The Magheralin maestro swept into the final of his favourite race, the 1500m, this morning - then spoke of his new-found popularity among athletes from around the world
Daniel Wiffen says that he feels like superstar Simone Biles - such is the new gold medalist's popularity around the Olympic Village.
READ MORE: Irish rowing czar begs Sport Ireland and Rowing Ireland to retain top coaches after two medal Games Wiffen is the hot favourite to top the podium again tomorrow, thus becoming the first Irishman to win two golds at the Olympics. He wants to achieve that by breaking the world record and, for a time, he was inside the pace to do so in his heat despite feeling some fatigue. In the end, he was 10 seconds outside of it.
"I’m just going to sleep a lot because that’s what the Chinese 100m Freestyler said when he broke the world record, he was going to sleep a lot. That's exactly what I'm going to do.Doing so will heighten the hype that already exists around him. Wiffen estimates that he has had around 500 requests for photos from other competitors, with loads waiting outside the Team Ireland building after breakfast to nab him for a selfie.
"Oh, maybe there were some famous people who've asked me. I don't know, I'm not sure. I can't remember!"
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