Olympic Gold rush for our athletes in Paris with three victories in 48 hours

The mother of Coleraine rower Hannah Scott says her daughter is on "cloud nine" after her golden victory in Paris.

After a 36-year wait for a gold medal, athletes hailing from Northern Ireland secured their third in less than 24 hours when rowing hero Hannah and her Team GB crewmates clinched a dramatic victory in the quadruple sculls.

Scott’s moment came just a day after Northern Ireland swimmers Daniel Wiffen and Jack McMillan won their own gold medals in the Olympic pool.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds gathered at a specially erected big screen in the centre of Scott’s home-town of Coleraine in Co Londonderry to watch the nail-biting final, which saw the GB crew snatch a dramatic win after reeling in the Dutch with the final stroke of the race.

The crowd erupted when the photo finish was confirmed as a win for 25-year-old Scott and her Team GB crewmates Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw.

Her mother, Sharon Scott, told UTV from Paris: "It was absolutely nerve-wracking, I don't think anybody breathed for about a minute... and once we saw the photo finish just waiting with our hearts in our mouths to see how it had gone and luckily for us it went the right way and the place went mad.

"Hannah is in great form, we have just spent a wee bit of time with her and she is just on cloud nine. It's a combination of many, many years of work for her... so it's just for her - job done."

Geoff Bones, Hannah's former coach, said: "Paris was always the target, Tokyo was a bonus for her with Covid popping up, but Paris was the goal and she delivered, big style."

Political leaders across the island of Ireland hailed history-maker Daniel Wiffen after his gold medal victory in the Olympic swimming pool on Tuesday evening.

Wiffen, from the village of Magheralin, triumphed in the men’s 800 metres freestyle final in Paris, setting a new Olympic record in the process.

The 23-year-old Team Ireland athlete has become the first gold medallist from Northern Ireland for 36 years and Ireland’s first male swimming gold medallist.

He said: “I don’t think a lot of people actually believed me that I was going to do it tonight but yeah it was incredible. I’ve done it – that’s all I want to say!

“I was so nervous, that’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a race but do you know what calmed me down – I heard by brother shout for me as soon as I walked out. I heard none of the crowd – just him, and that’s what calmed me down, and really levelled my head.

“I’m not going to lie, there’s this whole saying going around that I’m getting ‘Finked’ – I’m glad to say I haven’t been ‘Finked” so obviously pretty happy to get my hand on the wall first.”

Only an hour after Wiffen’s success, another Northern Ireland swimmer secured a gold medal.

While Jack McMillan, from Belfast, did not participate in the Olympic 4x200m freestyle final that was won by Team GB swimmers Matt Richards, James Guy, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott, the 24-year-old still secured a medal having swum for the team in the qualifying heats.

McMillan’s brother Leo said the fact he did not get his medal on the podium did not take away from his amazing performance in the heat.

Chief executive of Swim Ulster Stephen Cuddy described an incredible evening.

He also said there could be more medals to come with the competition continuing.

“We had an inkling that these two guys could do something special, but to get two gold medals in the one night within an hour of each other was something really spectacular,” he said.

“Northern Ireland hasn’t had a gold medal since 1988, so to add two to that, and then see Hannah (Scott) win another gold medal in the rowing, it’s spectacular. It’s quite surreal really."

The sudden gold rush for the region is all the more remarkable given the last time Northern Ireland topped an Olympic podium was in Seoul in 1988 when Stephen Martin and Jimmy Kirkwood earned gold as part of the winning Team GB hockey team.

The wait for an individual gold has been even longer, with Wiffen the first solo gold medallist from Northern Ireland since Mary Peters triumphed for GB in the pentathlon at Munich in 1972.

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