‘GOLD IS AIM AT PARIS OLYMPICS BUT BRONZE IS OK’

DANIEL WIFFEN is dreaming big as the countdown to the Paris Olympics starts to grow louder — but he insists it’s not gold or bust. The Armagh sensation has been propelled to international attention after a remarkable three months in the pool. He smashed the world record for the 800m freestyle at the European Short Course Championships in Bucharest in December as he collected gold in the race — one of the three he collected at that meet, with further golds coming in the 400m and 1500m. The 22 year old followed that up with double gold at the World Championships in Doha at the start of February, as he won with ease in the 800m before destroying the field in the 1500m to take gold 10 seconds ahead of the nearest challenger. It means he will be the Irish athlete with most expected of them at the Olympics come the end of July, but the laid-back Wiffen, confident he can take a podium place, will not be defined by gold. ‘I just want to be on the podium,’ he said, speaking in Dublin yesterday, and he was adamant a bronze will satisfy him, despite the growing excitement around his potential. ‘A bronze is OK, I mean I wouldn’t see it as a disappointment if I got a bronze and I wanted gold,’ he reasoned. ‘Gold is obviously the best and it’s where you want to be. I want to aim for the gold but if I come back with the bronze, I’m not going to be sad.’ He has taken the explosion in interest around his career in his stride thus far. And he is unruffled by the thought of rivals now targeting him. ‘I think I’ve always got a target on my back,’ he shrugged. ‘I feel like I’m quite vocal on social media and I put out a lot of videos of what I do. ‘Maybe it makes me a bigger target and they all want to beat me, but you’ve got to embrace it.’