Magheralin's ​Daniel Wiffen signs off Olympics with another slice of Paris history

​The Team Ireland swimmer returns home following a fortnight to remember with gold and bronze medals from the pool towards a record seven-strong haul by athletes from Northern Ireland.

The 23-year-old opened with gold across the 800m showdown to secure a first individual summer Olympic Games triumph by a Northern Ireland competitor since Lady Mary Peters’ 1972 success.

Bronze followed over the 1500m final as Team Ireland’s only male medal-winner in the water and now the first to take on two aquatic disciplines at a single Games.

And Wiffen signed off in style by yesterday tackling his first open-water challenge with a creditable 18th finish in the 31-strong field over the 10k marathon swim along the River Seine.

“It’s the worst and best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Wiffen. “The reason why it was the worst is because it was the most painful thing I’ve ever done. But, in terms of best, it’s because I’m happy to say I’m an Olympic open-water swimmer, dual-sport athlete...and a contact-sport athlete as well!

“All the coaches were laughing at me because I was swimming out by myself because I wasn’t arsed swimming behind somebody and getting kicked in the face. I got a couple of elbows in the eye and I got punched in the face at one point...I was like this sport isn’t for me, I want my own lane next time.

“When you get to halfway all I was thinking was ‘I am already an Olympic champion and I’m swimming in this and 18th I’ll just finish it now’ but I’m never doing it again. My goal coming in to this was to finish so I’m very pleased with myself and happy to say I didn’t come last so that’s the main thing.”

Wiffen reflected on his overall time in Paris as “very happy” and added “in the pool I was amazed with myself...I set my sights to be Olympic champion and I've done that, and I got a bronze medal as well”.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Northern Ireland’s Jack McMillan (Team GB, gold), Hannah Scott (Team GB, gold), Rhys McClenaghan (Team Ireland, gold), Rebecca Shorten (Team GB, silver) and Philip Doyle (Team Ireland, bronze) also finished with medals.