Game of Thrones actor wins gold medal in swimming

Daniel Wiffen made history and becamen the first Irish male swimmer to climb to the top of an Olympic podiumafter winning the final of the 800 freestyle at the Olympic Games from Paris 2024.

But not only that, since it also transpired that The 23-year-old swimmer who broke the Olympic record appeared in the multi-award-winning series Game of Thrones as an extra in one of the episodes most applauded by critics and fans.

Before becoming a professional swimmer, Wiffen He acted in the episode “The Rains of Castamere”, which tells the story of what happened at the so-called “Red Wedding”.

In the episode, Daniel Wiffen’s sister Elizabeth plays the role of Neyela Frey, one of Walder Frey’s granddaughters and, as Some scenes required a lot of extras, they invited the now Olympic champion and his twin brother.

“I didn’t really know anything about Game of Thrones when I was younger. My parents didn’t let me watch it, but I think my dad watched it all the time, and then My sister Elizabeth got a really good role, she was one of Frey’s daughters (Neyela Frey)”Wiffen recalled in statements collected by ESPN.

“She (Elizabeth) went, did her part and we also ended up in the ‘Red Wedding’ scene.’ in the background, which was really cool (…) In our scene we were in the living room, sitting on the top steps, when the Starks came in.’, he continued.

Daniel Wiffen I was practically a child when the episode was filmed, since it was done in 2011even though it was broadcast until 2013 and, now, 13 years after its recording, the extra of that chapter He won the gold medal after completing the 800 freestyle swimming event in a time of 7:38.19 minutes.almost three seconds less than the previous record held by Ukrainian Mykhailo Romachuk since the last Tokyo Olympics, when this category made its debut in the men’s programme.

A long distance race that was, however, decided in two frantic long finals in which the Irishman Wiffen, reigning world champion, the Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, silver medallist in Tokyo, and the American Bobby Finke, the first and so far only Olympic champion, fought side by side for victory.

But unlike in Tokyo, where the American snatched the gold from Paltrinieri and Romanchuk in the metres, in Paris Bobby Finke found a match for him in the form of the Irishman Wiffen, who withstood the American’s final attack.

A capacity for endurance that allowed the Irishman to touch the wall first with an advantage of 56 hundredths of a second over Finke, who with a time of 7:38.75 had to settle for silver on this occasion, while the bronze went to the Italian Paltrinieri with a time of 7:39.38 minutes, a second and a half more than Wiffen.

Daniel Wiffen does not rule out returning to acting

When asked if he would agree to return to acting, the Olympic champion clarified that has the door open to projects that are of interest to you and highlighted his fondness for the Game of Thrones prequel.

“If something comes up that I like, For example ‘House of the Dragons’, if I get an offer for a role in that series, I will probably find time to do it.“, he assured.

*With information from EFE.

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