THE Billy Billy bar just outside Le Defense Arena has seen an Irish invasion in recent days - with the family of Daniel Wiffen family popping Champagne to celebrate his incredible exploits in the pool.
Just 24 hours before friends and family of Mona McSharry had partied into the early hours after the Sligo swimmer claimed Ireland’s first medal of Paris 2024 with a brilliant bronze in the 100m breaststroke.
And Wiffen raised it up another gear when he took gold in the 800m freestyle event to bring the arena to its feet. Watching from the wings was twin brother Nathan, who expected it to be a clearer win for his brother after a dramatic finish saw Wiffen just hold off defending American champion Bobby Finke.
“Maybe at 300 I was like ‘oh it’s a bit close here, I thought it would be way more’. But on the last 200 to 100 I was like ‘ah he’s got it in the bag here’, because he had a good place, strategic placing in terms of who was behind him and who was in front of him.”
The Magheralin man admitted nerves had seen him struggle to find his stroke in the opening 300m, but said the sound of Nathan’s voice helped him settle into the race.
“I heard about his interview - I thought that was a pretty nice thing to say.
“I was absolutely screaming, so I hope he could hear me to be absolutely honest. To go on to the race, what they always say is champions adapt and he is Olympic champion and he adapted to win.
“That’s a pretty good thing to say you’re Olympic champion.”
The 23-year-old shed a tear as Amhrán na bhFiann rang out around a packed arena, with his family following suit in the stands.
“My eyes start welling up any time I see a newspaper article or anything now,” said dad Jonathan.
“Every time I read something or see something, my eyes start filling up. I wouldn’t say I was an emotional guy, I was the same Nathan was at the European Championships and came fourth, my eyes were welling up then.
“It’s just dream stuff to see your kids do so well. It’s just phenomenal.”
And it was reward too for Jonathan and wife Rachel who, even when he was working in India for six years, ferried the twins across the country to sow the seeds for what unfolded on Tuesday night.
“There were weekends I was working in India, Rachel was up and down to Limerick for a competition, it was just everything to keep it going. Then I’d come back and Rachel would go ‘you’re doing mornings now’, so I’d go and start work while they were swimming at five in the morning.
“Somebody said to me that they both had the chance to go an Olympics, so one of the reasons Daniel and Nathan didn’t really come out [to India] was because of the swimming… I thought ‘I don’t want to take them out there and ruin their chance of going to the Olympics’.
“I know coaches always say that to kids, but if they’ve got a chance, do I want to ruin that? So I just commuted from India. It’s having that determination and that strength to say ‘hold on, that’s what we want to do’.
Next up is the 1500m heat on Saturday morning, with Wiffen planning to add a remarkable second gold to his ever-growing collection.
“Let’s hope he can re-focus for that,” smiled Nathan, “I’ll wind him in.”
