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Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
AND SO DANIEL Wiffen’s extraordinary Olympic Games ends with an 18th-placed finish in the open water marathon in the Seine and a resolve never, ever to do that again.
“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.
“I’ll never do that again. Never say never, if Nathan wants to try one I’ll do it with him, but I will advise him never to do one.”
Whereas everyone has to stay in their lane in the pool, the open water is a free for all. Hence the contact.
“I’d say the start was pretty bad when I got punched in the face, I got hit in the head three times, somebody kicked me in the stomach, I think I pulled my groin halfway through and, in terms of the last lap, I was just absolutely dead,” he said. “That was the worst thing.”
It was a six-lap, 10km course and Wiffen talked us through his mindset on each lap.
Lap One: Do you know what, we can win this.
Lap Two: Maybe, maybe we can still win.
Lap Three: We gotta try to get into the place to win.
Lap Four: Nah, we should get out.
Lap Five: No, let’s try make a move again.
Lap Six. Okay, let’s try and hold the position.
“No, I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty easy to finish, you just have to, like, go slow,” said Wiffen. “To be honest, I got to halfway and I was thinking about getting out when I was really hurting but I saw that I wasn’t last and I thought ‘Do you know what? I can just hold the position and finish the race’ and I actually finished higher than I did in the 1500m in Tokyo so it’s only up from here.”
Wiffen’s 18th-placed finish was 6:27.4 behind the gold medal winner, Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary. Oliver Klemet of Germany took silver, and Hungary’s David Betlehem won bronze.
Reflecting on his Olympic experience, Wiffen said, “in the pool I am amazed with myself. I set my sights to be Olympic champion and I’ve done that and I got a bronze medal as well so I am the only Northern Irish athlete to win two medals at an Olympic Games. And, well, Irish athlete too.”
At that point, Wiffen was asked for his view on Michelle Smith’s Olympic medals, to which he replied, “no comment.”
Smith won three gold medals and one bronze at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In 1998, Smith was banned for four years by swimming governing body FINA for manipulating an out-of-competition drug test. She denies ever using performance-enhancing drugs, and still holds her Olympic medals.
“In terms of the open water I am very pleased with myself,” continued Wiffen. “I woke up at 4am this morning, which is one of the worst things I’ve done. To wake up then and keep going and going, to do my warm up and then get in the Seine.”
With the Seine swim done and his medals collected, Wiffen is now going on the tear. And after a three-day party, he says, he will be part of the Dublin homecoming on Monday, and he will then be honoured in Magheralin on Tuesday. He’s then jetting off on holidays with his friends. He has Barcelona, Italy, and Bali on the itinerary before he returns to Loughborough University to prepare for the world short course championships.
Wiffen has had an astonishing Olympic Games, and he’s made his case as the avatar for a new generation of Irish sports fans. Primarily because he did this morning’s swim for the content.
“The only reason I wanted to do open water was because I wanted a photo next to the Eiffel Tower and the Seine,” he said. “I actually hope I got the photo, I’ve no idea if we did.”
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The Greatest song writer of our time
@RIP: Paul Simon is not bad either.
@RIP: Yep, he is definitely up there alongside the late, great, Kris Kristofferson.
@RIP: rough to choose between him, Leonard Cohen & of course Shane McGowan…for sheer body of work Bob would be top I guess.
@damien leen: what about Tom Waits? The greatest storyteller of them all.
@Noddy Mooney: yup. A genius, but all of the above are amazing in their own right.
Bob is so prolific though.
An amazing wordsmith.
@RIP: The man had talent no doubt but there’s a tonne of great songwriters. I always wonder why people are so definitive about ‘ the best’ or ‘the greatest’. It’s pretty subjective stuff. There’s been a hell of a lot amazing songs and albums written since his peak.
He deserves the plaudits for some of his work but you feel there’s a real bias at times due to several factors including the era he’s from on top of the fact that’s it’s very familiar and accessible. A lot of it is bare bones stuff like guitar and voice with maybe a Hammond or whatever thrown in. Nothing wrong with this of course but he’s one of many talented songwriters. I don’t buy into this pyramid with him unquestionably at the very top,
@SerotoninWars: It was those lower on the pyramid (Van Morrison, Cohen, Young, Springsteen, Hendrix, Patti Smith, Beatles, etc., etc.) who tended to place him at the very top, and they knew what they were talking about. Leonard Cohen said that Dylan’s Nobel Prize was ‘like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain’.
Everything is questionable, of course, but Dylan changed everything.
@Brendan O’Brien: Seismic figure, mo question. I know how widely revered he is. I’m not questioning the quality of some of his music either. I still think this is a highly subjective area. A lot will be down to how you define ‘best’ and ‘greatest’. There’s a lot of components that make a great song. Lyrics, music, intonation, voice, relatability, enlightening aspects.. and many more. The overall effect and impact is arguably the most important. That’s very hard to quantify. He was a talented songwriter, no doubt. I just have a bit of an aversion to these definitive takes on areas like music and art that have more grey areas than definitive bottom lines.
@SerotoninWars: You’re right about that, of course: it’s highly subjective, and largely about how certain music affected us at important times in our lives.
For me, hearing a few Dylan albums (Before the Flood, Desire, New Morning) in my mid-teens was seismic indeed.
@Brendan O’Brien: Absolutely. As much as we still get a huge effect from music as we age, it’s hard to escape the suspicion that when we’re young – that mix of naivety, passion, energy and everything firing at 100% – creates an unrepeatable impact.
I have musical access I could only dream of as a teenager but if I’m being brutally honest I’m not sure many albums have the same overwhelming impact now as when I had a tiny percentage of what I have now. That level of investment and absorption at an age when your passion is running so high, is hard to repeat or recreate.
@damien leen:
Bob Dylan sold the rights to his 600 songs. Neil Young sold 50% of 1200 songs.
Shane McGowan, brilliant as he was only wrote about 20 songs.
I’d give the volume of output award to Neil Young
@RIP: please… Lennon and Roger Waters outclassed him regularly nevermind Tom Waits and Elvis Costello
@Brendan O’Brien: we can’t dismiss the abundance of talented artists of the last 20 years. They must be at Least on par with those legends mentioned.
@Jack: tongue in cheek of course
I love Bob and his music. His songs have been an integral part of my life growing up and now. Nobody comes close to him as a songwriter.
@Adrian Versey: Same here.
Just horrible live. Worst gig ever
@Dave c: not always apparently, but I saw him at the infamous gid at the Point when he stood behind a keyboard for the duration, you couldn’t even pick him out onstage, never said hello or goodbye. Terrible gig.
@Dave c: he’s an old man Dave. His voice used to set him apart in a more positive way
@Dave c: I love Bob but I have to agree, he is terrible live. I appreciate that’s my experience and some will disagree.
@Adrian Versey: Had similar experience with Neil Young at the point, more charisma in a sponge
@Dave c: He was fantastic live at some points in his career, especially the mid-sixties and mid-seventies.
@Adrian Versey: yes. I’m a big fan and have seen him live several times. He’s not great live but I enjoyed just being there!
@Dermot Blaine: 2003? was at that gig and was truly awful. Seen Bowie a week later at the same venue and was one of the best gigs I was ever at. Chalk and Cheese.
@Kevin Dillon: think so, but I’m not 100% sure on the date
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
Best songwriter ,he is a legend.
“There must be some way out of here…”
@Daniel Skelton: “It’s not a wonder to me that he recorded my songs but rather that he recorded so few of them because they were all his.”
…..it’s really groovy. I’d like to bore you for about six or seven minutes to do a little thing. Excuse me for a minute and let me play my guitar…….
Right now, I want to do a thing by Bob Dylan. That’s his grandma over there…..
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…..
Don’t listen to much of his stuff, but Blood on the Tracks is one of my favourite albums.
The times they are a-changin’
@Dermot: he certainly had a tendency to be an expert in the obvious
Grew up on a diet of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Desire and Slow Train Coming (in descending order of preference). Got into his earlier stuff later in life. None of the 3 choices in the poll really suit me!
@Kevin Kerr: It sounds like you used to be cool Kevin, what happened??
@Kevin Kerr: Same! I don’t adore him in an obsessive fan kind of way. The songs I love aren’t the hits. And I definitely don’t totally dislike him! I respect and enjoy the great songs he wrote but I find the widespread assumption and received wisdom that he is the best to ever do it a bit odd and unconvincing.
@SerotoninWars: speaking of iconic protest/folk artists – I’ve just seen a post/photograph on FB of Joan Baez in Sandycove yesterday. She went there for a dip, apparently, and she looks amazing!
@Kevin Kerr: I found the pics! Amazing! Another legend! Great to see her looking so well. What an honour for the Irish sea haha!
Music, yes. Voice, no.
Slow Train Coming – Excellent
@Ciaran Enright: pardon the pun, but God no! Awful stuff.
Not a big fan but he has some great tunes, gotta serve somebody, and Mississippi are two getting played a lot recently.
When you ain’t got nothin’, you’ve got nothin’ to lose.
One of the greatest songwriters of all time. His stamp is all over music to this day. An absolute living legend, in my opinion.
“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind”
Maybe a great songwriter but can’t sing. He is the worst singer I’ve ever come across, he’s absolutely rubbish. I wouldn’t go and see him even if I were paid to.
@Andrew Speers: The fact that you don’t like his voice doesn’t mean that he can’s sing. His voice is (or was) the perfect instrument for putting his songs across, therefore he’s a great singer. Without that voice he would never have achieved the success he did.
Some amazing songs
@Trump24: Odd! Trump and his entire worldview and behaviour is exactly the kind of thing Dylan was against and sang about in his songs. Prejudice, bigotry, corruption, narcissism, propaganda, dishonesty…have you actually listened to the lyrics in any of his songs?!
Give me Joni Mitchell over Bob any day :)
@Rachel Mountney: A legend in her own right.
Met him, and he was extremely rude.tg he wasn’t my hero.never liked his whining music.
@Brian Murphy: yea. I’m sure he was delighted to meet you too. lol.
Get over yourself Brian.
@Fergus O’Donnell: I was stating a fact, go troll somewhere else.
You’d never think to look at him that he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on desolation row!
The answer is blowing in the wind.
Great songwriter. Unfortunately his fame has overtaken his ability these days.
I did but,The Times They Are A-Changin
Dusty old man music. Better off listening to Lil Yachty.
The noble prize is surely more remarkable than the 10 grammies
Even the president of the united states sometimes has to stand naked.
A great singer/songwriter. But atrocious live. I was at the Nowlan Park gig in Kilkenny years ago, and he was dire until he came out to do an encore. Then he was brilliant for about 4 songs.
People also forget he was in the Traveling Wilburys with Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. The first supergroup.
have your say