shared on TikTok where it has got hundreds of thousands of views.
The Wiffen family consisting of father Jonathan, mother Rachel, the twins Daniel and Nathan, big brother Ben and sisters Beth and Charlotte do a lot together including social media. Jonathan, who is on X, posted a photograph of his son sitting in a deckchair with an Olympic medal around his neck.
“Thank you to all who supported @wiffendaneil thru this journey, we are super proud parents of an Olympic gold medallist,” he posted.
Daniel has still the 1,500 metres event to come, one in which he stands a good chance of becoming a double Olympic champion following on from Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and then the 10 kilometre open swim.
He has not finished with the vlogging yet. “I’ve got so many vlogs that I have to put out,” he says. The audience is growing as his success is growing.
Daniel Wiffen’s training schedule:
5.45am – wake up/breakfast
6.15am – dry land work, stretching
6.45am-8.45am – 8km swim
9am-10am – Powerbase gym session
11am-12pm – nap
12pm-1pm – lunch
1pm- gaming with team-mates
2pm-4pm – lecture
5.30pm-8pm – swimming training
8pm-9pm – dinner
9.30pm – go to bed
