“It’s lovely to say you’re the mum of an Olympian” Rachel Wiffen, mother of Olympic medallist Daniel Wiffen told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
“We’re over the moon” she said, while Daniel’s father, Jonathan, said they were “still reeling”. The family had spent the night celebrating with the staff from Swim Ireland.
Following their late night, the family had awoken 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,” added 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 where he had been far in front.
“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.”
It had been a very special moment when Sarah Kane 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.”
The Principal of St Patrick’s Grammar School in Armagh has told of his delight at the haul of medals by former pupils in recent days with Daniel Wiffen’s gold at the Olympics and seven past pupils were also members of the All-Ireland winning Armagh football panel.
“Sport plays a very, very big part in the school. And this is definitely a big, big lift for the whole school community and in the city and all around. So we're over the moon. We're very, very happy,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Mr Clarke said that Daniel Wiffen’s Olympic medal win was a “just reward” for all the efforts he and his twin Nathan had put in since they were teenagers. A number of years ago they participated in an interview for the school during which they stated their ambitions to go to the Olympics.
“I look forward to digging that interview out again to present that to the two boys because now here we are. A new reality has set in. And not only is Daniel Olympic champion, he's also Olympic record holder. And as he said himself, there's more to come. So we're just absolutely delighted for Daniel, Nathan and all of his family. And we're very, very, very proud here.”
The Wiffen brothers had been very diligent in their swim training and had also applied themselves to their studies, he said. They had a 5am start every day and by the time they arrived at school they had already been up for four hours.
