'Honestly, I think we’re the number one sport in Ireland right now,' he said.
Olympic hero Daniel Wiffen has called on the Government to throw money into swimming after insisting the sport was now Ireland's number one sport.
On a more serious note, however, Wiffen wants his sport to be rewarded for success in Paris. It is telling that both Wiffen and McSharry have gone to universities abroad to develop into Olympic medal winning swimmers - Wiffen to Loughborough, McSharry to Tennessee. "I think we’re sick of being this nation that just settles for making finals. Everybody just wants to put the nation out there. We came away with three medals. In terms of the amount of money that’s funded into swimming, the value for money we get in terms of how many medals we got for how much money is put in, we also won that.
"I was thinking, 'damn, I’m swimming in this river beside the Eiffel Tower later on in the week'," he said. "After the 1500 finished I was like, ‘I’m really not sure about this’, and after the parade I was like, ‘I really want to swim in this’. I've heard there’s quite a bit of a health scare with it though, so we’re seeing what happens. I think it’s going to be a great race.
Wiffen's first training session in the river came on Wednesday and he reported no adverse issues after a two-hour session.
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