DANIEL WIFFEN had to deal with twin terror for missing out on an Olympic double.
Wiffen was hoping to add the 1500m freestyle title to the 800m gold he won last Tuesday.
But he had to settle for bronze as Bobby Finke – who had come second in the shorter event – touched the wall first in a new world record time of.
It was enough to ensure that Ireland have their biggest medal haul of seven at an Olympics, with three gold, three bronze and Kellie Harrington guaranteed at least silver.
But Wiffen joked that his twin brother Nathan – also a talented swimmer who just missed out on qualification – was giving him evils as he returned poolside for the medal ceremony.
Wiffen said: “Nathan was giving me this stare and I was like ‘Whoa, what are you talking about here, I’ve got a bronze medal, leave me alone’.
“Obviously Nathan’s going to be a massive critic to me but my family were still very happy.
“I’m going to ring Nathan after this, I’m sure he’s going to have something to say.
“I mean, I’m happy, I’m sure they’re proud of me, I’m just going to show them the gold medal and not the bronze when I see them.”
The sibling did hug and Wiffen added: “I’m not going to lie, Nathan’s probably disappointed.
“I didn’t really say much because we know we both want gold and obviously came a bit short of bronze.
“But we’ll look over the whole week. I’ll talk to him after this and see what he’s thinking.
“He’s thinking probably the same thing as me, that damn, I missed an opportunity there because I didn’t see him.
“I don’t know what else to say. We won gold, we won bronze, we got two medals. It’s just great.”
The 23-year-old admitted that the medals came in a different order than he might have anticipated.
He said: “It’s a surprise to me, I thought the same thing.
“I thought the 800m was going to be a lot harder to win and the 1500m would be the one I would win.
“Maybe you’re right with the whole emotions from the 800m, that it took a toll on me but, honestly, I’m pretty happy and ready to celebrate.”
But he is targeting more success as he still intends to swim the 10km open water swim on Friday.
He said: “I’ve still got my sights on the marathon swimming.
“It’s my first ever race. I’m still going in with high expectations.
“I want to be on the podium. That would be pretty unbelievable.
“But we’ll see what happens. Open water is very tactical.
“It’s not really about speed or endurance or training.”